Iceland: A great example for the rest of the world

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Azure

How are they a great example to the rest of the world when their government, after being elected by the 'forward thinking people' of Iceland proceeded to deregulate their financial industry to the point where it started the financial crisis?

While fun to suggest, Iceland had nothing to do with the start of the financial crisis. That was in the hands of the US of A. The aftermath of which hit Iceland first, and because of the size of this nation it was hit quite badly as unlike many larger nations we did not have the ability to cover the collapse.

In fact, if you go by size of the country, the crash was the biggest suffered by any country ever in history.

A complete and utter lie, there are nations in the last 100yrs that have seen massive inflation and collapses that dwarf Iceland, not to mention the great depression, the tech bubble and dozens of other cases of economic downturns.

Like it or not, the people are responsible for that as well, considering they elected the government.

Exactly, like the US people should be held to account for wallstreet, they should pay out the losses of wallstreet fully and completely for decades to come. Its their fault their elected representatives lost their savings and destroyed much of their economy. So yes, 100% American taxpayers are fully responsible for the actions of their financial sector.

We can without hesitation now state this as a fact, Azure is fully for this.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Azure

Sounds like a crappy justification for a country that won't make right what they screwed up.

WTF, do you have ANY idea of what happened??? Private banks, went overboard, and then collapsed. These banks defaulted and the nation took them over. The minnimum guarantee like the minnimum deposit insurance you see in the US and Canada was the only thing on the hook for Icelandic banks.

So before referendum #1, we're told "pay this debt or your nation will collapse." We overwhelmingly vote no. Leading up to vote #2, we are told this is our last chance to pay, if we don't we'll face the worst economic disaster in history of Iceland. We say no, BAM, nothing happens. Eventually within 5 days of our final "pay before date" the national bank announces it not only has the assets to cover 'icesaves' debt, but that it had it all along.

Interesting, so 2 referendums the bank tried to force this debt upon the people of Iceland which would have burdened 2 generations (its a small country) but after our President forced 2 referendums we finally walked away with our national bank fully and completely paying our debts without a single tax payer being stuck with the bill..

OH AZURE, GREAT SOCIALISM.... Not so much, more accurately we acted like a conservative would, the bank needs to collapse and its not the responsiblity of the tax payer to recover its debts.....

I don't care if its hindsight. Once upon a time I created a lot of credit card debt. Wasn't a good decision, hell it was a stupid decision. Difference between me and the people of Iceland is that I had to pay it out, and couldn't just 'default' on it and say 'screw you' to the credit card company.

You have obviously ZERO clue what your talking about. I lost all respect for you when it comes to this discussion, because you assumed like usual a lot about this issue, and now you look like the idiot you are. GJ.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by zuluking

Also from the article about the economic recovery of a country with 300,000 people...

Key to Iceland’s recovery has been an IMF-supported program worth $2.1 billion that ended in August this year.

...and another $2.5bn of loans and currency swaps from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

Sweeeeet!! Suck it rest of the world, indeed!

Yep we took loans, and we are honoring them. In fact the deposit guarantee's are being paid out for those people investing into an online bank offering crazy high interest rates... Lets not at all blame the idiots who invested in an online bank from Iceland promising 3 times the interest rates of normal banks.... Right, those people were totally making solid investment decisions, did not deserve at all to lose great portions of their money based on their own greed.

Yep, all Iceland's fault.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

I wish Iceland well but I can't see how welching on your debts is a great example or even practical for the rest of the world, the only reason it was practical for Iceland was its small centrally located population of 300,000 meant it could survive on a few small goodwill loans from Sweden and Norway.

It didnt. Private bank collapsed, the minnimum guarantee per account was honored and is being payed out.

Greece, with 10 million people, doesn't have the option to retreat into a few decades of somewhat poverty stricken self sufficiancy living on cod and potatoes.

Hmm, so you have exactly no clue what is happening in Iceland. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

They had crappy lives before they became international bankers, they have gone back to their crappy lives, with the exception that vast numbers of them are in default on their mortgages, but much like Detroit, no one wants the houses so it is unlikely any one is going to be evicted.

Wow, utterly untrue. For decades Iceland has led the way in the top 5 in education, healthcare, life expectancy, and many other categories. Health, education, happyness, standard of living, these things Iceland like its nordic brothers has been at the top for decades.

