Just as we predicted when the Cypriot bail-in debacle was in full swing a few months ago, it seems that Cyprus was indeed the test case for an EU-wide model of dealing with failed banks. We can’t possibly take all the credit for the accuracy of our assessment, especially when on the 25th of March Eurogroup president, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, accidentally likened the Cypriot bailout negotiations to a “template” that could be used again in other future bailout situations. A frenzy of back-peddling via Twitter ensued, with Dijsselbloem spinning his template remark into a “tailor made” case in which “no models or templates” were used.

Cut to the 21st of June, where finance ministers are due to meet in Luxembourg in order to agree upon a unified way of dealing with failed banking institutions. With a third of the EU’s economic output since the 2008 crash having been spent on saving failing banks, clearly a set of measures is needed to safeguard the future of the union, and these measures are starting to look suspiciously like what took place in Cyprus in March.

“The costs of future restructurings can’t be wished away,” a senior EU official commented, “We need a mechanism to shift the burden away from taxpayers.”

The main solution up for discussion proposes that in the case of future bank failures the first to be affected should be shareholders in the bank in question, then bondholders and finally depositors with more than 100,000 euros in their accounts. Sound familiar? And are we the only ones to observe that this proposal certainly does hit taxpayers, albeit those with more liquid capital.

The proposed measures are likely to divide Europe’s leaders, with both France and the United Kingdom having voiced their resistance to putting a mechanism in place that cedes the final word to Brussels. On the other end Germany is demanding that such a framework be put in place and uniformly applied throughout the 27 EU member states before the 60 billion euros earmarked for the European Stability Mechanism is made available.

We will keep you informed as the story develops but it certainly seems that a bail-in/out à la Cyprus could be coming to an imploding banking sector near you.

The above question, a mainstay in introductory public speaking and debate courses, is taking on a whole new resonance. Everybody knows that the Federal Reserve has been artificially keeping the U.S economy afloat with $85 billion each month in asset purchases. Everybody knows that there is an ever-growing divide between the way the markets have been performing thanks to QE, and the fundamentals affecting the daily lives of U.S citizens. Everybody knows that this can’t carry on indefinitely, that sooner or later something has to give. What not everybody knows is that there are many signs on the ground indicating this could be sooner rather than later.

Ask the members of a community group in Milwaukie who have posted ominous signs around their neighbourhood which read: “This is a Glock block. We don’t call 911” complete with a picture of a Glock semi-automatic pistol. With police budgets being slashed all over the U.S and crime on the rise, many people are now taking matters into their own hands and are starting to police their own streets. One of the founding members of the above community project is breast cancer survivor Coy Tolonen, who decided to start arming herself after a burglar stole a prized statue off her porch in broad daylight, with her in plain sight.

In the former industrial powerhouse of Detroit things are even worse, America’s most dangerous city for the last four years running has a police force that has lost a quarter of its numbers since 2009, and a murder, rape, robbery and assault rate that is five times the national average. Detroit is currently running a $380 million budget deficit, with vast swathes of the city (around 40%) abandoned as the authorities are unable to provide basic services and patrols for its streets. A solution currently being tested is the employment of unarmed civilians with radios to aid the police by reporting crimes. These budding eyes and ears of law enforcement are doing all they can to help hold a crumbling city together.

In Oakland, in a move more reminiscent of South-Africa than the United States, wealthy citizens are coming together to hire private security firms to patrol their neighbourhoods. In fact if there is an American industry genuinely growing at the moment it is this one.

“With less law enforcement on the streets and more home crime or perception of home crime, people are wanting something to replace that need,” says Chris de Guzman, chief operating officer of First Alarm, which provides private security services for 100 homes in Oakland.

Private security firms are in fact springing up all over the U.S, with a focus on particularly crime-stricken areas such as Atlanta and Detroit. It is being forecast that the private cop business is set to boom in the coming years as the realities become ever-harsher on America’s streets.

So just keep that in mind today when you’re following the FOMC’s announcements and press conference regarding the future of quantitative easing (most commentators agree that there will be no change in asset purchases for the time being), whatever happens the markets are bound to dance their dance, but it’s also good to receive some feedback from the ground up.