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.

US government’s Slippery Slope towards Capital Controls

Even as US stock market booms, the US government appears to be desperately corralling resources of their constituency by the escalating use of capital controls to prevent internal funds from flowing out of the country.

Sovereign Man’s Simon Black explains (Daily Paul.com)

The path to tyranny is almost always paved with good intentions.

And so, enter stage left, the innocuously named Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

These government agencies with the catchy, high-sounding names are always the most dangerous. After all, it was the 'Committee for Public Safety' that was responsible for wanton genocide during the post revolution Reign of Terror in France.

Recently, the CFPB 'encouraged' retail banks in the Land of the Free to 'help' their customers regarding international wire transfers. And by 'help', they mean prohibit.

Of course it's all for 'consumer protection'.. So under the guise of safety and security, several banks will curtail retail customers' abilities to send international wire transfers.

Chase, for example, will start to limit cash withdrawals and ban business customers from sending international wire transfers from November 17 onward.

And starting October 20th, HSBC USA's Premier clients will have to wait a minimum of five days before transferring funds to their OWN international accounts!

This is the very nature of capital controls-- restricting the free flow of capital across borders until it is trapped inside the country and forcibly denominated in a rapidly devaluing currency.

And this is exactly how it starts... making it more difficult to move money abroad.

We've been writing for years that this would happen. This isn't some tin-foil hat conspiracy. This is reality.

Throughout history, bankrupt governments have almost always resorted to these same desperate tactics.

As the US government is hours away from crossing the fiscal Rubicon, it only seems appropriate. They are bankrupt, and they are desperate.