The reality is borrowing money to open a business or the like in Iceland is imposible, so they are stuck with their lifestyle for decades longer than the rest of us and the brightest and the best will move to europe.

lol, what utter BS. While its a recession in Iceland, life goes on and like before there are businesses opening and people not being held back from starting a business.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Thor

While fun to suggest, Iceland had nothing to do with the start of the financial crisis. That was in the hands of the US of A. The aftermath of which hit Iceland first, and because of the size of this nation it was hit quite badly as unlike many larger nations we did not have the ability to cover the collapse.

I'm having a tough time finding actual dates, but the documentary 'Inside Job' mentioned that while they certainly never were the biggest player on the board, Iceland fell first to the financial crisis.

I never said they started it all, as in it was THEIR fault. I said it the domino's began to fall in Iceland, and subsequently throughout the rest of the world.

If I'm wrong, I take back my comment.

A complete and utter lie, there are nations in the last 100yrs that have seen massive inflation and collapses that dwarf Iceland, not to mention the great depression, the tech bubble and dozens of other cases of economic downturns.

Again, if you go by the 'size' of the country....

The IMF calls the collapse of the banks the biggest banking failure in history relative to the size of an economy.

http://www.economist.com/node/127620...ry_id=12762027

Still a complete and utter lie?

Exactly, like the US people should be held to account for wallstreet,

And again, I never said that. I said they should be responsible for the actions of the government. The actions being the deregulation of the financial industry which allowed the crash, and the bailout afterwards.

they should pay out the losses of wallstreet fully and completely for decades to come.

And again, I never said they should payout the losses that a private sector company creates. The taxpayer is accountable only to government debt, not to the debt any private corporation has. Of course, after the government that the American people elected decided to use taxpayer money to bailout wallstreet, then yes, absolutely the American people should be accountable for paying that back. That and the rest of the $15 trillion that they owe to the rest of the world.

Its their fault their elected representatives lost their savings and destroyed much of their economy. So yes, 100% American taxpayers are fully responsible for the actions of their financial sector.

It is their fault for electing the representatives that deregulated the financial industry without much quarrel, allowing for the massive crash, and of course the economy being destroyed. Did they protest when the deregulation happened? Call their representative? Write the President? Write the editor? Setup town hall meetings? Did they do anything? No. They stood by, probably unaware that it was even happening, and year after year they sent the same people back into Washington that helped create the mess.

The government only does what we allow them to do. And if we don't say anything, the government does stupid things like deregulate a perfectly stable financial industry.

And the same applies to Iceland too.

We can without hesitation now state this as a fact, Azure is fully for this.

You can if you put words into my mouth and make crap up.

Fact of the matter is that the government of Iceland owes a lot of people a lot of money. I never said I agreed with the bailout, or how it was carried out. I said that after the government DID bailout the banks, then the government should be responsible for paying back the debt they incurred by agreeing to those bailouts.

Imagine if Canada just decided that they weren't going to pay back the $500 billion we owe? Or if the US decided to default on their debt?

The only reason Iceland can get away with it is because they are so small.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by peter12

Tiny country, entirely culturally and ethnically homogenous. Ridiculously small and specialized economy. How is this a model for anything but itself?

Exactly. Its a tiny tiny nation, what we did here and the results of it are not an example to the world, but a hint of what larger nations can do. A tiny nation like our own should never have been able to become such a powerful economic entity in the world; but it did, because wallstreet and the financial system encouraged just that.

But because it is so small, when everything collapsed, the pain while serious, was something it could absorb and recover from. We have many years to go, but it will be back to normal before we know it; and unlike before there is a massive amount of pushback against unchecked capitalism.

Unlike the US where you guys have occupy wallstreet and nothing will change, the massively powerful finance sector will continue to dominate your politics and rule your lifes, in Iceland, this will never happen again. We can make change, because we are small, we can move forward.

Can you?

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Azure

I'm having a tough time finding actual dates, but the documentary 'Inside Job' mentioned that while they certainly never were the biggest player on the board, Iceland fell first to the financial crisis.

I never said they started it all, as in it was THEIR fault. I said it the domino's began to fall in Iceland, and subsequently throughout the rest of the world.

If I'm wrong, I take back my comment.

