Dictators & Bank Runs

The economy is strongly tied to the fate of the geopolitical world. Its an understatement to say when there is a crisis in any significant part of the world, the economy suffers.

Turmoil has hit the Middle-East, perhaps the beginning of something more. As the dust of the Egypt protests and violence begins to settle, an even more violent uprising and protest in Libya has begun.

Introducing Muammar al-Gaddafi

Ex-Colonel, now the leader of Libya from a successful coup. He faces a bloody open revolt by his people for ignoring the basics of public care, unemployment and the traditional reason of corruption. More or less, Libya is in a state of civil war with the opposition unwilling to back down and Gaddafi issuing a statement of ' fighting to the bitter end'.

'Gaddafi has vowed to "fight to the death" in defense of his leadership of the country, and has responded to the unrest with large scale and extremely violent military and police crackdowns in the cities of Benghazi and Tripoli, which include the use of artillery and airplanes against protesters. As of late February, the country appeared to be rapidly descending into chaos as hundreds of people were reported to have died in the violence, Gaddafi is reported to have imported foreign mercenaries to defend his regime, and large swaths of the country, particularly in Eastern Libya, are reported to have fallen into the hands of anti-Gaddafi elements'

-Wall Street Journal / AP

Bank Run in Korea

Did you know there was a bank run in Korea? Most probably you didn't. This incident is kept extremely quiet by the major presses and hardly even heard around the circles of even business.
South Korean banks now suffering from the classic bank run.

Bank Run: Its when depositors lose confidence in either paper currency of the banks credibility to assure their deposits and hence literally run to the bank to withdraw every dollar they have.

Isn't Asian economies suppose to be safe and immune from the Western problems? Not really, remember we are all interconnected and from the looks of this, time to be cautious of even the local banks. Check this out:

'More than a thousand customers lined up in front of the Busan II Savings Bank located in Busan yesterday as soon as the nation’s financial regulator announced a six-month business suspension of Busan Savings Bank and its affiliate Daejeon Mutual Savings Bank.'

The government is doing its best to calm people, but it's not working:

“I’ve saved 40 million won ($35,810) over my whole life. That money was going to be used for my grandson’s marriage but I cannot trust these people [bank employees] saying that I am guaranteed to get my money back,” said Cho So-young, 79.

Is it any wonder now gold has creeped back up the USD 1400/oz mark and silver has reached a 30 yr high? I think not.

http://www.businessinsider.com/there-are-fears-of-a-massive-run-on-the-banks-in-a-country-youd-never-suspect-2011-2?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+clusterstock+(ClusterStock)