By Jeff Berwick: As I write this, the European Union has just
announced a possible $15b aid package to the Ukraine (including 8
billion euros in fresh credit). Everybody has read the headlines about
Europe: record unemployment, no end in sight, and so on. So you might be
wondering just where the European Union, and its' constituent nations,
scrapped together the money to propose aid for the Ukraine. Well, wonder
no more, because the following eight events might give you an idea of
where governments go to get a little extra cash.
2. In December, 2010, Hungary told its citizens that
they could either remit their private pension money to the state or lose
their state pension funds (but still have to pay for it nonetheless)
3. In November, 2010, the French parliament decided to earmark €33bn
from the national reserve pension fund FRR to reduce the short-term
pension scheme deficit.4. In early January 2011, $60 million in private retirement funds were transferred to the state's pension scheme in Bulgaria. They wanted to transfer $300 million, but were denied on their first attempt
5. In the Spring of 2013 Cyprus took it a step further and outright confiscated up to 50% of the funds from bank account holders in that country.