About the Cyprus situation...
I can see why people say it's an unwise decision; setting a precedent that frightens deposit holders in other financially troubled countries and all that. But unfair? Without this deal the people who had deposits at Cypriot banks could very well have lost the bulk of their money. Even people with less than 100.000 E's would not be safe - look at Iceland; the only reason people got back any money at all was because the Icelandic government nationalised the parts which held accounts from natives and because the British and Dutch governments helped out their own citizens and were never compensated.
In the deal that was voted down the other day, most deposit holders would pay about 6% of their assets - which is pretty close to the interest rate that these banks pay for one single year. Am I supposed to feel sorry for these people, who've parked tens or hundreds of thousands of euro's in a place that yields extremely high returns, which would never be offered by a sustainable bank which operates responsibly, and are asked for a contribution equal to one single year of interest for bailing out their sorry asses?
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