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Now that Iceland has told international banks and the European Union (EU) to pound sand, by refusing to bail out the UK and Netherlands who covered the losses of British and Dutch investors who lost $5.8 billion in Icesave when the bank failed in 2008, a funny thing has happened.
Or has not. The Earth did not open up, sucking the North Atlantic island nation into the deep reaches. The sky did not fall. The world did not end.
Instead, eyes are opening, and citizens the world over are realizing that “too big to fail” may have just been a canard by financial institutions to save their skins by shaking down taxpayers with threats of the “next Great Depression”.
One reader, Dagur Thomas, wrote to Americans for Limited Government (ALG) in reaction to the recent national referendum that defeated the bailout of foreign investors, “I’m from Iceland, and I truly hope the world will do the same as we did.” Why?
The Icelandic people can see the forest for the trees, and when they look around the world, they see whole peoples in chains, shackled to sovereign debts that cannot possibly be paid. They understand and are affirming their independence, and are saddened by those nations that have capitulated to the demands of a few well-connected financial institutions.
While the rest of the world, including the U.S. and Ireland, were rushing to heap bank losses on the backs of their citizenries, Iceland was letting its banks fail when its losses became too large for taxpayers to bear. In fact, the losses were so gargantuan — roughly ten times the size of its entire $12 billion economy — that it could not possibly have covered the losses.
By the “too big to fail” hypothesis, the failure to bail out Icesave should have wrecked the economy. But, businesses have not closed shop, failing to meet payroll as credit dried up. And although international banks are retaliating, downgrading its credit rating, the New York Times editorial board reports that, somehow, with no bailouts, Iceland is “pulling through.”
Read more at NetRightDaily.com: http://netrightdaily.com/2011/04/ice...#ixzz1KAmIBvLL
Or has not. The Earth did not open up, sucking the North Atlantic island nation into the deep reaches. The sky did not fall. The world did not end.
Instead, eyes are opening, and citizens the world over are realizing that “too big to fail” may have just been a canard by financial institutions to save their skins by shaking down taxpayers with threats of the “next Great Depression”.
One reader, Dagur Thomas, wrote to Americans for Limited Government (ALG) in reaction to the recent national referendum that defeated the bailout of foreign investors, “I’m from Iceland, and I truly hope the world will do the same as we did.” Why?
The Icelandic people can see the forest for the trees, and when they look around the world, they see whole peoples in chains, shackled to sovereign debts that cannot possibly be paid. They understand and are affirming their independence, and are saddened by those nations that have capitulated to the demands of a few well-connected financial institutions.
While the rest of the world, including the U.S. and Ireland, were rushing to heap bank losses on the backs of their citizenries, Iceland was letting its banks fail when its losses became too large for taxpayers to bear. In fact, the losses were so gargantuan — roughly ten times the size of its entire $12 billion economy — that it could not possibly have covered the losses.
By the “too big to fail” hypothesis, the failure to bail out Icesave should have wrecked the economy. But, businesses have not closed shop, failing to meet payroll as credit dried up. And although international banks are retaliating, downgrading its credit rating, the New York Times editorial board reports that, somehow, with no bailouts, Iceland is “pulling through.”
Read more at NetRightDaily.com: http://netrightdaily.com/2011/04/ice...#ixzz1KAmIBvLL
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