Money and who gets to keep it.....

I may have, in the past, cast the occasional aspersion upon some of the decisions made by the Canadian Government. I think it would be reasonable to assume that I am not part of their fan club. However, until yesterday I would have argued that we, as Canadians, were far better served by our government then some of the countries that are EU members. I was thinking specifically of Cyprus.  In that country, bank depositors who have more than approximately $100,000 (Canadian) in their bank account could lose up to 60% of their deposit. The reason why - it appears that the banks and other big businesses including the government needed a bailout. The only way that the World Bank and the other European countries would help prop up the economy was if the Cyprus Government took some money from the citizens' bank accounts. It is suppose to be an investment. If the country and therefore the banks start to do better, the citizens can get some of their money back. I think the government should have been honest and just called it a tax or perhaps even out-right robbery.

$100,000 is not a lot of money. When one considers how much a president of a national bank in Canada makes annually (The Huffington Post reported that the President of  "TD Bank CEO Ed Clark took home $11.3 million, including base salary, bonuses and stock options in 2011" huffingtonpost.ca) it would seem that $100,000 is really somewhat less than a mere pittance. For many people that amount might reflect their life savings. A life time of saving up for a rainy day or their retirement- whatever came first.

Why the World Bank does not go after all of the arms dealers or the dictators or the capitalists who rape and plunder the resources of countries that are still developing could be the topic of a very long book. The fact is that they are not demanding that those individuals pay some money onto the common pot to bail out countries in trouble. If I were a Cypriot I would be more than just angry at the European countries demanding that I lose up to 60% of my savings. The fact that perhaps 50% of the money in Cyprus' banks is foreign money does not seem to be the point.

But I am a Canadian and I don't need to worry. My government would never dream of doing something like that. Right??

I am now not so sure. An internet article posted on Global Research (Centre for Research on Globalization)   is suggesting that within the 400 odd pages of the Canadian budget that was tabled last week, there are sections that open the way for the Canadian Government to do the same thing. They call it a "bail-in" (see pages 144-145 in the government's budget text). If the banks spend/loses all of their money it appears  that a "bank can be recapitalized and returned to viability through the very rapid conversion of certain bank liabilities into regulatory capital". I think they mean that they can take the money that they have of mine ( it is a liability if they can't give it to me) and make it their own. Does that sound like what happened in Cyprus? I think so.

I am generally more than prepared to pay taxes. I would even be glad to pay more taxes if I thought that my money would (1) be matched by those bank presidents and (2) that it would go towards supporting those who needed support. But I will be damned if I will agree to my money being used to bail out a bank when the presidents and the shareholders continue to earn far more than me.