Cyprus man: 'I went to sleep Friday as a rich man. I woke up a poor man'

Originally posted by litterbaux
reply to post by ChaoticOrder

 

The one thing I don't understand is why people are just taking this. It leads me to believe there are one of two scenario's going on here.

-This whole thing is made up. Not saying the banks aren't confiscating folks money but the scope is being way over hyped.

Or...

-People really are sheep. Someone takes your life's savings, your life's work, your life's worth and flushes it down the toilet. You just take it? You don't even put up a fight?

Why are there no stories of people burning buildings (aside from the bank fire)? Why aren't there people in the streets?

It makes no logical sense to me.

If you take your money to the bank you take the risk that it defaults. They give you your 0.5 to 2% interest in return. Of course some countries have safety nets so clients are spared. Cyprus didnt.

Originally posted by Unity_99
reply to post by andy06shake

 

I don't think you understand his situation. He was poor, moved to Australia and worked for years in his own little store to save up 1 million, not alot in todays dollars, to retire. Then moved back to cyprus. And now is destitute in his retirement and everything he did for an entire lifetime, all the sacrifices and work was for nothing. They stole his whole life from him.

They stole nothing. When you take your money to the bank and take the 2% or so they offer to you, you agree to be liable if it comes to the worst and the bank goes belly up. People do not think about it because it has not happened in quite a while, or when it did happen the banks were saved with tax money.

I wouldnt have a million in the bank, I would buy apartments or something. Unless I am filthy rich, then a mill would be spending money to me.

Originally posted by Unity_99
reply to post by andy06shake

 

I don't think you understand his situation. He was poor, moved to Australia and worked for years in his own little store to save up 1 million, not alot in todays dollars, to retire. Then moved back to cyprus. And now is destitute in his retirement and everything he did for an entire lifetime, all the sacrifices and work was for nothing. They stole his whole life from him.

I think I understand perfectly, the banks just shafted him for his life savings. The moral of this story is don't trust banks! I bet the gentleman in question has now learned that lesson the hard way, as will many others I imagine.

Point is 100,000 Euros is hardly destitute!

Should he have worked hard all his life only to have an act such as this perpetrated against him by a trusted institution, in this case his bank?

My answer is no, but there are far worse off people out there without 100,000 euros, without anything in fact.

reply to post by andy06shake

My answer is no, but there are far worse off people out there without 100,000 euros, without anything in fact.

Oh right... it's better that we all be poor rather than just some of us. That is a completely absurd justification.

But you are correct... in the end it really is his fault for trusting the banks. Then again we've been trained to trust the good old friendly banks. He even contacted the banks before the situation got bad and he was told not to worry and that everything should be fine.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


"Oh right... it's better that we all be poor rather than just some of us. That is a completely absurd justification. "

I don't think that at all, in fact I think the opposite, would it not be better that we all be rich instead of poor? Wait......capitalism just don't function then now does it? Or at least the money be distributed a lot more evenly among the people of the world!

That's what really get my goat, the way wealth is distributed! Its not fair, its not funny, its not even practical except for the top 1% every one else is essentially biting the pillow!

reply to post by litterbaux


Me neither. However, every time I have to pay my 6 monthly tax I think about tax havens, and start looking them up with a view to moving my business offshore. Cyprus was a possibility that came up on my last search. Bugger that idea now. I think I'll take my chances in the UK...

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


just an observation - but when has " i only have $400k left " = " i woke up a poor man " ?

By reading all these Cyprus threads I realized that I am probably the only Cypriot on ATS so I might as well answer some questions I see posted around. I would have started a new thread but seeing as I only recently turned from lurker to poster I do not have the priviledge of creating a new thread yet.

No-one forced Cyprus to join the EU
This statement is true. A lot of people in Cyprus didn't want to join the EU but we did for one reason, to find safety from Turkey. Cyprus is a tiny island and more than a third of it is under occupation by Turkey. We joined the EU hoping that by being part of the European family we would have some support in dealing with Turkey, but this has proven false. Most of our "partners" would much rather have Turkey as a friend instead of Cyprus (larger market, big military etc).

