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Iceland Imprisoned Its Bankers And Let Banks Go Bust: What Happened Next In 3 Charts

Tyler Durden's picture




 

This year, Iceland will become the first European country that hit crisis in 2008 to beat its pre-crisis peak of economic output. In spite of its total 180-degree treatment of nefarious bankers, the banking system, and the people of its nation when compared to America (or The UK), Iceland has proved that there is a different (better) option that western dogma would suggest. As abhorrent as this prospect is to the mainstream's talking heads and Keynesian Klowns who bloviate wildly on macro-economics and endless counterfactuals, Iceland came to that fork in the road, and took it...

 

As The Independent reports,

While the UK government nationalised Lloyds and RBS with tax-payers’ money and the US government bought stakes in its key banks, Iceland adopted a different approach. It said it would shore up domestic bank accounts. Everyone else was left to fight over the remaining cash.

 

It also imposed capital controls restricting what ordinary people could do with their money– a measure some saw as a violation of free market economics.

 

The plan worked. Iceland took a huge financial hit, just like every other country caught in the crisis.

 

 

This year the International Monetary Fund declared that Iceland had achieved economic recovery 'without compromising its welfare model' of universal healthcare and education.

 

Other measures of progress like the country’s unemployment rate, compare just as well with countries like the US.

 

 

Rather than maintaining the value of the krona artificially, Iceland chose to accept inflation.

 

This pushed prices higher at home but helped exports abroad – in contrast to many countries in the EU, which are now fighting deflation, or prices that keep decreasing year on year.

 

 

With the reduction of capital controls – tempered by the 39 per cent tax – it continues to make progress.

 

"Today is a milestone, a very happy milestone," Iceland’s finance minister Bjarni Benediktsson told the Guardian when he announced the tax.

*  *  *

But apart from the economics... Iceland also allowed bankers to be prosecuted as criminals – in contrast to the US and Europe, where banks were fined, but chief executives escaped punishment. The chief executive, chairman, Luxembourg ceo and second largest shareholder of Kaupthing, an Icelandic bank that collapsed, were sentenced in February to between four and five years in prison for market manipulation.

"Why should we have a part of our society that is not being policed or without responsibility?" said special prosecutor Olafur Hauksson at the time. "It is dangerous that someone is too big to investigate - it gives a sense there is a safe haven."

 

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Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:03 | 6188230 knukles
knukles's picture

But we're still exceptional!

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:04 | 6188240 localsavage
localsavage's picture

It's a good start.  Throw in a few lawyers and politicians and we may be able to climb our way out of this hole.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:09 | 6188260 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

I'm surprised the US (central bank) didn't suddenly 'find' terrorists in Iceland and promply invade.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:16 | 6188291 wee-weed up
wee-weed up's picture

If it wasn't so damn cold, I'd consider moving there.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:20 | 6188301 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

...but the WOMEN, man! They're exceptional.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:26 | 6188329 Coke and Hookers
Coke and Hookers's picture

Reliable sources tell me that in the years after the crash the Icelandic banksters couldn't go to bars or clubs because they feared they would be physically assaulted by members of the public. There were apparently cases of just that. So they holed up in a private bar lounge in a downtown Reykjavik hotel owned by one of them where they drank booze and snorted coke while they weathered the storm. It's hard being a banksta sometimes.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:32 | 6188352 I am more equal...
I am more equal than others's picture

 

then...“Ich bin ein Berliner”

now... “Ich bin ein Icelander”

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:43 | 6188377 Save_America1st
Save_America1st's picture

well I'm convinced....obviously Iceland must be bombed back to the stone age.

 

that'll learn 'em

;-)

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:45 | 6188380 THE 4th Quadrant
THE 4th Quadrant's picture

Long Abominable Snowmen.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:15 | 6188459 Tom Servo
Tom Servo's picture

Iceland doesn't have many "vibrants" there do they?

 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:43 | 6188525 J S Bach
J S Bach's picture

To the Viking peoples of the Edda, we salute you.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:59 | 6188562 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

Debt to stimulate economic is to banker, is what playing dead to evade beads is to...bears

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:03 | 6188573 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

Either we imprison the bankers and let the banks go bust or the bankers will imprison us and let us go bust.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:59 | 6188716 macholatte
macholatte's picture

 

This year the International Monetary Fund declared that Iceland had achieved economic recovery

 

Isn't that like the coyote telling the rabbits how pretty they are?

