Saturday, October 19, 2013

Robert Wenzel warns US citizens to move their money out of the banking system

The US banking system appears to be in preparation for a Cyprus like deposit bail-in/capital controls by making withdrawals in the banking system more difficult.

Writes Austrian economist Bob Wenzel at the Economic Policy Journal: (hat tip Lew Rockwell)
I am now advising that your money be moved outside the US banking system. Within the last 24 hours, I have learned of two major banks that are making it difficult for you to send international wires or draw out large amounts of cash. Both JPMorganChase and HSBC USA have instituted new policies which will make it difficult for you to withdraw your funds in certain ways. This is not good. There are apparently some workarounds relative to these policies, but just try setting up those workarounds when you want to move your money during some kind of panic.

This is what you will face:

Bank line in California in 2008 at IndyMac Bank

Totalitarians don't take away all your freedoms at once. They do it in incremental measures. Watch the movie The Pianist to understand how many Jews ended up in gas chambers by shrugging off early totalitarian measures.

The prevention or delaying of certain customers from sending international wires, and JPMorganChase stopping some accounts from withdrawing large amounts of cash,  is a serious signal that we are well along the way to a banking sector that doesn't respect its customers and has no compunctions about preventing customers from pulling out their money, if the banks deem it in their interest to prevent such withdrawals.

Bottom line: You are playing with fire if you keep any serious amount of money in a US bank.
The above echoes Sovereign Man’s Simon Black’s warning on the imposition by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to “limit cash withdrawals and ban business customers from sending international wire transfers” as I earlier posted here.

If the US economy has indeed been booming, then why has US political authorities been resorting to discreet imposition of capital controls? Don't be misled by the market melt-up, the above are signs of desperation rather than of optimism.  

UPDATED TO ADD: To my US based readers, pls take all the necessary precaution.

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