John Ward TROIKA AFTER GREEK SELF-EMPLOYED PENSIONS - SOURCES

GLOBAL LOOTING: “Greek pensions will be the next target” – Athens sources

The oddly twisted logic of the Troika knows no bounds

First of all we had the Belgo-Prussian insanity of treating an economic recession throughout ClubMed with fiscal strangulation of demand. Then we had Dodo and Heini plus Lafarge of the IMF taxing those with no money when the folks with a little money couldn’t cough up enough. Now there’s a new approach: if they don’t have any cash, let’s go for the savings. And as the Cyprus heist seems to have taught the Troikanauts one thing – don’t be too public about embezzlement – the idea now is to quietly filch the money direct from the pension supplier. Life now in the EU is all about “cut out the middle man”.
This from a source in Athens this afternoon, in relation to the grudgingly resumed Troika/Samaras Government negotiations:

“The Troika is after confiscating private pensions, while covering up the collapse of pension funds in the absence of contributions. This “black hole” in Insurance funds is expected at the end of the year to reach €2 billion. This is because unemployment reached 30%, wages collapsed to 500 euros, and nobody in the corporate sector is keeping up employer contributions. So now the Troika wants to start with pensions of the self-employed, confiscating around €50 million in the first wave. Estimations of the average pension cut are in the region of €220.”

This is a cunning move on the part of the mobsters: not quite enough for anyone to notice….and when the shortfall comes to light, they can plead “adverse market conditions”. Sociopathy works better when there is sleight of hand in the shadows.

A confirmatory source suggests that this might also explain other moves during the last 48 hours. Stay tuned.

Earlier at The Slog: Some astonishing Twitter-bollocks