The Cypriot government has decided to take a more obvious form of theft by taking directly from people's bank accounts, rather than inflating the currency, which was the pre-EU strategy.

Stefan Molyneux is the host of Freedomain Radio, the largest and most popular philosophy show on the web - http://www.freedomainradio.com

A €10 billion bailout required a 9.9% tax on anyone with deposits greater than €100,000, and 6.75% on those less than €100,000
Savers who lost money would be compensated by shares in commercial banks, with equity returns guaranteed by future revenues expected from natural gas discoveries
The president was elected weeks ago partly because he ruled out any kind of wealth tax
According to one report, the IMF and EU were originally demanding a 40% wealth tax on bank account holders in Cyprus
What is so wrong with Cyprus? Unemployment is half that of Greece and Spain, debt to GDP is 87%, US has a debt to GDP of well over 100%
This is economic imperialism, a fundamental breach of property rights, dictated to a small country by foreign powers
The European Central Bank has no money, it's exchanging paper for assets
Cypriot banks got into trouble after using €4.5 billion on they greet government bond holdings after Euro zone leaders decided to write down Greece's debt last year
The Cypriot president said if he hadn't accepted the tax on bank deposits, the European Central Bank would have stopped providing emergency funds to the country's top two lenders which would have led to the collapse of the banking system, the bankruptcy of thousands of small businesses, massive job losses, and ultimately the country's exit from the euro.
DON'T GET USED