This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Iceland Imprisoned Its Bankers And Let Banks Go Bust: What Happened Next In 3 Charts
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...
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."
- 120425 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -





But we're still exceptional!
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.
I'm surprised the US (central bank) didn't suddenly 'find' terrorists in Iceland and promply invade.
If it wasn't so damn cold, I'd consider moving there.
...but the WOMEN, man! They're exceptional.
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.
then...“Ich bin ein Berliner”
now... “Ich bin ein Icelander”
well I'm convinced....obviously Iceland must be bombed back to the stone age.
that'll learn 'em
;-)
Long Abominable Snowmen.
Iceland doesn't have many "vibrants" there do they?
To the Viking peoples of the Edda, we salute you.
Debt to stimulate economic is to banker, is what playing dead to evade beads is to...bears
Either we imprison the bankers and let the banks go bust or the bankers will imprison us and let us go bust.
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?
How pretty they were...
Kyle Bass called Iceland a roach motel. This article was almost rainbows and unicorns. I am thinking Kyle is right.
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.
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?
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
They don't have chips, chicks or guns in Iceland
https://youtu.be/8l_YrPvP7YA
Eventually, American bankers will be thrown in jail. Vote for Warren, and it will happen sooner than later.
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
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...
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.
more like the Coyote telling the Sheep dog, ok ill stay the fuck away, for now.
phucking fonez!!!
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.
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.
They have a plan to remove them soon
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.
Team, we may all end up there. Very few "Canadians", and not many "knock out" games. Sounds awesome
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...
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.
Bjork BITCHEZ.
I LMAO every time you write "vibrants."
That had to have originated in San Francisco.
"Vibrants" IS a fucking hilariously PC way of referring to blacks/hispanics...
They have weapons of whale mass destruction that are a threat to America.
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.
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.
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.
When it's so cold outside your balls freeze in minutes, you tend to think before you act.
~Sun Tzu?~
Ha Chu
Gehzundheit Hung Lo
Gesundheit = soundness = health !
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.
Seasonal adjustments are a bitch when you only have one season.
Here is the non-banker approved chart:
http://www.shadowstats.com/imgs/sgs-emp.gif?hl=ad&t=1433514707
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.
What an absolutely racist statement. You are just upset their culture hasn't been made as vibrant as you would prefer.
He is a fuckan retard.
If you can get past the bad teeth.
The WX isn't that bad. a little cool but beats 90 degrees with 90% humidity.
Iceland may be cold, but it's physically south of Greenland. Who thought that shit up?
Lemme think...:)
Um, Norsemen thought that up. The old man was being honest. The young man was selling something.
I believe Iceland is green and Greenland is Ice....
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?
It's like the Garden State.
I'm surprised the US (central bank) didn't suddenly 'find' terrorists in Iceland and promply invade.
Cognitive Dissonance...
Actually the Bank of England declared Iceland as a Terrorist State.
Too many links...Check out this search...
https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0SO8xTjnXlVFKQA2kFXNyoA;_ylc=X1MDMjc2NjY3OQRfcgMyBGZyA3lmcC10LTI1Mi1zBGdwcmlkA3MzOEs4Zk9CUWUyd3lPMFVQdXZRSEEEbl9yc2x0AzAEbl9zdWdnAzQEb3JpZ2luA3NlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20EcG9zAzAEcHFzdHIDBHBxc3RybAMEcXN0cmwDNTMEcXVlcnkDSWNlbGFuZCBkZWNsYXJlZCBhIHRlcnJvcmlzdCBzdGF0ZSBieSBCYW5rIG9mIEVuZ2xhbmQEdF9zdG1wAzE0MzQwNjYwMDA-?p=Iceland+declared+a+terrorist+state+by+Bank+of+England&fr2=sb-top-search&fr=yfp-t-252-s&fp=1
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aXjIA5NzyM5c
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Don’t worry the UK government already labelled Iceland government as terrorists.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9822540/...
A few??
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.
Yeah but now it's exceptionally corrupt.
America's unemployment rate is 23%.
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNr5czZKEdk
wrong targeting imho....
Now go tell that to the Greeks.
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
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...
The country's president explains why.
http://www.politico.eu/article/letter-from-reykjavik-iceland-is-not-gree...