You are wrong, I just sat through Paul Kurtz lecture a few weeks back, and he kept mentioning the same idea the financial sector heard when this happened, Iceland was the canary in the coal mine. It did what the US financial sector did, it did what the US laws allowed for. The only problem, we couldn't finance the collapse.


http://www.economist.com/node/127620...ry_id=12762027

Still a complete and utter lie?

Yup because the problem isn't that we had some unusual laws or regulations that made us unique, but that we had a much smaller population in regards to the size of the investment banking industry. Following again, the US model to a T.

And again, I never said that. I said they should be responsible for the actions of the government. The actions being the deregulation of the financial industry which allowed the crash, and the bailout afterwards.

Ok so you are for the US government putting the collapse of its financial market on to its citizens? That the massive collapse of its financial sector is the responsibility of the citizens which vote in Bush. Good to know.

And again, I never said they should payout the losses that a private sector company creates. The taxpayer is accountable only to government debt, not to the debt any private corporation has. Of course, after the government that the American people elected decided to use taxpayer money to bailout wallstreet, then yes, absolutely the American people should be accountable for paying that back. That and the rest of the $15 trillion that they owe to the rest of the world.

Right, the debt created by a private bank. Then taken over because of its defaulting by the Icelandic government national bank. Which now after 2 referendums has stated it has the funds to pay off the guarantee deposit savings to the foreign investors.....

It is their fault for electing the representatives that deregulated the financial industry without much quarrel, allowing for the massive crash, and of course the economy being destroyed. Did they protest when the deregulation happened? Call their representative? Write the President? Write the editor? Setup town hall meetings? Did they do anything? No. They stood by, probably unaware that it was even happening, and year after year they sent the same people back into Washington that helped create the mess.

I'm curious, the losses suffered in Canada, you know that as a nation it absorbed it, mainly because of smart regulation and well run banking/finance system. But none the less, it had huge losses. You would then be willing to pay those losses correct? I mean you voted for the government in power.

The government only does what we allow them to do. And if we don't say anything, the government does stupid things like deregulate a perfectly stable financial industry.

And the same applies to Iceland too.

Yup, so if you feel Iceland should pay these debts off by a run away financial sector, you must then obviously feel the same about Canada, the US, EU, and the rest of the world.

You can if you put words into my mouth and make crap up.

lol

Fact of the matter is that the government of Iceland owes a lot of people a lot of money. I never said I agreed with the bailout, or how it was carried out. I said that after the government DID bailout the banks, then the government should be responsible for paying back the debt they incurred by agreeing to those bailouts.

Wait you didn't agree with the bailout? But you agree Icelandic citizens should pay the debts of a private run bank which collapsed?

Which is it?

Imagine if Canada just decided that they weren't going to pay back the $500 billion we owe? Or if the US decided to default on their debt?

The only reason Iceland can get away with it is because they are so small.[/QUOTE]

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Thor

WTF, do you have ANY idea of what happened??? Private banks, went overboard, and then collapsed. These banks defaulted and the nation took them over. The minnimum guarantee like the minnimum deposit insurance you see in the US and Canada was the only thing on the hook for Icelandic banks.

So before referendum #1, we're told "pay this debt or your nation will collapse." We overwhelmingly vote no. Leading up to vote #2, we are told this is our last chance to pay, if we don't we'll face the worst economic disaster in history of Iceland. We say no, BAM, nothing happens. Eventually within 5 days of our final "pay before date" the national bank announces it not only has the assets to cover 'icesaves' debt, but that it had it all along.

Interesting, so 2 referendums the bank tried to force this debt upon the people of Iceland which would have burdened 2 generations (its a small country) but after our President forced 2 referendums we finally walked away with our national bank fully and completely paying our debts without a single tax payer being stuck with the bill..

OH AZURE, GREAT SOCIALISM.... Not so much, more accurately we acted like a conservative would, the bank needs to collapse and its not the responsiblity of the tax payer to recover its debts.....

That is all nice and dandy, except Britain and the Netherlands are out $5.6 billion, and I don't care who was at fault, or what happened....fact is the banks in YOUR country failed, and OTHER countries stepped in to help YOU out, but YOU won't pay back that money.

And from I understand, the banks were taken over by the government, who then got loans from Britain and the Netherlands to help keep them going. Those are the loans that are in question.