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:37 | 6188806 Utopia Planitia
Utopia Planitia's picture

How pretty they were...

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:54 | 6188855 Fish Gone Bad
Fish Gone Bad's picture

Kyle Bass called Iceland a roach motel.  This article was almost rainbows and unicorns.  I am thinking Kyle is right.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 23:01 | 6188872 Pinto Currency
Pinto Currency's picture

 

 

Any time you have fiat money, you will have bubbles and inflating-away of citizens wealth.

Sound money reform is needed now to stop this ridiculous cycle.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 23:27 | 6188941 usednabused
usednabused's picture

For everything else there's mastercard. They got to give those bankers a fucking like those bankers wanted to give the people. How much sweeter could it be?

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 00:03 | 6189018 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

It's a 15 billion economy total.

Abundant Electricity.

330,000 people....

It's not evven a pimple on the dimple on the left nut of a bumble bee in the grand scheme of things.

Plus, lot's of hyp(O) in the Icelend stories also.

Not bying IT. 

Not selling IT either, yet.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsrCg7rwcqA

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 00:48 | 6189096 green sheen
green sheen's picture

They don't have chips, chicks or guns in Iceland
https://youtu.be/8l_YrPvP7YA

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 01:55 | 6189188 cookie nookie
cookie nookie's picture

Eventually, American bankers will be thrown in jail.  Vote for Warren, and it will happen sooner than later. 

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 03:00 | 6189234 dark pools of soros
dark pools of soros's picture

They'll let someone like Warren win once all of the states look like Camden, NJ and the tribe and MIC sink their claws deep into China

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 23:26 | 6188931 One World Mafia
One World Mafia's picture

Yes, it is a propaganda piece for inflation, capital controls, higher taxes, and socialized medicine.  US inflation will hurt a lot more.

A better analysis:

Inflation Has Not Cured Iceland’s Economic Woes

https://mises.org/library/inflation-has-not-cured-iceland%E2%80%99s-econ...

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 02:53 | 6189230 jaxville
jaxville's picture

  Iceland has taken some impressive measures against the bankers.  The underlying issue of overvalued real estate and its related debt has not been resolved.  The credit expansion did far more harm than a handful of jail sentences could fix. 

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 12:00 | 6190319 froze25
froze25's picture

more like the Coyote telling the Sheep dog, ok ill stay the fuck away, for now.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:01 | 6188722 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

phucking fonez!!!

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:00 | 6188564 James_Cole
James_Cole's picture

It also imposed capital controls restricting what ordinary people could do with their money– a measure some saw as a violation of free market economics. 

The plan worked. Iceland took a huge financial hit, just like every other country caught in the crisis.

Capital controls bitchez. And iceland is uber liberal, y'all are not gonna fit in there. 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:53 | 6188853 UselessEater
UselessEater's picture

So I'm guessing the capital controls are still in place??

mmm.... Just writing this Q feels dumb, I'd be amazed if the capital controls were lifted.

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 02:35 | 6189217 patb
patb's picture

They have a plan to remove them soon

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:01 | 6188569 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

Amen! And, at the risk of getting pelted with virtual rotten vegetables, white peoples everywhere are going to have to rediscover that Viking spirit else we be going the way of the Dodo bird.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:54 | 6188700 Ward cleaver
Ward cleaver's picture

Team, we may all end up there. Very few "Canadians", and not many "knock out" games. Sounds awesome

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 23:01 | 6188873 Fish Gone Bad
Fish Gone Bad's picture

Dodos laid a single egg and rats ate the eggs.  That is how we are going to go, people will save and rats will eat their savings...

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:51 | 6188828 fascismlover
fascismlover's picture

They have a website set up to teach you Icelandic for free.  It must be something in the water there.  They want people to be free but no one cares because it is cold there.  Sign me up for the cold and the people there.  With cold, you get no mass refugees.  With being angry with bankers, you get no elite.  I am thinking this place is the last standing panacea that is not being brown bombed right now.  Don't worry though...eventually something is going to blow up somewhere and all of the passports will be Iceland restricted.  That train is never late.   Until then...bravo last nation.  Please continue.  

