Cyprus Part Three: The Infection Spreads

I was pleased to read yesterday that the Cypriot Parliament rejected the savings-confiscation measure the EU central bank had proposed as a condition of a bailout loan for Cypriot banks. I was considerably less pleased to read this:

The National Government are pushing a Cyprus-style solution to bank failure in New Zealand which will see small depositors lose some of their savings to fund big bank bailouts, the Green Party said today.

Open Bank Resolution (OBR) is Finance Minister Bill English’s favoured option dealing with a major bank failure. If a bank fails under OBR, all depositors will have their savings reduced overnight to fund the bank’s bail out.

"Bill English is proposing a Cyprus-style solution for managing bank failure here in New Zealand – a solution that will see small depositors lose some of their savings to fund big bank bailouts," said Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman.

"The Reserve Bank is in the final stages of implementing a system of managing bank failure called Open Bank Resolution. The scheme will put all bank depositors on the hook for bailing out their bank.

"Depositors will overnight have their savings shaved by the amount needed to keep the bank afloat."

An Anglospheric country -- a country steeped in Anglo-American conceptions of individual rights, most notably the sanctity of property -- is actually entertaining the EU's noxious scheme. Moreover, the proposal has strong support from inside the sitting government of New Zealand.

If memory serves, the subjects of that government are not conceded the right to keep and bear arms. That might be all that's keeping Finance Minister Bill English's skin intact.

I hate to say "I told you so," even when I did. Just as much as anyone else, I wanted to believe that "it can't happen here." But if it can happen in New Zealand, why can't it happen in America, especially as several variations on the idea have already been discussed on the floor of the Senate, in open session?

Now more than ever, it's vital to the survival of any degree of freedom whatsoever that Americans retain their firearms. The one and only control we have over the actions of our political class is the threat of an armed revolt. It's high time we let the politicos know that we've had enough and will tolerate no more...and that the price for any further incursions upon our rights will be exacted from their hides.