Obviously it isn't fair that the banks were able to leverage at 10:1 ratios, but the government YOU elected allowed that to happen, so in a way yes you are responsible. We are all responsible for what happened. And if our government spent money bailing out our banks, even as MUCH as I didn't agree with it, I still think we have to pay back that money to whoever it was owed.

I mean perhaps the US should have a referendum and decide whether they will pay back the money they owe to China? Pretty dumb idea.

Iceland isn't the only country that suffered, but they are the only country refusing to pay back their debt.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Thor

Exactly. Its a tiny tiny nation, what we did here and the results of it are not an example to the world, but a hint of what larger nations can do. A tiny nation like our own should never have been able to become such a powerful economic entity in the world; but it did, because wallstreet and the financial system encouraged just that.

But because it is so small, when everything collapsed, the pain while serious, was something it could absorb and recover from. We have many years to go, but it will be back to normal before we know it; and unlike before there is a massive amount of pushback against unchecked capitalism.

Unlike the US where you guys have occupy wallstreet and nothing will change, the massively powerful finance sector will continue to dominate your politics and rule your lifes, in Iceland, this will never happen again. We can make change, because we are small, we can move forward.

Can you?

Good God man, don't make it seem like Iceland was the only nation in the world that suffered. There are people in the rich US that went into poverty because of the crash.

Geez.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Thor

Wow, utterly untrue. For decades Iceland has led the way in the top 5 in education, healthcare, life expectancy, and many other categories. Health, education, happyness, standard of living, these things Iceland like its nordic brothers has been at the top for decades.



lol, what utter BS. While its a recession in Iceland, life goes on and like before there are businesses opening and people not being held back from starting a business.

You forgot to list top 5 in alcoholism as well, surely you arn't just putting the good stuff in there!

Iceland is still essentially closed to external investment and shut out of the international economy.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Thor

You are wrong, I just sat through Paul Kurtz lecture a few weeks back, and he kept mentioning the same idea the financial sector heard when this happened, Iceland was the canary in the coal mine. It did what the US financial sector did, it did what the US laws allowed for. The only problem, we couldn't finance the collapse.

I don't care what some guy said in a lecture. Besides it doesn't matter. Iceland was involved just like everyone else.

And don't play the actions of YOUR government on what the US did. That high standard of living you've had for all these years? I wonder where it came from, if not from the people of Iceland playing the rules of the deregulation in such a way that they benefited massively from the actions of the banks.

Yup because the problem isn't that we had some unusual laws or regulations that made us unique, but that we had a much smaller population in regards to the size of the investment banking industry. Following again, the US model to a T.

Whose fault is that you followed the US? Obama's? Bush's? Clinton's? Or your own governments? I didn't realize the US controlled your laws, or your financial industry. Sounds to me like you're just making up dumb excuses.

And I'm NOT wrong about the size of the crash in comparison to how big your country is. It WAS the biggest crash in history.

Ok so you are for the US government putting the collapse of its financial market on to its citizens? That the massive collapse of its financial sector is the responsibility of the citizens which vote in Bush. Good to know.

What the hell are you talking about? Bush had little to nothing to do with creating the crash. He just helped contribute to it. Like Clinton, Carter, Bush 1 and all the rest did. And what the hell does putting the collapse of the financial sector on its citizens mean? If the the US government used taxpayer dollars to bailout a bank, then yes, the taxpayers should pay back that money.

I'm curious, the losses suffered in Canada, you know that as a nation it absorbed it, mainly because of smart regulation and well run banking/finance system. But none the less, it had huge losses. You would then be willing to pay those losses correct? I mean you voted for the government in power.

Who paid for those losses? Because we had no official government bailouts. People lost millions in the stock market, and no government stepped in to bail them out. Because of that, the taxpayers of Canada don't owe anyone billions more. Iceland on the other hand has debt it should be obligated to pay off.

I actually find it hilarious that the people of Iceland are so up in arms about paying back the debt. Its like they have completely forgotten why they place so high on the index charts of things like standard of living and education. I wonder where you think that money came from?

"Invest in Iceland, get big returns." So easy to forget now that it all crashed. But at the time nobody was complaining.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

You forgot to list top 5 in alcoholism as well, surely you arn't just putting the good stuff in there!

Iceland is still essentially closed to external investment and shut out of the international economy.

Which they should be.