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:51 | 6188849 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

Bjork BITCHEZ.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:44 | 6188526 Creepy Lurker
Creepy Lurker's picture

I LMAO every time you write "vibrants."

That had to have originated in San Francisco.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:41 | 6188819 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

"Vibrants" IS a fucking hilariously PC way of referring to blacks/hispanics...

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 01:36 | 6189161 giovanni_f
giovanni_f's picture

They have weapons of whale mass destruction that are a threat to America.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:26 | 6188382 philipat
philipat's picture

In fairness, in view of the size of the problem in relation to its GDP, Iceland didn't really have any other option. However, that does not detract in any way from the outcomes which serve to illustrate another, better, way of treating the Banksters.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:50 | 6188844 fascismlover
fascismlover's picture

They said fu...they do not have a trillion dollar economy so they could say that and they did.  I have followed all of my uncle's traces back to Europe but none said Iceland.  I am being the prick in the family chain who says it is now. 

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 05:16 | 6189322 azusgm
azusgm's picture

They could have lost their sovereignty to the UK or EU by going along with the bailouts.

Our country is giving up sovereignty with trade deals and immigration.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:27 | 6188330 espirit
espirit's picture

When it's so cold outside your balls freeze in minutes, you tend to think before you act.

~Sun Tzu?~

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:03 | 6188575 silverer
silverer's picture

Ha Chu

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:24 | 6188771 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

Gehzundheit Hung Lo

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:43 | 6188825 Monetas
Monetas's picture

Gesundheit = soundness = health !

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:27 | 6188334 Divine Wind
Divine Wind's picture

 

 

 

The second chart comparing unemployment rates is complete BS.

The U.S. line would be on a steep upward angle, thereby reflecting much higher unemployment numbers.

There is no possible way Iceland and the U.S. are trending the same, albeit at different levels.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:06 | 6188436 Crawdaddy
Crawdaddy's picture

Seasonal adjustments are a bitch when you only have one season.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:01 | 6188724 7.62x54r
Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:28 | 6188696 Eirik Magnus Larssen
Eirik Magnus Larssen's picture

There certainly is no absolute standard of beauty. That fact might not get through to many of the right-wing nuts - if not white supremacists outright - around here, but reality is what it is.

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 00:13 | 6189037 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

What an absolutely racist statement.  You are just upset their culture hasn't been made as vibrant as you would prefer.

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 02:17 | 6189209 Bay of Pigs
Bay of Pigs's picture

He is a fuckan retard.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 23:13 | 6188895 Commodore Decker
Commodore Decker's picture

If you can get past the bad teeth.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:39 | 6188360 Lumberjack
Lumberjack's picture

The WX isn't that bad. a little cool but beats 90 degrees with 90% humidity.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:17 | 6188466 acetinker
acetinker's picture

Iceland may be cold, but it's physically south of Greenland.  Who thought that shit up?

Lemme think...:)

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 00:15 | 6189042 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

Um, Norsemen thought that up.  The old man was being honest.  The young man was selling something.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:30 | 6188495 Roving reporter
Roving reporter's picture

I believe Iceland is green and Greenland is Ice....

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:39 | 6188515 acetinker
acetinker's picture

Go west, young man!... to Greenland... preferably you would depart in early spring... and arrive in midsummer.  Then, you can freeze and die in midwinter...

Like I said- Who thought this shit up?

 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:29 | 6188644 msmith9962
msmith9962's picture

It's like the Garden State.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:52 | 6188392 CPL
CPL's picture
U.K. Used Anti-Terrorism Law to Seize Icelandic Bank Assets

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aXjIA5NzyM5c

 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:27 | 6188489 bonin006
bonin006's picture

I believe the net effect of what the UK did was the UK made British depositors in the failed Icelandic banks whole, then ordered Iceland to pay them back. Icland then told the UK were they could go.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:34 | 6188502 logicalman
logicalman's picture

No love lost between UK & Iceland.

Iceland's been pissing off UK for a long time.

Another example would be the 'Cod Wars'

Goes back to late 19th century, but 1958 & 1972-3 were the highlights in the 20th.

