[ExI] cyprus banks

Mirco Romanato painlord2k at libero.it
Mon Mar 18 15:23:40 UTC 2013


Il 18/03/2013 06:29, spike ha scritto:

> I don't know what to make of this notion of Cyprus taxing bank deposits.

Put it in the "highway robbery example" shelf.
This give much more credibility to the theory of the government as a
"Stationary Bandit".
The problem is in the actual democratic system make the stationary
bandit not so stationary and unable to give her possessions to the
heirs, so there is little incentive to not plunder as much as possible
and to prevent others from plundering.

> I
> would have never thought such a thing would even be discussed, for fear that
> it would cause immediate bank runs everywhere in Cyprus, starting Tuesday
> when they open, and rippling outward with Greece next, then Ireland,
> Portugal, Spain, possibly Italy.

Be there, did that.

In the 1992 the Giuliano Amato (Amato translate in "Loved") government
imposed a 6/1000 tax on all bank deposits during the dead of the night
of a week-end. People here didn't take it too well.

You should be able to understand because so many Italians see the
government as a bunch of ticks

> Europeans, do feel free to comment, or not:

> http://www.cnbc.com/id/100560852

> Any rescue attempt I would think would need to come from those who own
> property, not those who own currency.  Reasoning: they have just
> incentivized the Cypriots and pretty much everyone else holding euros to
> convert them to metals.

Or bitcoins.

In reality they just incentive people to keep money (whatever type of
currencies) out of the banks where it can be easily confiscated by the
government.

I'm not sure using Cyprus as a test bed for this policy was a good idea.
it is too small. The levy will not change much of the systemic problem
but will warn the people in other nations. Also the island is small
(usually islands are small) and people live all near the politicians.
it is not like Italy or Germany or France, where people from the North
must move 1.000 km to go protesting to Rome against 1.000 lawmakers they
doesn't know the face. These are 56 lawmakers and no more than 30 will
ever approve this agreement. I doesn't know if they will stay in Cyprus
after the next elections but I doubt it.

I suppose this move will push precious metals and bitcoin up.
I also think there is a big market for smart contracts: the type useful
for this type of contracts:

http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/How-To-Hire-An-Assassin-On-The-Secret-Internet-4359813.php

They already want be paid in bitcoin, but a smart contract would take
away the trust problem between the parties. The payer would send an open
transaction to the network and the transaction would be fulfilled when
some oracle tell it so. If the contract is not fulfilled before an
agreed upon time, the sum return to the owner address.
Think about it like a Kickstarter service; or we could call it a
Kickender? People could crowd-fund these contracts anonymously.

In a world where government seize your money easily when smart contracts
are possible and easy to setup, I think there will be a lively market to
end some people lives.

There was some book of Vance about a planet where all people was forced
to wear an explosive necklace when they were born and a single man, the
anome, totally unknown to anyone, was able to activate them as he
wished. And people wrote public letters to the anome to have their wrong
redressed when there was no other recourse.
I remember some other book where elected politicians were forced to wear
some explosive device and it would blow up if a majority of the people
so wished.

Good idea, different implementations.

Mirco








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