The World’s First Cashless Society Is Here – A Totalitarian’s Dream Come True

 

Central planners around the world are waging a War on Cash. In just the last few years:

• Italy made cash transactions over €1,000 illegal;
• Switzerland proposed banning cash payments in excess of 100,000 francs;
• Russia banned cash transactions over $10,000;
• Spain banned cash transactions over €2,500;
• Mexico made cash payments of more than 200,000 pesos illegal;
• Uruguay banned cash transactions over $5,000; and
• France made cash transactions over €1,000 illegal, down from the previous limit of €3,000.

The War on Cash is a favorite pet project of the economic central planners. They want to eliminate hand-to-hand currency so that governments can document, control, and tax everything.

Cash Withdrawal Limits and “Bank Holidays” Coming?

Collapsing commodities prices, erratic market turmoil and the bursting of Chinese bubbles are leading to a crisis in confidence in the economic system across the globe. The long-expected crisis to which the global financial and systemic crisis in 2008 may have been a mere prelude may be upon us.

Governments have no appetite for further bailouts. The EU states have passed legislation which will make the banks or rather unfortunate and unsuspecting depositors liable for the bank’s lending and speculative profligacy.

The Link Between Inflation & Interest Rates

QUESTION:

The reason central banks like to have inflation, is because they get to reduce the effective value of their respective national debts over time. I do not know why there is a link between inflation and interest rates, which is assumed in BB’s remarks. Is there any basis for that?

ANSWER: The link between interest rates and inflation is fundamental. If the inflation rate is 20%, you would never lend money at 10% for that would effectively be the same as a negative interest rate. The level of interest rates must be ABOVE the inflation rate to make it profitable to lend.

Greece €400 Million Short For Wage And Pension Payments, Rushes To Pass Troika-Friendly Laws

According to Bloomberg, the Greek government is €400 million short of the amount needed for payment of pensions and salaries this month, citing a Kathimerini report.Surprisingly, this takes place even as Greece’s IKA, OGA pension funds have been informed by the government that amount needed for payment of pensions will be deposited today, while the Greece’s OAEE pension fund has said payment of pensions won’t be a problem.

In other words, someone is not telling the truth: either there is enough money or there isn’t. And if the latter case is valid, then either the government or the pensions are now openly lying to the population.

Budget 2015: Federal Government set to introduce tax on bank deposits, Labor accuses Tony Abbott of backflipping on election promise

In Australia it will now cost you to deposit your own money into your own bank account, courtesy of the government and against the banking industry’s wish.

 

The Federal Government looks set to introduce a tax on bank deposits in the May budget.

The idea of a bank deposit tax was raised by Labor in 2013 and was criticised by Tony Abbott at the time.

Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has indicated an announcement on the new tax could be made before the budget.

Cypriot Bailout: A German Victory that Threatens to Unleash Chaos

The Cypriot bailout agreed in the earlier hours of Saturday morning could be a game changer for the eurozone. It was a resounding victory for Germany, but the compromise reached could see banks collapse across Southern Europe.

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Saturday’s decision allows Germany to have its cake and eat it. The meeting of eurozone finance ministers decided to loan Cyprus €10 billion. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will probably also join in. But the bailout comes with a shocking and unprecedented condition.

Cypriots will have money taken directly out of their bank accounts. Monday is a bank holiday in Cyprus. By the time banks open on Tuesday, all depositors will have a chunk taken out of their account. Accounts with less than €100,000 will face a levy of 6.75 percent. Those with more, will be taxed at 9.9 percent.

Why Is Germany Collecting Taxes for the Catholic Church?

The German Catholic Bishops Conference issued a decree in September warning that those Germans who opted out of paying the country’s “church tax” would no longer be entitled to sacraments, religious burial or any part of parish life.

This “church tax” is a special tax collected in Germany and several other Western European nations that was introduced in the 19th century in compensation for the nationalization of religious property. All Germans who officially register as Catholics, Protestants or Jews on their tax documentation must pay a religious tax of 8 to 9 percent on their annual income tax bill.