Iceland Shows the World How to Deal with the Banksters

Iceland is pretty much the only country in the Western world to have gone through a horrific financial crisis and come out the other side.  How did they achieve this feat?  Well, they gave the banksters the middle finger.  Meanwhile, what have we gotten in the U.S. and Western Europe in return for bailing out these pampered, leveraged speculators that couldn’t make a dime without government backing?  Debt slavery for the people, bigger, more powerful and increasingly dangerous financial institutions and unelected technocratic Goldman Sachs puppets as heads of state.  Well at least one country got it right.  Go Iceland!

Yes, I know the argument.  Iceland is tiny.  The rest of the world is so complex!  Give it a rest.  These are sad excuses for the failure of corrupt policies by crony capitalists and their sympathizers.

Key Quotes:
It has repaid, early, many of the international loans that kept it afloat. Unemployment is hovering around 6 percent, and falling. And while much of Europe is struggling to pull itself out of the recessionary swamp, Iceland’s economy is expected to grow by 2.8 percent this year.

But during the crisis, the country did many things different from its European counterparts. It let its three largest banks fail, instead of bailing them out. It ensured that domestic depositors got their money back and gave debt relief to struggling homeowners and to businesses facing bankruptcy.

Some Icelanders say they have been soothed, too, by the country’s bold decision to initiate an extensive criminal investigation into the financial debacle. Many members of the old banking elite have been identified as possible suspects, and some of their cases are beginning to come to trial; several people were convicted of financial crimes last month.

I love how the NY Times skews prosecuting financial criminals as somehow “bold.”  What a sham.

Full article here.

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