By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Gold's rise seemed unstoppable at one point, but millions of fanatics got a jolt last month when the market posted its biggest collapse in 30 years, including a 9 percent one-day drop to less than $1,400 on April 15.
Have you heard about a nation so in debt, it is seizing assets from the bank accounts of private citizens? On the other side of the world, a modern-day Greek tragedy is taking place now on the island of Cyprus that has implication here at home.
European politicos facing sluggish economic growth will definitely turn to the rich to take their cash, said one banking head, remarking on the potential for repeat in the raid on Cyprus savings.
Butch Cassidy became a household name in 1889 after he galloped off with a $20,000 unauthorized withdrawal from the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride, Colo. In today's dollars, that's around $500,000. Modern thieves rely on stolen passwords and wire transfers to make bigger scores, such as the trio who were close to pilfering $300 million from Sumitomo Bank in London before they were caught.
The events unfolding in Cyprus are examples of deja vu happening all over again ("Bank of Cyprus depositors get costly 'haircut'; Bailout could shave off 60 percent," Web, Sunday).
The Dow Jones industrial average touched another record high Tuesday after reports on auto sales and factory orders provided the latest evidence that the U.S. economy is strengthening. Traders also plowed money back into European stocks on optimism that the financial situation in Cyprus has stabilized after a tense, four-day holiday weekend.
Barbed wire-topped walls stretch across the narrow, twisted streets of Nicosia's walled medieval city, where abandoned buildings extend across a no-man's land. On the other side, Turkish Cypriots have been watching with fascination — and consternation — as the economy of their long prosperous southern neighbors implodes.
The Standard & Poor's 500 crossed into record territory Thursday, beating a previous all-time high set in pre-financial-crisis days.
There is a deal in place that will bail out the government of Cyprus — but only after extracting more than $5 billion from bank depositors and plunging the economy into uncertainty. It virtually guarantees the island nation will stay in the recession that has been plaguing it for the past six quarters.
Worries about Europe pushed the stock market lower Wednesday, a day after the Dow Jones industrial average had its biggest gain in three weeks.
Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer posed an interesting theory on Fox News's Special Report Monday night, saying Apple should buy the troubled country of Cyprus with the cash it has on hand.
Money that's been trapped in Cyprus banks for the last two weeks could begin to cross the Atlantic and flood the American banking system starting Thursday when banks on the European island reopen, one banking expert predicts.
Money that's been trapped in Cyprus banks for the last two weeks could begin to cross the Atlantic and flood the American banking system starting Thursday when banks on the European island reopen, one banking expert predicts.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed within a short reach of its all-time high on Tuesday. Rising home prices and orders for manufactured goods drove stocks up from the opening bell.
There has been global outrage about the proposal from the Cyprus government to have a significant one-time tax on those who have deposits in Cypriot banks. It has been correctly called a theft of private capital. What many fail to realize is that from the beginning, governments have been engaged in this type of theft, including the U.S. government.
