I would like you to read one or two articles on the Cyprus banking situation/bailout. I have posted a few articles on Sapling. There are others at http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/cyprus/index.html?8qa (you may need to have a subscription, but you could see what articles might be of interest and to go the library ).
Some questions you may consider: How does the FDIC (deposit insurance) help the US banking system operate smoothly? Why should the large (Cypriot) depositors carry most of the burden of the Cyprus bank bailouts? Is that fair? In one article it mentioned that those who lost money would get ‘shares’ in the banks. Is that a good compromise? When the US bailed out its financial sectors (and some other sectors such as the auto industry) it was the taxpayers who paid the bill. Was that fair? What are some arguments in favor of the US plan? What are some arguments in favor of the Cyprus plan ?
You may think of some other ideas that you may discover when you read; feel free to talk about anything–at least anything that relates to economics/the course !