Iceland looks like a great place - given I live in Canada and have no problem with -30ºC moving there looks attractive, but I'm a bit long in the tooth and, given the Icelandic language has a reputation for being a bitch to learn and my foreign language skills were never that good, I don't think it is really an option.

I think I'll have to just disappear into the woods with my bows one day.

 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:49 | 6188690 Sandmann
Sandmann's picture

The Cod Wars where the UK was forced by the US to give in otherwise Iceland would close the NATO base and tracking station. Another case where puppet-state UK saw its strings pulled and Russia Sanctions is simply the latest example of The Empire telling its local governors what must be done

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:14 | 6188745 Dame Ednas Possum
Dame Ednas Possum's picture

Reptiles don't function so well in the cold...allowing the Vikings to make their own decisions without Shylock breathing down their necks with his set of scales and sharpened blade.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:46 | 6188833 Radical Marijuana
Radical Marijuana's picture

Cognitive Dissonance, I remember reading some stories about Iceland that indicated that the CIA types were unable to use their usual dirty tricks in Iceland because they stuck out like sore thumbs.

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 04:28 | 6189288 pob
pob's picture

Don’t worry the UK government already labelled Iceland government as terrorists.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9822540/...

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:18 | 6188295 BustainMovealota
BustainMovealota's picture

A few?? 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:44 | 6188529 logicalman
logicalman's picture

Thing about Iceland is that with a population of around 300,000, give or take a few thousand, the home addresses of the pols were known, and given the police are very much partof the community, it was a simple matter to send a strong message to the corrupt fuckers in the banks and government - their houses were surrounded by thousands of people banging pots and pans through the night - not violent, but very effective, I think.

Harder to pull off in a place the size of US with a population that have been so effectively divided and conquered by the pols and banksters.

The true battle that must, eventually, be fought is between the banksters and the rest of the human race.

Won''t happen until the human race wakes up.

 

 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:07 | 6188250 Shad_ow
Shad_ow's picture

Yeah but now it's exceptionally corrupt.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:43 | 6188524 snodgrass
snodgrass's picture

America's unemployment rate is 23%.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 23:54 | 6188989 The Rolling Thunder
The Rolling Thunder's picture

My best friend's ex-wife makes $75/hr on the laptop. She has been unemployed for eight months but last month her income with big fat bonus was over $15000 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Read more on this site..... www.Earnmore9.com

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 04:28 | 6189289 winchester
winchester's picture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNr5czZKEdk

 

wrong targeting imho....

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:06 | 6188248 agent default
agent default's picture

Now go tell that to the Greeks. 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:27 | 6188328 wiser
wiser's picture

Lehman brothers with a default of about 600 billions cost to the planet was 15 trillion

Greece with 500 billion will cost about the same

count in the inflation that is going to brake out in the states as a result and because of the policies of the FED and you are done

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:20 | 6188465 MasterOfTheMult...
MasterOfTheMultiverse's picture

Partially, however Europe made sure in 2012 that credit default swaps on Greek bonds would not have to be paid out in full, or at least with some restructuring and "haircuts". Thus, issuers of CDS' on Greek bonds did and will not go bust if Greece defaults, unlike in Lehman's case. Better buy CDS' on US debt, more likely to default than tiny Greece: http://www.newsweek.com/credit-default-swaps-who-wins-if-us-goes-bankrup...

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:41 | 6188368 Lumberjack
Lumberjack's picture
Iceland is not Greece

The country's president explains why.

 

http://www.politico.eu/article/letter-from-reykjavik-iceland-is-not-gree...

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:18 | 6188462 wiser
wiser's picture

"Iceland did not introduce austerity measures with the same scale as other countries, such as Greece."

