The Glade 4.0

Would have figured that would be all over here.

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

Having a hard time figuring out why I should care about Cyprus.

I was unaware of the Glade's Cypriot population.

Because it brings the Euro that much closer to failure.

And Schadenfreude.

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Holy shitsnacks!

I thought governments directly and suddenly seizing a % of all deposits in banks would be a big thing.

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

Well, it wouldn't be very effective if it wasn't sudden.

Not likely to be effective regardless, but at least they're trying.

Only they didn't. They voted against it.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Well, they're trying to try. Either way, it's more than most countries are doing.

Wait, you thought it was a good idea?

I think that trying to fix things is better than not trying to.

I find it somewhat amusing that the austerity measures proposed are probably about the only way things get solved. People are going to have to get screwed in the deal, and most likely people who have nothing to do with the crisis itself. That's pretty much the way these sorts of things go. It's that realization that leads me to mostly ignore discussion about fiscal policy, because everyone seems to think that there's some magical solution which will solve the various debt crises without affecting the entire population.

The quicker that every person in Cyprus, or Greece, or even America, realizes that they have to tighten their own belts, rather than forcing other people to tighten theirs, the better. It's silly for a government to try to do it without popular support, but it's something that needs to be done.

The problem with this, is the people that are forced to tighten their belts are often not the ones that caused the problem in the first place.

And the ones that caused the problems are often allowed to go on loosening theirs.

Which causes unrest.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Certainly causes unrest. But that doesn't really change anything. The options, really, are to not do anything, and the poor get poorer and the rich get richer, or implement measures to fix it, in which the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.

Hence my general ennui with fiscal discussions.

No doubt Cyprus's problems with money will eventually end with the Greeks and the Turks shooting at each other once again anyhow.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Stealing money from people's accounts isn't really what I'd call an "austerity measure."

That said, I agree that something needs done. In the US, we could do this without cuts in real spending. That's the sad part.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

It's not like we aren't already confiscating real wealth right here in the US...

We're their model. Why should anyone here react?

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Ezekiel 23:19-20 

Someone on the radio argued yesterday that since we are printing money like crazy and that makes everyone's savings/assets worth less, we already are.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

The Cypriot Parliament at least had the balls to try do this by force of law. The Obama Administration, Timothy Geitner, and Ben Bernanke just did the same in the United States by printing money until we were all reduced in our purchasing power by 25-30%. They did, amazingly, pass the same type of law concerning 401(k) and a few other tax-sheltered retirement schemes, in case any of you are wondering about the recent glut of "secret fees" in 401(k) ads that e*trade and other brokering groups keep mentioning.

Oh, and the changes to retirement accounts and other actual pension systems, except those administered by a select group of excluded unions, will probably lead to a banner year for the IRS to audit people.

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