"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
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.
Show it to Corzine.
Vikings = 1 Khazars = 0 at the Iceland financial olympics.
NoDebt/ you mean "Doing Gods work"
Beautifully put.
"...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.
"...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.
You have to be kidding, they actually had a bank named Kaput?
(play on words)
Yeah, it's owned by the same conglomerate that owns the Impact School of Motoring.
If a little tiny shread of accountability is good? I wonder,,,
I am Spartacus! (or whatever the Icelandic equivalent is.)
I think it's 'Molon Labe'.
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...)
If Iceland was good enough for Bobby Fischer, it's good enough for me.
Bobby Fishcher would fit in well around here.
http://www.documentarytube.com/videos/bobby-fischer-against-the-world
"Fugazi govt unemployment numbers of a feather _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _."
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....
His explaination is die, sucker..., die.
Die, fool.
The rope continues to tighten...,
His advice sucks into the darkened depth.., of beyond Hell.
Crime and corruption doesn’t pay in civilized societies. Iceland is the only civilized country in Europe.
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 %
Wow, that down vote took about 15 seconds after posting this comment!
Iceland is a nation of Whites. They are able to do things that orc infested countries can not do.
shiny city on the hill
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.
Craig Armstrong - Escape
Iceland found reachable goals & met their target without parasite BIS banking reforms.
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....
Fucking inbreed wierd people.... just like the jews and japanese.
Perhaps, but they are still better than bankers.
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. ;)
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..
I'm guessing you are stunning, charming, and.... well, the kind of man every woman wants and every man wants to be?
the other difference is the lack of neonutz and their kin.
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.
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.
The 1% needs for you to invest into 100 year bonds. Once your dead, its like collecting on a insurance policy.
/LOL
And now lets compare Employment Participation rates to see which Unemployment Rate improvement is real and which is an illusion...
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.
Tsipras doesn't wear a tie. He's punk rock!
Obama will install ISIS terrorist to bring down this success from Iceland.
Imagine that! The rule of law!
Currently, maintaining the status quo is much more important than 'the rule of law'.
Can you say, 'ANARCHY' for the nice man?
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.
I"m sure this will be the lead story on Wall $reet Journal and Bloomberg in tomorrow's bird cage liner
Not many israeli jets landing there.
"Not many israeli jets landing there."
No need for that. Dorrit Moussaieff, the wife of the president of Iceland, Ólafur Grímsson, is an Israeli citizen.
They're like fleas - they're everywhere.
Save Mankind
Guillotine a Bankster
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.
Got my vote. Arrest them.
Imagine what they could have achieved if they hung the bankers...
And who says ZH only reports negative news?
Since we know the unemployment rate shown in the chart for the US is phony, why do we believe the Icelandic numbers?
The article says EU nations are experiencing "deflation" in prices. Any Europeans think the things they need to buy for survival are getting cheaper?
I'm shocked that information provided by the IMF is taken at face value here.
Surely some Icelanders are here, let us know please how wonderful this whole thing was handled.
Did Iceland pay the money they owed outside the country?
I read elsewhere some Icelanders are working three jobs to stay afloat. Not true?
These EU countries facing Deflation are ? I see no evidence of "Deflation" when I buy petrol or bread or postage stamps or energy or consume services........the only deflation I detect is in deposit interest and real incomes
Thanks for the reply. I did a cost of living comparison between the city near me and Iceland.
You would need around 614,670.52kr (4,641.48$) 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, KYPrice 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.
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.
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!
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."
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.
Enough said - I'm going to try Ireland instead
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.
So your saying they should Jail Bankers for committing Fraud and not rewarding them.
Well that's just crazy talk
Remove the parasites early enough and the host regains its health.
Oh gee wihiz - you mean letting the market and price discovery occur actually leads to recovery? Blew my mind.
How is Iceland European?
Amazing what you can do in a monoculture!
Iceland did it right.
The US Federal Reserve rewards the highest level of criminal bankster.
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!
With homosexuality legalized , you may also run into some this stuff.
But what about Zimbabwe also accepting inflation , but it did not decline
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
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.
Betcha theres are no dumb nigga muslims living there
but but but but....socialism!!!??
but but but but....communism!!??
the lesson? The smaller and more white the nation, the better the nation....