 

That's right... If Greece had any regard whatsoever about its citizens it would not have brought about this disaster upon its people in order to save the banksters... But you cant have high expectations from governments run by traitors criminals and thieves

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:08 | 6188254 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

This is the article you show to the bankers just before you pull the handle on the guillotine.  Also, it's important to let them know it's nothing personal.  Just business.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:18 | 6188297 wee-weed up
wee-weed up's picture

Show it to Corzine.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:22 | 6188311 Fun Facts
Fun Facts's picture

Vikings = 1 Khazars = 0 at the Iceland financial olympics.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:32 | 6188653 BLACK_DOG
BLACK_DOG's picture

NoDebt/ you mean "Doing Gods work"

 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:05 | 6188731 Eirik Magnus Larssen
Eirik Magnus Larssen's picture

Beautifully put.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:13 | 6188275 MasterOfTheMult...
MasterOfTheMultiverse's picture

"...some saw as a violation of free market economics." Uhm, what does bailing out private enterprises (i.e. financial institutions) with public capital amount to? It starts with C and ends with... ommunism.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:26 | 6188774 Jorgen
Jorgen's picture

"...some saw as a violation of free market economics." Uhm, what does bailing out private enterprises (i.e. financial institutions) with public capital amount to? It starts with C and ends with... ommunism."

No, it amounts to fascism, not communism. FYI, there is no private property in a communist country. There is only one (state owned) bank. So, you cannot bail out private enterprises because they do not exist. 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:14 | 6188279 Joebloinvestor
Joebloinvestor's picture

You have to be kidding, they actually had a bank named Kaput?

 

 

 

 

 

 

(play on words)

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:59 | 6188411 smacker
smacker's picture

Yeah, it's owned by the same conglomerate that owns the Impact School of Motoring.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:14 | 6188282 VWAndy
VWAndy's picture

If a little tiny shread of accountability is good? I wonder,,,

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:20 | 6188306 Salsipuedes
Salsipuedes's picture

I am Spartacus! (or whatever the Icelandic equivalent is.)

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:31 | 6188348 espirit
espirit's picture

I think it's 'Molon Labe'.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 23:22 | 6188481 Salsipuedes
Salsipuedes's picture

I got it:

"EG ER SPARTACUS!"

(Thank goodness I'm "tight" with that beautiful stewardess in Reykjavik. Did you know they are the last beautiful stewardesses on earth? 2001 A Space Odyssy was the end of an era man...)

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:22 | 6188312 world_debt_slave
world_debt_slave's picture

If Iceland was good enough for Bobby Fischer, it's good enough for me.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:15 | 6188609 Alvin Fernald
Alvin Fernald's picture

Bobby Fishcher would fit in well around here.

http://www.documentarytube.com/videos/bobby-fischer-against-the-world

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:22 | 6188316 TeMpTeK
TeMpTeK's picture

"Fugazi govt unemployment numbers of a feather  _ _ _ _    _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _."

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:26 | 6188325 The Delicate Genius
The Delicate Genius's picture

What is Paul Krugman's explanation for this?  {seriously}

 

Or, in a lesser sense, for Hungary - which if I recall, had thrown off some bankster shackles as well....

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 23:24 | 6188934 A Dollar Short
A Dollar Short's picture

His explaination is die, sucker..., die.

Die, fool.

The rope continues to tighten...,

His advice sucks into the darkened depth.., of beyond Hell.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:29 | 6188346 windcatcher
windcatcher's picture

Crime and corruption doesn’t pay in civilized societies. Iceland is the only civilized country in Europe.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:37 | 6188357 Lumberjack
Lumberjack's picture

They are not in the EU:

http://www.dw.de/iceland-withdraws-eu-accession-bid/a-18313183

and have a real unemployment number of 4.2 %

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:43 | 6188373 Lumberjack
Lumberjack's picture

Wow, that down vote took about 15 seconds after posting this comment! 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:39 | 6188361 IndianaJohn
IndianaJohn's picture

Iceland is a nation of Whites. They are able to do things that orc infested countries can not do.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 19:59 | 6188413 ted41776
ted41776's picture

shiny city on the hill

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:03 | 6188420 The Ingenious G...
The Ingenious Gentleman's picture

I don't think you're supposed to talk about this. Perhaps you ignored the guidance from the authorities about what should and should not be reported.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:05 | 6188434 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Craig Armstrong - Escape

Iceland found reachable goals & met their target without parasite BIS banking reforms.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:26 | 6188482 pachanguero
pachanguero's picture

I'm all for hanging the banksters but I'd rather be in hell than Iceland.  A very cold culture full of women who do not shave and smerll like body oder and rotten fish.

