Europeans are used to the hypocrisy, the absence of principles, and the systematic theft they see in their banking and government sectors – they have been seeing these things for decades. The average European worker, however, figures that it doesn’t impact him much because he doesn’t own stocks or bonds, and his pension is guaranteed by the government…so there has always been an assumed “floor” to how bad things could get for the working class. Up until now, this assumed ‘floor’ on how bad things could get has keep the typical wage-earner disinterested, or at least has kept his interest to a minimum, and with very short term recall.
This time is different for said average European wage-earner, because the pittance he has in the bank is now at risk, at least in his mind… his dreams of a new car, or a summer holiday, even his monthly expenses are now at risk in his mind, in a way they never have been before – the floor has fallen away, and he realizes just how exposed he is to the malfeasance of his bank, and his government. Suddenly, it is all *very* interesting, and it will now remain that way. FEAR is a powerful thing, and while the normalcy bias will neutralize a certain amount of fear in the average person, when that bias breaks, the full force of mass fear and distrust will be seen. This is the “sea change” which has come to pass in Europe in the last week, and the crest of this wave of fear and distrust has yet to be seen.
Bitcoins, Gold and Silver, and just plain cash-on-hand are suddenly very hot topics to the majority of working-class Europeans, and I doubt that all the propaganda TPTB can sling for the next year will put the genie of FEAR back in the bottle.
The details of the levy in Cyprus don’t even matter. What matters now is that the average man has transitioned from a disinterested state to one of fear – for now at least, that fear is contained – but is is a massive potential force, ready and waiting to be unleashed at the next bit of news which excites the same underlying distrust.
This is the biggest consequence of the Cyprus ‘Bail-In’ which came into being over the weekend – things have changed, and they will not be changing back any time soon. Any subsequent hint of a “wealth levy” in Ireland, Portugal, Spain, or Italy would be a very effective trigger, loosing this pent-up fear into outright panic, and then you will see the bloody spectacle of full-on bank runs across Europe, with all the consequences thereof.
An actual levy or capital control measure need not even occur – any plausible indication of such an impending event could likely be enough to trigger a run, and once triggered, “all bets are off” as they say.
WE HAVE BEEN WARNED
LT
~Those who abuse Liberty, sentence themselves to death!
