Shrink the State. End the Fed. Balance the budget. Make a profit. Leave an inheritance.
Gary North
Written by Gary North on April 5, 2013
The Bank of Cyprus in 2011 was one of the highest-rated banks in the world. This year, it had to be bailed out by the taxpayers of the European Union, who had no say in the matter. Otherwise, it would have gone bankrupt. Yet in 2011, it was the biggest bank in Cyprus. What could […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on April 4, 2013
The Bank of Japan has announced a quantitative easing (mass inflation) QE program that matches Bernanke’s: $75 billion a month in purchases of Japanese government bonds. This is just under $1 trillion a year. But Japan’s GDP is only $6 trillion — 40% the United States’ GDP. This is way beyond Bernanke. For the Bank […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on March 25, 2013
Bureaucrats are paid well to lie. They are paid well to tell the voters not to worry, that everything is fine. This lets politicians say the same. The banks in Cyprus remain closed. There is a $130 limit on daily withdrawals of currency out of an ATM. Capital controls keep depositors from wiring euros outside […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on March 25, 2013
There will be a $13 billion bailout supplied by the European Union. Europe’s voters will not get to vote on this. The unnamed “Euro Group” of national finance ministers have agreed to the bailout. It answers to no one. The EU parliament has nothing to say about this. Banks on Cyprus will remain closed. Depositors […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on March 25, 2013
When the officially unnamed EuroGroup of eurozone finance ministers cooked up a deal where all depositors in Cyprus would be taxed to bail out the nation’s banking system as a condition for the $13 billion bailout, they adopted a new rule for banking: depositors are lenders to the banks. Previously, depositors had first claim on […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on March 21, 2013
The Cyprus central bank decided to keep the banks closed until next Tuesday. The panic is building. This will build it even more. The British media say the government is looking for Plan B. There is no Plan B. There will be no tax on bank accounts, says the parliament. Will there still be a […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on March 20, 2013
The members of the Cypriot Parliament overwhelmingly told the EuroGroup to take a hike on March 19. The secret group with no official name and no official power thought it would force the government of Cyprus to impose a tax on all bank depositors . . . “just this once. We promise.” It was a […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on March 20, 2013
Gary North’s Reality Check The conservative movement has always been filled with monetary cranks. This has been true for well over a century. These cranks have never read a book on economics. They have never taken a class in economics. They have zero practical experience in finance. They come before the conservative public and present […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on March 19, 2013
Iceland, in 2009, let its banks default on foreign depositors. The nation suffered a brief recession. Now it is growing. Europe is in recession. Default pays off. The nation had six multi-billionaires in 2007. Now it has none. The lone survivor has left the country. He used to have $6 billion. He lost $5 billion. […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on March 19, 2013
The Eurogroup held a teleconference this evening to take stock of the situation in Cyprus. The Eurozone’s decision-making institution on the euro is an informal committee of finance ministers. The committee has no official name. It has no official power. It is not voted into office. In the Lisbon Treaty, which went into effect on […]
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