A nation where you must check before you marry to make sure your bride is not your "direct" bloodline,

Don't make movies in your head about utopia and Icelandic women.

Fucking inbreed wierd people....

 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:32 | 6188498 besnook
besnook's picture

Fucking inbreed wierd people.... just like the jews and japanese.

 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:38 | 6188511 Caleb Abell
Caleb Abell's picture

"A very cold culture full of women who do not shave and smerll like body oder and rotten fish."

 

Perhaps, but they are still better than bankers.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:43 | 6188520 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Sounds like you adore Bruce Transjenner and Andrew Wardle, the man without a dick. Iceland has done a fine job without western media freaks keeping your mind on chopping up your body to become a unic or a man with tits who wants to keep his baggage.

Bravo Iceland. Ignore the Hollywood freaks selling another politically correct doctrine. We just tell them to fuck off. When we cut off adoption to the little faggots/lesbians, it will be resourceful.

You can't conceive a baby when porking your buddy in the poop chute. ;)

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:08 | 6188740 pachanguero
pachanguero's picture

Hey fuck face,

The women suck!  Like German women they smell and have hairy pussys.  Why do you love to talk about gay shit?

 

Ewwwwww..

 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 23:07 | 6188887 UselessEater
UselessEater's picture

I'm guessing you are stunning, charming, and.... well, the kind of man every woman wants and every man wants to be?

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:26 | 6188486 besnook
besnook's picture

the other difference is the lack of neonutz and their kin.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:42 | 6188521 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

What, the had capital controls that violated free market principles?   That's un-libertarian, dammit, even if it does work for Iceland! 

Point is, a totally unregulated system is called The Law Of The Jungle, not Civilization.  Baby libertarians have difficulty digesting this, as many of them see things in binary, b&w terms, not a color-JPG.

Bottom line: Iceland serves as a nice Benchmark for "How to recover from National Bankruptcy", because they did what was right by the 99%,  not the 1%.

If the 1% does not learn this lesson, there WILL be Revolution, and no place on the planet for these blood-sucking cockroaches to hide.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:49 | 6188537 logicalman
logicalman's picture

Doing what's right for the 99% would make the world a really pleasant place to live.

I doubt I'll live long enough to see it happen.

 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:10 | 6188596 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

The 1% needs for you to invest into 100 year bonds. Once your dead, its like collecting on a insurance policy.

/LOL

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:51 | 6188543 taketheredpill
taketheredpill's picture

 

 

And now lets compare Employment Participation rates to see which Unemployment Rate improvement is real and which is an illusion...

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:54 | 6188548 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

Greece (Tsipras, Varoufakis) take note.

Now all you need is less Game Theory and more Testicles, Testosterone and Spinal Chord.

You need a King Leonidas scene, where you kick the top banker into the pit/jail and proclaim: "THIS IS ATHENS!", bitchez.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:12 | 6188601 Anunnaki
Anunnaki's picture

Tsipras doesn't wear a tie. He's punk rock!

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:57 | 6188555 pupdog1
pupdog1's picture

"Why should we have a part of our society that is not being policed or without responsibility?" said special prosecutor Olafur Hauksson at the time. "It is dangerous that someone is too big to investigate - it gives a sense there is a safe haven."

 

Try tellling that to Holder-in-a-skirt.

She is the poster bitch for not prosecuting banks.

She'd be considered a war criminal in Iceland.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:58 | 6188558 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Obama will install ISIS terrorist to bring down this success from Iceland.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:00 | 6188566 silverer
silverer's picture

Imagine that!  The rule of law!

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:08 | 6188588 Clint Liquor
Clint Liquor's picture

Currently, maintaining the status quo is much more important than 'the rule of law'.

Can you say, 'ANARCHY' for the nice man?

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:16 | 6188612 El Hosel
El Hosel's picture

Make that The Rule of "Elected"  Teflon career criminals here in the USA......  Its a big club, with plenty of get out of jail free cards.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:11 | 6188599 Anunnaki
Anunnaki's picture

I"m sure this will be the lead story on Wall $reet Journal and Bloomberg in tomorrow's bird cage liner

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:16 | 6188616 Infinite QE
Infinite QE's picture

Not many israeli jets landing there.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:46 | 6188680 Jorgen
Jorgen's picture

"Not many israeli jets landing there."

