Expect More Government Theft

Eric King interviewed Dr. Pippa Malgren on King World News, and this part of the interview was fascinating:

Dr.  Malmgren spoke about government theft going forward:  “Look, we are in a world where every major industrialized government doesn’t have the funds to deliver on the promises they’ve made to the public.  So they are going to reach for the public’s cash in different ways....

“Some of it is through higher taxes.  Some of it is what I would call ‘expropriation,’ although taxation and even inflation are a version of that.  But for example, Portugal, about a year ago, announced that they were nationalizing three of Portugal Telecom’s pension funds and placing the assets on the government’s balance sheet so that the government’s balance sheet would look better for the purposes of negotiating with the EU.

Now, were those pensioners expropriated?  Yes.  It made page 14 of the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, as if it was a non-event.  But I think what we saw in Cyprus, a really overt expropriation, we are going to see that come in lots of different forms (going forward).  Some of it will be obvious like Cyprus.  Some of it will be subtle like Portugal, but what’s sure is that it’s happening.”

Eric King:  “When you discuss that, really we are talking about theft, and when I spoke with Art Cashin about it, he talked about it violating the rule of law.”

Dr. Malmgren:  “Yes, it does come down to a very fundamental, political relationship between the citizen and the state ... So, yes, we have a really important political, philosophical battle now as states (and governments) try to find a way to take your cash in order to fund themselves, and not necessarily to the citizens best interest.”

Eric King:  “So going forward, if I’m hearing you correctly, expect more (government) theft.”

Dr. Malmgren:  “Really what’s happening is it’s a change in the rules of the game, which means that your cash is increasingly at risk of ending up in the government’s hands.  So this is what we need to be alert to around the world.” 

I believe Dr. Malgren is totally correct in her assessment and we must protect ourselves and our families from our tyrannical governments