Its sad to see the Cyprus government proposing taking a percentage of peoples life savings. Its sad to see the financial system resorting to these types of measures. Its sad that once again, the little guy must pay for wrong doings done by someone else. Its sad, when a government breaks its own guarantees and laws.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/03/18/174619914/where-the-bank-really-keeps-your-money

To me, this is just another step down on the inward spiral of destruction of the financial system. There are other choices that could have been made that would help protect these little peoples money. We have seen globally, recently, about the banks, politicians, corporations, etc, involved in corruption, with the little guy being the victim every time. The little guy is always the victim, the heirarchy of our social structure dictates this to be the end result.

We have protection insurance in Canada on our savings, but only up to $100,000. Anything over that is not insured and is at risk in a banking crisis. But, after what looks like might be going on in Cyprus, I question the security of one dollar in a bank. A little off topic, but the biggest banks in Canada now own the TSX, and we can see how much help we are getting from the exchange in our serious matter.

I am amazed at the percentage amount of assets the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) has on hand should there be a financial crisis here or a bank run;

{According to the CDIC's 2010 Annual Report, CDIC protects $590 billion CAD in total eligible deposits, and has $1.95 billion CAD in assets to meet insurance claims.[4] This amount represents 0.33% of total eligible deposits. The CDIC is also authorized to borrow up to $17 billion if necessary from the federal government or the financial markets, and may request further funds from Parliament.}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Deposit_Insurance_Corporation

If you look at the last line of the above excerpt, you will see that the banks can get some from Parliament if they run out, but that amount still only equates to about 3 %. Where would the money come from for the other 97%? Well, they could print it, and perhaps share, so that no one would get left out in a scenario like this. But, I guess if it got that bad, no one would be worrying about money anyhow.

Its sad when a country announces globally that it may have to take money from its citizens that were fortunate to save a couple dollars in these troubled times. Its sad to think that someone in Cyprus may have been saving for a house or even expensive medical treatment, thinking ALL their money was safe, and to find out they may just be set back 6-7% and must try to save for a longer period, while they get sicker or watch their current dwelling fall down around their feet perhaps.

IMO