The arrogance coming the people of Iceland is astounding. Most of them were all to happy to ride on the financial train of success from 2001 to 2006. High returns, great investments, the whole world knew if you invested in Iceland, you would make money. And the people of Iceland loved it.

Well all had to take the good with the bad. We all had to deal with the recession, the job losses....everything. And we all have to pay back our debt, and deal with the losses that so many of us suffered.

But no, not the people of Iceland. They want the good times, the high returns, the great investments....and the great standard of living that comes with it, but they don't want to pay the consequences for getting it all.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Azure

That is all nice and dandy, except Britain and the Netherlands are out $5.6 billion, and I don't care who was at fault, or what happened....fact is the banks in YOUR country failed, and OTHER countries stepped in to help YOU out, but YOU won't pay back that money.

Let me explain this slowly. #1 a private bank, one offering suspiciously high interest failed. This bank then went under, and the first question was would Iceland cover its minnimum deposit guarantee, like it did for all its banks in Iceland. This was the first case of an Icelandic bank failing outside the nation, and effecting foreign depositors.

The minnimum guarantee deposits, were promised by the Prime Minister at the time to foreign depositors. BTW this prime minister is now going to court for his handling of the crash.. Anyhow, back to the story, Iceland then fully, the people and government said we would pay this money back, it was our duty.

What happened next was the Landsbanki (national bank of Iceland) said it had no way of covering this debt, even with this crash it was something that sent shockwaves in Iceland and the EU. So a plan by the government was set in motion to have taxpayers on the hook to hold up our obligation to pay this debt back. The propoganda machine was in full motion before the 1st referendum, suggesting our honour was at stake, and that we should not let down our neighbours, our friends, and our business partners...

The amount of guilt, and propganda laid down during this time was incredible. Fast forward to 2 passionately debated referendums, both which ended up with NO votes, we are left with a nation in a major recession saying NO we won't saddle our children with this horrible debt for the next 2-3 decades.

Fast forward to the 1st due date to pay our bills, and magically, our national bank announces not only does it have the money to pay this money owed from the collapse of Icesave, but that it has plenty more in savings.

Let me make this clear for you, our debt, will be paid in full, and not a penny will be put on our children for decades to come. Yet the bank and the corrupt officials in our government tried on 2 occasions to force this debt onto our taxpayers.

And from I understand, the banks were taken over by the government, who then got loans from Britain and the Netherlands to help keep them going. Those are the loans that are in question.

You don't understand much, that you've made quite clear. The UK seized assets by Icelandic companies, declared us a TERRORIST NATION in order to destroy not only our investments and holdings in the UK, but to basically destroy our economy further. As Paul Krugman said it, the UK a free nation, enacted a terrorist act in order to destroy a tiny island nation and ensure its demise. If someone tried to do this to the US, it would have been invaded and treated as an enemy. Yet the UK was able to not only use this terrorism law, it was never confronted for its illegality and its completely devastating effect. To this day, there are Icelanders and UK groups trying to take Mr Brown to trail for this act which helped destroy our nations economy at a time where deals and backroom negotiations were undergoing to minimize Icelands exposure to the collapse.

Obviously it isn't fair that the banks were able to leverage at 10:1 ratios, but the government YOU elected allowed that to happen, so in a way yes you are responsible. We are all responsible for what happened. And if our government spent money bailing out our banks, even as MUCH as I didn't agree with it, I still think we have to pay back that money to whoever it was owed.

You are just making yourself look more silly.

I mean perhaps the US should have a referendum and decide whether they will pay back the money they owe to China? Pretty dumb idea.

Iceland isn't the only country that suffered, but they are the only country refusing to pay back their debt.

Incorrect, wrong, and completely stupid. Sorry but you have no clue what you are talking about.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Azure

But no, not the people of Iceland. They want the good times, the high returns, the great investments....and the great standard of living that comes with it, but they don't want to pay the consequences for getting it all.

You have no fking clue what your talking about.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Thor

You have no fking clue what your talking about.

If that will be your standard reply, obviously there is no further point in adding to this discussion.

I'll just leave one more point. I didn't agree with the bailouts, not because I thought it wasn't important that there is liquid and credit in the system to keep things running, but because I didn't trust the government to effectively bail out 'banks' to the tune of a few trillion, and that they would do it in the right manner.

