You Can Be Sure Congressional Liberals Are Watching Cyprus

Over the weekend, the Cypriot Parliament announced it was considering imposing a 10% tax on all bank deposits held in that nation's banks as part of an agreement for an EU and IMF-backed bailout plan. The panic that ensued sent shock waves through European financial markets and led to a run on banks forcing the country to impose a bank closure to prevent the further withdraw of deposits. The banks remain closed. It now looks as if the proposal has been rejected but this is an ominous precedent especially since we know American liberals love to look to Europe as a source for "good" ideas.

To borrow from my Navy past, Cyprus finds herself "In Extremis" which is a term that means in grave circumstances that require significant action to avert disaster - with ships this refers to a collision at sea. When collisions occur, the accident investigations almost always find that the captains of the two vessels fail to recognize (or deny) the danger, make a series of small course and speed corrections that don't change the eventual outcome, and ultimately are forced to take drastic steps in their futile effort to avoid calamity. Sound familiar?

Deny: "There's no immediate debt crisis." - Pres. Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner

A series of small course and speed corrections: Continuing Resolutions, Debt Ceiling increases, and sequestration.

In Extremis maneuver: Seizing assets from private citizens.

That would never happen here you say? I wouldn't be so sure.

With our out of control government's insatiable appetite for revenues and seemingly endless ability to squander money, Congressional liberals might consider a European-style levy, penalty or tax on bank assets a "good" idea when facing a fiscal In Extremis situation. Even though their Cypriot counterparts came to their senses and rejected the idea, are you confident our Congress would? Cypriot citizens even rejected their Parliament's counter proposal to only impose the tax on "the rich". What would our current "Politics of Envy" generation Americans do? The answers to these questions are anything but certain.