A lot of people are assuming that they’ll have sufficient warning of the next stage in the banking crisis to act to protect their savings, their pension funds, and their investments. But the recent events suggest you won’t, because as the following chart from Zerohedge makes clear, those who are managing the crises are very good at keeping things under wraps until they’ve gotten their own money out of danger, which requires making sure that everyone else is still doing business as usual. After all, the markets cannot be exited without the greater fools to be left holding the bag.
In looking at this chart of depositor outflows, remember that the news of the imminent banking collapse and subsequent deposit heists were a complete shock to most people earlier this month. But not, quite clearly, everyone.
The suggestions were right out in public a month before. “There have also been suggestions that private depositors with investments of more than 100,000 euros should be obliged to endure a “haircut”.” – BBC, Feb 15, 2013
But they won’t be sufficient to inspire most people to action, given that the suggestions will be viewed as nothing more than remote possibilities until they actually happen.