After several days of rioting, Iceland's Prime Minister Geir Haarde agreed to effectively end his government's power over Iceland by calling for a new general election. This is the result after days of rioting by many of Iceland's 320,000 residents who have been hit hard by the global financial implosion. It was only two years ago that the world thought Iceland was a wealthy country with the highest standard of living of any nation. Thanks to deregulation of Iceland's banks and a mad rush to invest in derivative financial instruments, Iceland experienced a runaway expansion of money that virtually everyone misinterpreted as an economic boom. In reality, however, it was just the false promise of fictitious money running amok. No real wealth had ever been created, and once the money bubble popped, reality came crashing down quite rapidly. Many of its residents were now face total financial wipeout, and for a while they were unable to import food due to the collapsing value of their national currency. The frustration led to riots, and the riots eventually led to the Prime Minister effectively ending his administration's rule. Many observers predict a similar situation is due for the United States of America as the full implications of the financial downturn ripple through the U.S. economy in 2009 - 2010.