If you have savings in US Dollars, this is happening to you almost annually as we inflate our money supply.
That's why I'm smart, I only have debt in US dollars!
THIS!
Though, not quite annually, but QE-infinity ($40-80B/mo depending how its allocated) is close to / above a 5% monetary inflation (about 3-4% or so once real GDP growth is factored in) so given a typical savings yield of 0-1%, the Cypriot 6.75-9% haircut is simply 2-3 years of what is ALREADY happening here.
Toss in the now "normal" 60-70% of new treasury issue purchases by the fed and its even worse. The only reason prices haven't been affected nearly as much is due to downward price pressure by elastic demand for certain things, but it can be plainly seen in commodities dominated by imports and priced in dollars (oil).
If you have savings in US Dollars, this is happening to you almost annually as we inflate our money supply.
That's why I'm smart, I only have debt in US dollars!
Don't know if in jest, but this actually makes sense...if debt cannot be eliminated, at least its being inflated away, provided your savings are inflation protected.
Which reminds me...time for another silver/gold buy.