Why don't Cypriots riot?
Cypriots has a long history of violence and rioting going back thousands of years. People around here have killed each other over much smaller deals than this haircut. So why doesn't anyone riot now? Politics. The two largest political parties in Cyprus have a long history of hatred between them. The communist party (AKEL) was in power from 2008 to 2013 and it is widely accepted as the worst presidency in our history (and coming from a country that has been through wars, military coups and civil wars this says a lot). The new president just got in power a week before the haircut was proposed. Tensions are high between supporters of the two parties because they are blaming each other for the situation. Also the parties like to keep these tensions high so that the people don't realize that they are both the same sh*t. There have been lists with names of people who withdrew all ther money just days before the haircut and these people come from both big parties, but people are such fanatics about whose party is right that they blame each other instead of their leaders.

Unfortunately if it comes down to rioting it will escalate quickly as every house is a fortress and old hatred will resurface.

Now that I have answered some questions I have one of my own. Cyprus is sitting on huge natural gas and oil reserves, with some estimates putting it higher than 600billion euros (estimates range from 400billion dollars to >600billion euros depending who you ask). Forbes
Cyprus is expected to be ready to sell natural gas by the end of 2014 and oil by the end of 2017. Therefore, considering how much wealth there is, why is it so difficult to get a loan of 10billion from our European "family" with some more humane terms? We are asking for the smallest loan given so far to a european country, while we are the only country that got a loan that can quarantee paying it back with natural resources and yet we get the worst possible deal. Why?

reply to post by Panic2k11


“There is indeed movement to turn the EU into a Federation”

I think you are underselling that to a massive degree. The movement you speak of starts at the very top of the EU tree with Von Rompuy and Barroso, and spreads solidly down to the MEP’s. I would like to bet that nobody with any real power who takes a wage from the EU coffers is at odd with Von Rompuy. I would even suggest that the entire raison d'être of the EU is to become a super state much in the same mould as the US with its own states and overarching government. This cannot be achieved without a single currency and therefore the Euro is a political construct.

Now the question that needs to be asked in my opinion is. Has anybody in Europe been asked if they want to be a citizen of a European Super State, And if not, why not? Because to drag an entire continent that was happily getting along through this hell for something they never asked for smacks of the dictator to me.

We need to all get our money out of the banks.
I don't know how the hell these governments and banks are getting away with all this crap !

reply to post by Biigs


Can you tell me what you think the EU has brought to the party that in the long run has benefited Cyprus?

reply to post by RandallFlagg


Thank you for your post, I have also been wondering about your natural resources, they must be up for grabs, they have been put on the table only this month, yet nobody from the EU, Russia or an oil conglomerate is willing to stump up what is actually pennies in comparison for the rights to drill.

Originally posted by lambros56
We need to all get our money out of the banks.
I don't know how the hell these governments and banks are getting away with all this crap !

The reason "They" get away with it is because its part of there agenda, the governments pass laws designed to erode away our basic freedom under the guise of protection. They bail out banks and other financial institutions simply because said financial institutions bank role there political careers. And the top 1-5% get richer while everyone else suffer at there expense. Basically the worst parts of Orwell's 1984.

Its a vicious circle and can only end in tears, our tears!

Originally posted by Unity_99
reply to post by gps777

 

This man's video's are extremely deceptive for he tells people over and over again, to Get Money Out, and thus is promoting everyones bank accounts to be seized. A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing.

No need to turn into a boiled lobster over it Unity,I highly doubt this guys video will bring about the likes of what has happened in Cyprus.

Moral of the story imo,don`t put all your eggs in one basket,spread your money into things such as metals,property and shares,especially if you have your money sitting there being used by the bank in a no interest account.I don`t think thats bad advice to be considered rather than fully trust banks and government.

Originally posted by andy06shake
"Cyprus man: 'I went to sleep Friday as a rich man. I woke up a poor man"

Now he knows how it feels! He will just need to get buy like the rest of us now!

