Greeks emptying bank accounts and buying silver/gold...shocking

Greeks emptying bank accounts and buying silver/gold...shocking

By Kerin Hope in Athens

Published: June 21 2011 13:50 | Last updated: June 21 2011 22:34

Greek citizens are emptying savings accounts and buying gold as they brace themselves for the possibility of a sovereign default and a run on the banks.

Pledges by socialist prime minister George Papandreou that his government would “save the country” have been widely discounted by the public. However, parliament gave him a vote of confidence late on Tuesday night. The socialists have a six-seat majority in the 300-member house.

Sales of gold coins have soared as savers seek a safer and fungible source of value.

“When the global financial crisis started, our sales of coins to investors overtook bullion for the first time,” said Harry Krinakis, at Sepheriades, a Greek precious metals trader. “Now the sales ratio has reached five to one.”

Tomas, a computer technician, has exchanged his euro savings for gold coins: “I keep them at home just like my grandmother did in the second world war.”

Monthly bank withdrawals were running at €1.5bn-€2bn (£1.3bn-£1.8bn) in the first quarter. Last year, depositors withdrew €30bn, equivalent to 12.3 per cent of total savings, according to the central bank. Greek deposits worth an estimated €8bn were transferred to banks in Cyprus in 2010. But the flow has dried up this year amid fears that Cypriot banks could suffer contagion.

Andreas, a supermarket manager, transferred the family savings to Munich earlier this year: “The Swiss banks aren’t interested unless you’ve got several hundred thousand euros.”

“We can’t trust the politicians to get us out of this mess [and] have to protect our families,” Sakis, a garage owner, said at an anti-austerity protest in Athens’ Syntagma square. “A bank collapse has got to be on the cards.” He added he had withdrawn his savings and placed them in a bank safe deposit box “for security. Who cares about interest right now?”

Others put their savings into land when prices fell after Greece’s first European Union-led rescue last year. Angelos, a software specialist, bought a neighbour’s olive grove. “I grabbed the opportunity,” he said. “A year ago I wouldn’t have considered making such an old-fashioned investment.”

silvergoldsilver.blogspot.com...




George Soros: Squash the bug. I'll send you two Lamborgini tonight.
Joe at COMEX: Alright. Bears on the way. *gold hit* *silver hit*

 

I'm not an economist but isn't this why we don't use the gold standard anymore? It seems that since your money is insured by the federal reserve that when bad things happen you don't feel the need to rush and pull your money out of banks in the form of gold.

And if the dollar was backed by gold would their be enough gold for everyone to withdraw it at the same time. This is what happened during the Great Depression I know leading FDR to pass the bank holiday bill which shut down banks so no one could withdraw money.

I think that was a wise move because the dollar is not worth #. The more dollars people have, you more broke they will become in the long run.

Originally posted by kro32
And if the dollar was backed by gold would their be enough gold for everyone to withdraw it at the same time. This is what happened during the Great Depression I know leading FDR to pass the bank holiday bill which shut down banks so no one could withdraw money.

The worlds financial systems are one massive ponzi scheme. There is not enough gold to cover everyones credit, not by a long way. The whole world is bankrupt.

Think about it, you are born with nothing, so where does the money come from that you make during your life? From other people right? And where does that money come from? In order for you to make money, someone has to lose money.

The whole system is an evil joke, simply used to control people.

st.

It would have cheaper and easier to convert their monies to foreign currencies like Swiss Francs instead.

two

A wise CIA would be getting some copper coins and plating them with Gold....then sell them on the street to the Greek folks and GIT out of there real quicklike.

"Don't let a crisis go to waste"

reply to post by eldard


True, especially since metal dealers are undoubtedly inflating prices due to the huge surge in demand. Of course if Greece defaults it's not even certain if it will truly impair the Euro anyways, so rushing to metals may not even be necessary. I think though the general consensus is better safe than sorry, if I were in Greece I'd be insuring my savings as well.

what i dont get is why they use banks to begin with.. they all use the fractional reserve system. good old fashioned tin can in the backyard guarantees no losses. unless you forget where you put it.