The War On Cash Ratchets Up In Greece With “Soft Cash” Ban

by Jeff Berwick, The Dollar Vigilante:

It wasn’t long ago that it came out that the IMF intentionally wanted to create a “credit event” in Greece – part of a larger plan to destabilize Europe.

The country has already fallen victim to the repercussions of the war on cash, but now the grip of capital control is growing tighter.

The Greek Finance Ministry in their infinite wisdom has decided that its nation’s taxpayers will only be granted deductions or tax-allowances if payments are made using a debit or credit card.

This comes after numerous efforts intended to restructure debt. The Greek crisis started in late 2009, as the great recession revealed problems with the Greek economy. These involved difficulties with deficits, especially those that had not been properly accounted for by the Greek government.

The government already tried to reduce debt 12 different times since 2009 without lasting success. Instead, it has generated riots. Additionally, the government has ended up with additional loans from the IMF and other European funders.

There’s plenty of reasons to believe the IMF and other lenders are not giving Greece enough money. They don’t really want Greece to deal with its problems. The same sort of thing is happening elsewhere, including the US.

There’s far too much federal debt for the citizens ever to pay off in the US. The idea in fact is to trap the US in the same kind of debt trap that afflicts European countries and especially Greece.

These are the parameters that the Greek Finance Ministry has determined the taxpayers will have to pay using electronic money in order to be able to receive the “tax allowance”:

10% for annual income up to €10,000
15% for annual income €10,001- €30,000
20% for annual income over €30,001
income €7,000: expenditure per plastic money must be €700
income €10,000: expenditure per plastic money must be €1,000
income €30,000: expenditure per plastic money must be €4,500
income €60,000 expenditure per plastic money must be €12,000

In the event that a taxpayer is unable or fails to pay the assigned percentage based on these annual income parameters, they will be penalized 22% on the missing difference.

The only exemptions from this mandatory usage of debit and credit cards are residents living in rural and remote areas, senior citizens over the age of 70 or for those people considered to be 80% or more disabled. This is especially bad for a country like Greece where less than 20% of the population is over the age of 65.

To make things even worse, as of December 31st 2016, the maximum limit for cash transactions was lowered from 1,500 to 500 euros, meaning any service or good that costs more than that needs to be paid for with a card.

Clearly, this latest move to force people into using credit or debit cards instead of cash is to ensure that every transaction is taxed. This is one of the main goals of the War on Cash.

The other is funneling everyone into the banking system as interest rates continue to go negative which will grind your average person against the millstone of inflation while charging them for it.

We’ve now seen India and Venezuela move heavily to get rid of cash. And, we’ve seen Europe and the US talk about removing their largest denomination bills as well.

If you end up stuck with your money in a bank account unable to withdraw cash at negative interest rates, you’ll be stuck bleeding money. And thanks to the wonders of negative compound interest, it won’t take very long before you’re broke.

It’s the opposite of the way things in a free market, capitalist, world would be. Much of the capital and therefore wealth that has been created over the centuries, was created through savings and being able to actually earn money from your savings.

That’s all being torn down now in this globalist, communist-style central banking system.

There are ways to protect yourself and even profit from it, however, only if you know what is going on.

Precious metals are a big part. However, not just owning them will be important, but where and how you own them will be equally as crucial as governments become increasingly rapacious the more bankrupt they get. Download our book, Getting Your Gold Out of Dodge, for free, here, to protect yourself.

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