If you are planning to borrow a lot of money and not pay it back, Hungary would probably be the best place to carry out your scheme.
Banks have become accustomed to both justified and unjustified criticisms from politicians in the wake of the financial crisis and the anger the crisis generated.
But in Hungary the measures proposed as a result will place almost the entire burden for stabilising government finances onto the banks and, more critically, stifle the lending needed for the country to grow out of its malaise. The Fidesz government has plans to push the balance between borrower and lender so far in the borrower's favour that non-repayment presents itself as the most attractive option - moral hazard writ large.
On top of a bank tax - which at 4.5% of gross domestic product is larger than anything contemplated in major economies such as the UK and Germany - the Hungarian authorities have suggested a series of measures including a moratorium on repossessions, a provision making it impossible for a borrower to owe more to the bank than a property is worth and a prohibition on the bank demanding interest, late fees or any other penalties in the case of an extended inability to repay.
At the root of the problem is the amount of foreign currency mortgages taken out by Hungarian borrowers, many of them in Swiss francs, a currency which has soared against the forint. Borrowing by individuals in a foreign currency is a strategy fraught with danger and which banks should be cautious about and regulators might wish to forbid. In the absence of this restriction, are the banks the only party to blame or should borrowers also take some responsibility?
Even more outrageous is that Hungary's banks did not require bailing out during the crisis. Foreign-owned banks were supplied with capital by their parents and Hungarian banks such as OTP and FHB received only credit lines that have been repaid with interest. So why the guerrilla tactics?
Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orbán denies that he is an anti-bank Che Guevara, but his strategy could well trigger a bank defeat as catastrophic as that of the CIA-backed Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs.
