It's official. We are being Cyprus'ed. What's implied in the reporting of this but not explicit for the general viewer is the 'levy'/tax is annual, not once off. I saw Penny Wong interviewed about this, she said it is being introduced at the urging of the IMF, as well as the Reserve Bank who probably have been told to do it by the IMF. Bloody thieves. Just another addition to the cost of living to pay for boat people and green power subsidies. Given this will affect my SMSF severely I'll have to make sure by the 2016 start I'll have to maximise the Funds' limited recourse lending to avoid the tax. What is worse, paying interest on loans or outright tax/theft?
http://www.smh.com.au/business/nab-westpac-tapped-into-us-feds-emergency-funds-20101202-18i89.html NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK and Westpac borrowed billions of dollars in emergency funds from the US Federal Reserve at the height of financial crisis, according to documents just released by the central bank. The Reserve Bank of Australia tapped the Federal Reserve for more than $US53 billion over six months after the crisis caused a global shortage of US dollars. Documents released yesterday by the US Federal Reserve offer an insight into more than 21,000 emergency loans that the Fed provided to investment banks, foreign central banks and a number of other institutions. Most of the funds were released at the peak of the crisis as banks scrambled to secure crucial day-to-day funding. Only two Australian banks took advantage of the funding window opened by the Federal Reserve as it attempted to stabilise financial markets during the crisis, the documents show. Advertisement A swathe of European banks and several Japanese banks also took advantage of the facility. Of Australian banks, NAB was the biggest user of the emergency facility, borrowing a total of $US4.5 billion. NAB, which operates a small US bank, turned to the Federal Reserve three times as the crisis intensified. A New York-based entity owned by Westpac borrowed $US1 billion from the Federal Reserve, pledging more than $US3.3 billion in collateral. Westpac's borrowings are unusual, given that it barely has a North American presence, operating only a US representative office. The Reserve Bank also made available billions of dollars in additional funds for Australian banks during the financial crisis, however it does not break out the borrowings of individual banks. In 2008-09 the Reserve Bank's overnight lending funds averaged almost $4 billion a day, compared with about $750 million a day in the five years before the financial crisis took hold. The Reserve Bank was also one of 10 central banks around the world to make use of currency swap lines offered by the US Federal Reserve, the documents show. Others included Britain, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland. The European Central Bank was the biggest user of the currency swap facility to support US-dollar-backed markets. The disclosures also show the extent to which US businesses were forced to rely on the Federal Reserve to raise funds to pay suppliers and make payroll payments. Although Australia has a relatively small corporate debt market, many US firms tap into short-term money markets to manage their cash flow. The documents show issuers such as Caterpillar, General Electric, McDonald's and Toyota were forced to turn to the Federal Reserve after the market for short-term notes dried up. The Australian borrowings pale in comparison with those of the big US banks. Players such as Bank of America, JP Morgan and Citibank borrowed $US15 billion at a time. A separate US Federal Reserve facility set up for investment banks forwarded Citigroup $US1.8 trillion in loans during the crisis, followed by Merrill Lynch, which borrowed a total of $US1.5 trillion. Another Wall Street institution, Goldman Sachs, has insisted it would have been strong enough to survive without a bailout but on 52 separate occasions it borrowed money via an overnight loan program in amounts as high as $US18 billion. with The New York Times Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/nab-...gency-funds-20101202-18i89.html#ixzz2allnpdYo
See, those borrowing totals are in this article also wrong. For ex case NAB, it wasn't borrowing 4.5 billion but 1 loan of 1.5 billion paid back after 9 months (3 Fed TAF 84 day terms, so 2 loan period extensions). It all just shows how the central banks / banks move their depositors money all over the world, lending it to eachother across oceans (that's what LIBOR is for) and borrowing>lending central banks new money. We see all those articles about US versus China versus India versus EU and so on, about currency wars and import/export tax rates conflicts with eachother, but that's just a soap, in reality they work together like they all sit on the same bicycle.
Will this levy set off a bank run (mass account closures and withdrawals)? How about we all go back to a cash based society eh? You can only drill so much blood from a stone. Better start firing up those printing presses. Slam
It looks to me that eventually even the small interest returns on term deposits will gradually be wiped out as this levy will surely increase overtime. No doubt the banks will actually profit from this levy as they will claw back even more than the levy costs via increased fees, charges and interest on loans, while cutting interest on deposits. For those who pull their money out of the banks and stick it in the rigged markets I wish them well. No doubt most governments and their bankster masters are working towards a cashless system where no one (except for themselves) can keep/hide anything from their slimey mitts. For those who are able, I recommend doing a permaculture design course and working towards obtaining some productive land, solar passive house, food/energy self sufficiency, some PM's, some cash and to hell with the bastards!
Just heard on the news any dormant superannuation account for more than 5 years will be hit. The amount will start from $2000. It had been from $6000 under the old rules. Anyone dares guess when the OverTon Window will be moved to Active Superannuation Accounts?
I was listening to Radio National this morning on the way to work when they interviewed David Murray who previously headed up the 'future fund'. After talking about his latest philanthropic pursuit he was asked about the bank levy. He echoed mostly the same concerns shared on this thread along side a curious solution. Being the gold bug I am I think he was cryptically suggesting Australia bolstering our gold reserves!? "The only sure way that the money could avoid 'political process' on the way thou is it should be collected in some 'form' by the reserve bank, and be a 'dedicated' reserve along side the RBA's other reserves." In short he said the current capital controls banks have should already function in the same capacity as the levy. (His comments on the levy start about half way through.) http://www.abc.net.au/radionational...-murray-to-chair-butterfly-foundation/4860754