I do feel for him and his family regarding the culture shock that will undoubtedly follow.

Unlike the Corrupt Banksters and Corrupt Corporations that buddy up with the Government to put them at the head of the line, and that steal from the tax payers via crony contracts, this guy saved and worked his own business from the bottom up and saved what he had. He did not deserve what happened to him.

He was a successful person while the later are cockroaches and parasites that only know how to suck the blood out of their host to fatten their wallets at the expense to the rest of the nation by writing legislation to pass on to their criminal politicians.

Originally posted by RandallFlagg


Why don't Cypriots riot?

Tensions are high between supporters of the two parties because they are blaming each other for the situation. Also the parties like to keep these tensions high so that the people don't realize that they are both the same sh*t. There have been lists with names of people who withdrew all ther money just days before the haircut and these people come from both big parties, but people are such fanatics about whose party is right that they blame each other instead of their leaders.

Sounds like my country the USA, where they try and keep the "Republicans and Democrats" at each others throats as if there is any difference between any of the Republicans and Democrats in the Government. They are all owned by the Big Banks.

reply to post by Rob7774


I do not know if I was underselling as I really do not see such a strong push to promote it, especially now that it is all at the brink of crumbling out due to self serving national interests (especially Germany, that has benefited from the current crisis, high Euro, super low borrowing and huge capital movements into his borders, at least so far, most of its losses has been risky investment in the periphery especially since the PIIGS situation was know, encouraged if not even planned, well not Ireland).

In any case Federalism at this stage is not even on the table yet (increased integration is indeed a solution to the problem, but in the long term). I'm a Federalist myself (just not in the molds of the EU, and not with the inclusion for now of Turkey (too culturally distinct).

I think you give too much credit to Barroso, he is a political animal and in line with the European Social Democratic party. IIRC the same European party as Angela Merkel.

I agree with you there were indeed economic advantages to the Euro but the adoption as was made was mostly political (the nations in the Euro are the ones that would support a Federalization and a European Army). Without a common tax and economic policy the Euro was doomed to fail as it faced a prolonged crisis...

I'v read every post on here, not one person as said this,,, The banks changed the rules in the middle of the game.. The terms changed in a instant,, people never ever thought that the Banks could change the rules, But they did.. the rules were different when they opened there accounts, then they are now...

Even this guy that had a million in his account asked the manager if his money was safe a week before they changed the rules, And of course the manager said every thing is fine don't worry about it... also this bank went through a stress test and of course it passed with flying colors...

The only reason this is not happening in america right now is the fed is giving the Banks 85 Billion a month that's a month... and us tax payers are billed for that,, Cypress can't print money like we can,,, but the day will come when santa will not provide the Bail out money for the banks and that is when the SHTF

You guys don't you find it strange that FOX news talks about all those horrible takers, that get food stamps and Obama phones,, and to this day I have never ever heard one of them talk about how the banks gets BILLIONs every month and the middle class pay for it,,, why don't they talk about that..

reply to post by litterbaux


But you use your life to get this paper so quite literally they are taking your life

The only way of getting round the scums plans are to get rid of money and ownership but carry on working purely an exchange of labour, but i'm not sure people have the understanding that they are already doing this except being told by the scum that there labour is only worth a certain amount of paper.

you also have to not do to others what you don't want done to yourself.

reply to post by aLLeKs


These are NOT mistakes the banks make, this is all orchestrated by the 'powers that were' to see how much we will take before we revolt, and then they can implement Martial Law rules and lock people up for no good reason and put everyone in the FEMA (residential centres that has barbed wired on all the fences) Holiday Concentration Camps.

Who's gonna argue with the 'powers that were?".

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


talk about irony lol.... id like to feel bad for these people but they obviously dont care because that country would be on fire and political figures being hung if they did... so i say good. they deserve it


now if the day they did this they set parliment on fire and started killing bankers and politicians this would have been overturned within a week



i hope it happens here .....perfect time to get.the "change we need" the right way... not through this ghetto fake voting