No need for that. Dorrit Moussaieff, the wife of the president of Iceland, Ólafur Grímsson, is an Israeli citizen.

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 02:34 | 6189215 Victor999
Victor999's picture

They're like fleas - they're everywhere.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:19 | 6188623 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

Save Mankind
Guillotine a Bankster

Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:27 | 6188638 q99x2
q99x2's picture

Got my vote. Arrest them.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:27 | 6188639 Joe A
Joe A's picture

Imagine what they could have achieved if they hung the bankers...

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:39 | 6188668 Hubbs
Hubbs's picture

And who says ZH only reports negative news?

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:41 | 6188672 Moe Howard
Moe Howard's picture

Since we know the unemployment rate shown in the chart for the US is phony, why do we believe the Icelandic numbers?

The article says EU nations are experiencing "deflation" in prices. Any Europeans think the things they need to buy for survival are getting cheaper?

I'm shocked that information provided by the IMF is taken at face value here.

 

Surely some Icelanders are here, let us know please how wonderful this whole thing was handled.

 

Did Iceland pay the money they owed outside the country?

 

I read elsewhere some Icelanders are working three jobs to stay afloat. Not true?

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:45 | 6188683 Sandmann
Sandmann's picture

These EU countries facing Deflation are ? I see no evidence of "Deflation" when I buy petrol or bread or postage stamps or energy or consume services........the only deflation I detect is in deposit interest and real incomes

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:57 | 6188711 Moe Howard
Moe Howard's picture

Thanks for the reply. I did a cost of living comparison between the city near me and Iceland.

 

You would need around 614,670.52kr (4,641.48$) in Reykjavik to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 3,400.00$ in Louisville, KY (assuming you rent in both cities). This calculation uses our Consumer Prices Including Rent Index. This comparison assumes net earnings (after income tax).

 

Indices Difference Consumer Prices in Reykjavik are 40.13% higher than in Louisville, KY Consumer Prices Including Rent in Reykjavik are 36.51% higher than in Louisville, KY Rent Prices in Reykjavik are 26.56% higher than in Louisville, KY Restaurant Prices in Reykjavik are 91.70% higher than in Louisville, KY Groceries Prices in Reykjavik are 17.77% higher than in Louisville, KY Local Purchasing Power in Reykjavik is 7.71% lower than in Louisville, KY
Fri, 06/12/2015 - 00:56 | 6189101 Rhal
Rhal's picture

Price deflation seen by consumers is only part of deflation. The other (and currently bigger) side of deflation is the erasure or destruction of currency via bankruptcies, defaults, and other debt cancellations. Today's debt levels are so high, that there is not nearly enough money in existence to pay it off, so inevitably bankruptcies and default will happen ( and on a scale never seen before in all history!)

Banks scream in pain when this happens, it's like a big animal shrinking uncontrollably. For the middle class this is a good thing, but banks depend on rigid control, and in a deflationary collapse banks have no control. But if we're being honest, deflation only wipes out fraudulent assets and malinvestment. That's hard to accept when you've bet the farm on a horse you can't ride.

Deflation is sometimes sneaky too. For example, if you double all prices and wages thus cutting everyone's debt load in half, that is actually a function of deflation hidden within inflation just like cutting all debts in half. This is partly why many elite bankers want inflation, but of course they end up giving the cash only to other elites. Worthless.

If everyone in the developed world refused to pay off their debts, within two years we would have a clean economy once again. But of course that would have to be all-or-none.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:48 | 6188688 Moe Howard
Moe Howard's picture

A quick web search produced the rosy IMF report, a second later I found this quote in the report:

 

"Other indicators of Iceland’s successful trajectory are its low inflation, stable exchange rate, and ready market access. Iceland’s strong balance of payments has allowed it to repay early all of its Nordic loans and much of its IMF loans while maintaining adequate foreign exchange reserves."

 

So they have been paying the IMF and paying the Nordic loans, they didn't stiff anybody. IMHO they threw a few banksters to the crowd and did what the IMF told them to do.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:36 | 6188805 tip e. canoe
tip e. canoe's picture

precisely, all to be held up as a role model by the same IMF once shit next hits fan.

cap cons are coming...wait...look over there...BANKSTER!