But, that is besides the point. The US taxpayer probably got screwed over. In fact they did. I've said that many times on here. The 'bailout' was just a massive transfer of wealth from the public to the private sector.

That being said, the money was still borrowed, probably from China, and therefore the US government, and the taxpayers as an extension should be obligated to pay that money back. Even IF the whole thing was a farce.

Hell, there may even be criminal activities such as fraud going on in the background, with certain people getting away with millions, but the FACT is, money was borrowed from China, or from Britain, the Netherlands, Middle East investors, and that money HAS to be paid back. I don't care what the circumstances are.

Iceland owes money to Britain and the Netherlands, and they should pay it back. In the meantime, you, like the rest of us should make sure we have the laws and regulations in place to never let this happen again. But the consequences of our actions are still there. You cannot just ignore them.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Azure

Iceland owes money to Britain and the Netherlands, and they should pay it back. In the meantime, you, like the rest of us should make sure we have the laws and regulations in place to never let this happen again. But the consequences of our actions are still there. You cannot just ignore them.

This is incorrect. Iceland doesn't owe Britain or the Netherlands a cent. The money was borrowed by IceSave, an unregulated private bank, which had at the relevant time virtually no assets at all, and a mountain of debt on paper that really should have set off alarm bells.

The equivalent would be if a hedge fund in Canada owed money to banks in other countries. Should the government pay that back? Sorry--that's not how life works. You don't get free insurance paid for by the taxpayer because you didn't do your own due diligence.

For this discussion to move forward, you really need to explain why you think the taxpayer should be on the hook for money borrowed by a private bank. I don't think the government should be offering free loan insurance to international investors who can't take care of their own money. Call me a libertarian, I guess.

[Azure]

Obviously it is not that simple considering the IMF, UK, and the EFTA Surveillance Authority have all said they need to repay. Hell, even the Iceland government is saying they are obligated to repay, and WILL repay the money owed.

A statement from the ESA makes it clear, in no uncertain terms, that Iceland "is obliged to ensure payment of the minimum compensation to Icesave depositors in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, according to the Deposit Guarantee Directive."

The ESA cites the EEA Agreement, of which Iceland is a member. Part of this agreement is something known as the Deposit Guarantee Directive, which designates Iceland as being responsible for covering the bare minimum on British and Dutch deposits into Icesave.

Mr Per Sanderud, president of the EFTA Surveillance Authority, said of the ruling, "Iceland must comply with the obligations it has subscribed to under the EEA Agreement. It must ensure compensation of all depositors under the conditions prescribed by the Deposit Guarantee Directive and without discrimination."

http://www.grapevine.is/Home/ReadArt...Pay-On-Icesave

And according to Wiki, from this source....

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/...4L0019:EN:HTML

...Iceland wants the issue to go to EFTA court. Interesting to see where it will end up.

I still say they are obligated to repay as per the EEA agreement which they are a part of.

Obviously if the parent bank of Icesave has the assets to cover the costs, and they can liquidate them, then that is the course that should be taken first. If not, the government, as per the agreement, is liable €20,887 (£18,000) for each Icesave account.

Your hedge fund example doesn't work unless our government has such an agreement in place as well.

But Iceland can't simply join the EEA and benefit from it, and then turn around and say 'screw you' when it comes time to make good on ALL parts of the contract, not just the ones that gave them access to the EU market, trading and other things that may have benefited them financially.

[Azure]

I should mention that I can easily see where the people of Iceland would be pissed off that they have to foot the bill. Especially now that their membership into the EU is on shaky ground. Hell, the entire EU is probably going to fall apart.

From a moral viewpoint, I don't agree with having to bail out a private bank that was in fact making bad investment decisions either, nor does it seem fair that the taxpayer is suddenly responsible to compensate the depositors. But, unless I'm really missing something, which would mean the UK, IMF and EFTA Surveillance Authority are all missing it as well, the EEA agreement, which Iceland signed, holds them responsible to a certain degree to compensate the depositors. Sure it sucks. It sucks even more because they don't have the population or the economy to cover it.

Still doesn't mean you don't have to live up to the terms of an agreement they DID sign.

[THE SCUD]

haha, sorry guys - I wrote "welsh" as a play on words (which I think a few people got). I am English and thought it would be funny....

Moving along...