In November 1983 at the Brinks MAT warehouse at
Heathrow
Airport, a gang of robbers stole
£26 million in cash, gold and diamonds. It was described as the greatest bank robbery
in history. However on Monday the Government of Cyprus overtook that by a long
way! They agreed to steal over 5 billion euroes from the savings accounts of ordinary
Cypriot people who have been naughty enough to save a certain amount of their personal
income together. You may think "steal" is too emotive a word; the
news is calling it a "levy"; it's hardly the same thing... is it?
Yes. The only difference is that the
money is inside the accounts and not in their wallets. If it were the latter
you'd call the police; but this act of grand theft is being done in the open,
with unbelievable arrogance, by these people's own government. It's amazing how
terrified governments are of disturbing one hair on any banker's head; they're
virtually tip-toeing around them with their elbows pressed to their sides and
their shoulders hunched, not daring to ask them to toss a penny their way.
There is now a controlled run on the banks, foreign investors from
Russia
and
Italy, on which
the island depends, are pulling out; wages will fall and retail prices will
shoot through the roof. This is going to ruin the economy of
Cyprus
for decades to come.
It's worth comparing Cyprus
with Iceland,
two island nations at opposite corners of Europe, separated
a vast distance by economic policy as well as geography. Iceland
was where the crisis first kicked off in 2008, and Iceland's
prime minister, Joanna Sigurthardottir and the women she recruited to her
cabinet have let the bankers fry, they've refused to be "rescued" by
the IMF and have even jailed some of the bank shareholders for fraud. (I'm a very
harsh critic of feminism, but I can't help noticing the fact that the only
decent politicians in Europe right now are female!) Iceland
is now making a swift and productive economic recovery. Surely there is a
lesson to be learned here, Cyprus.
