ECB calls Cyprus deposit theft "solidarity levy"

From the Washington Post:

“If the government wants to change the structure of the solidarity levy for the banking sector, the government can decide as such,” European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen said today in Berlin. “What’s important is that the planned revenue of 5.8 billion euros remain.”

The Orwellian theme from government leaders has gone global. Let's raise our victory gin to the solidarity tax, which will help us defeat Eurasia! We've always been at war with Eurasia, or was it Oceania?

In case you were wondering, what is supposed to happen when a bank fails is that the value of the stock goes to zero, bond holders are impaired to the extent needed up to a 100% loss or conversion to equity, then the state takes over the bank and depositors with balances above the insurance limit take losses. In this case, they are hitting all depositors first, including those below the insurance limit, and apparently leaving the bond holders and management untouched. In fact, it is blatant theft of lunch money by the EU and ECB bullies.

The global game now is to make sure when the next government backed bank theft comes, the next MF Global, the next TARP, etc. your money isn't there.