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 21:53 | 6188693 dumdum
dumdum's picture

 

 

Looks like Iceland has discovered the secret to economic sustainability. Hold people accountable for their actions. After it's near death experience, Iceland may have a bright future. It will not surprise me if their debt to GDP falls as low as 30% in the future. Any problem can be resolved with the right approach.

For your benefit Miss Yellen (is it Miss?), I've provided you with a definition of the word "sustainability."

"The ability to be sustained, supported, upheld, or confirmed."

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:12 | 6188751 pachanguero
pachanguero's picture

The irony of Iceland’s sky-high liquor prices is that I’ve never been to a place where people get so consistently drunk. I guess if you lived on an island in the middle of the ocean with nothing to do you’d probably take to drinking as well. Beer is the most popular drink of choice since it’s cheapest, with Viking and Tuborg being the most common (Tuborg Classic was my favorite). The two national liquors that are taken in shot form are Brennivin, a strong schnapps, and Opal, a disgusting concoction that you’ll want to wash down with something smoother like Jagermeister.

If you’re not a drinker, there is no point in going to Iceland.

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 06:22 | 6189381 SmedleyButlersGhost
SmedleyButlersGhost's picture

Enough said - I'm going to try Ireland instead

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:13 | 6188753 TrustbutVerify
TrustbutVerify's picture

So, did any of the government regulators that watching it the whole time, allowing it to happen (tacitly supporting the big gamble) go to jail?  

And they pretend government wasn't involved?  What a joke. 

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:31 | 6188791 JailBanksters
JailBanksters's picture

So your saying they should Jail Bankers for committing Fraud and not rewarding them.

Well that's just crazy talk

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:32 | 6188795 optimator
optimator's picture

Remove the parasites early enough and the host regains its health.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 22:35 | 6188803 Chris88
Chris88's picture

Oh gee wihiz - you mean letting the market and price discovery occur actually leads to recovery? Blew my mind.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 23:09 | 6188891 eXMachina
eXMachina's picture

How is Iceland European?

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 23:19 | 6188915 Dixie Flatline
Dixie Flatline's picture

Amazing what you can do in a monoculture!

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 23:39 | 6188969 yogibear
yogibear's picture

Iceland did it right.

The US Federal Reserve rewards the highest level of criminal bankster.

 

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 00:04 | 6189021 Westcoastliberal
Westcoastliberal's picture

Icelanders have the right idea; I'd move there if it weren't so damn cold.  Imagine where we would be today as a country if we had done the same. Remember, it's never too late!

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 01:07 | 6189128 onmail
onmail's picture

With homosexuality legalized , you may also run into some this stuff.

 

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 01:08 | 6189130 onmail
onmail's picture

But what about Zimbabwe also accepting inflation , but it did not decline

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 01:50 | 6189181 PGR88
PGR88's picture

In the USA you would need to kill the Federal Reserve to acheive any kind of reform - and we all know that isnt going to happen

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 02:44 | 6189222 Setarcos
Setarcos's picture

If Iceland sat atop vast natural resources - especially oil - then I guarantee that "regime change" would have been engineered, as in Iraq and Libya.

 

If Iceland was really part of Europe, instead of a remote island in the Atlantic, with a small and fairly homogenous population, then I am sure that Washington/NATO would have bombed Iceland into submission to the neo-con/neo-liberal/IMF version of "democracy".

 

In short: it is utterly pointless to hold Iceland up as a model for what can be achieved elsewhere.

 

If Iceland posed serious opposition to the Empire of Chaos - like Russia and China do - then Iceland would have been turned into an atomic wasteland.ike parts of Iraq.

 

 

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 03:33 | 6189260 Jack Daniels Esq
Jack Daniels Esq's picture

Betcha theres are no dumb nigga muslims living there

Fri, 06/12/2015 - 03:58 | 6189270 MATA HAIRY
MATA HAIRY's picture

but but but but....socialism!!!??

 

but but but but....communism!!??

 

the lesson? The smaller and more white the nation, the better the nation....

 

 

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