Iceland Booms As The World Struggles

Iceland is the bravest country on the planet.

And they'll laugh at all of us when our economies fail and our band aid solutions do nothing to quelch the coming collapses and problems.

My hats off to you, the people of Iceland, for finally doing what none of us had the balls to do.

~Tenth

reply to post by tothetenthpower

When did walking away from obligations become bravery?

Everybody likes to say that they had no hand in this mess, but you didn't here much complaint when the average Joe was profiting from it. Only when it came time to pay the piper. Than it was a problem, it was unfair, unjust, etc ad naseum.

I will be impressed if Iceland makes it through the next decade without signing away a bucket load of their sovereignty to obtain funds. Not that that would be made public.

I imagine most lenders will want a substantial guarantee on any future loans.

Iceland is a nation of 320,000 people the size of a medium sized town. Sadly fixing something that small is easy compared to fixing some much much larger.

reply to post by amongus


After great research I finally found out where Iceland keeps there Armies!!!!!!!



up there sleavies

reply to post by peck420


Did I miss something here...When did Iceland walk away from its obligations?

Iceland is an example when the people have had enough of the corrupt government spending the citizens money and making promises it can't keep... by trying to keep those promises that brought the whole country down on its knees.

The people stood up against the politicans and the bankers who can both be defined as criminal and threw them out of office and out of power.

My hat is off to Icelanders

reply to post by minkmouse


Do you honestly think that all of the forgiven debts were fraudulent loans?

Hardly. They will be lucky if 20% were legally forgiven. That means that the other 80% was others money.

Now factor in that the Icelandic government and the Icelandic banks have never had the capital required to lend out in the first place, and that leaves somebody holding a bag somewhere.

I do find it humourous that Icelanders didn't have a problem spending the money...just paying it back.

Every single Icelander that benefited from these loans had an obligation to repay them. The vast majority just got out of it.

The thought of where this is heading makes me shudder for humanity.

I wonder what's going to happen when the lenders start sending thugs to recover their money...rather than lawyers?

Won't happen to Iceland, they are a small enough fish that it isn't worth the trouble. Some other countries (and people) that see this as a model to use in the future though...they would be worth the trouble.

Originally posted by amongus

Name one product that comes from Iceland

Well, you asked...

reply to post by minkmouse


i-this...i-that...and we all agree those are only corrupting the minds of the youth, so it's not about what you export, it's about the impact of those exports on the world.

Food...that would be a good export, if it weren't enriching monsanto -- plain evil

one product? i'll name a few.
lamb meat.
fish. lots of it.
wool.
pharmaceuticals (sadly)
cheap electricity for rio tinto etc (sadly)
aluminium. (sadly)
bottled water! some of the only clean water left on the planet. straight out of the tap.
and soon, oil. (also sadly)
computer games (ccp... eve online etc)
prosthetic limbs!
not to mention the above mentioned music (björk, sigur rós, of monsters and men, múm etc) and the still nearly unspoiled nature that is bringing the tourists in in record numbers (three times the nation's population per annum as it stands). and forward-thinking ideas. on politics, press freedom, and human rights.

yeh. think that'll do. lots more i'm sure. and they don't export warfare / suicide battalions.

If Iceland's resiliency is due to it's smaller size and less complex economy what does that tell us?

Maybe that networks of smaller, more local economies fair better and are more immune to corruption and corporate exploitation.

But that's not even the main reason they are such a strong economy. Rejecting globalization, as they have, insures the wealth stays with the people, instead of the pockets of rich psychopaths that couldn't care less about wealth distribution.

That has nothing to do with it's size. It has to do with their values.

The idea that those kind of values can't exist in a larger economy is a joke! A joke that the elites are banking on people believing in!

they want to adopt the Canadian dollar.

they should.

Originally posted by peck420
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

When did walking away from obligations become bravery?

What?

Are you kidding. They had NO obligations to financial terrorists who deceived, lied and STOLE from those people. Much like the citizens of the United states.

Everybody likes to say that they had no hand in this mess, but you didn't here much complaint when the average Joe was profiting from it. Only when it came time to pay the piper. Than it was a problem, it was unfair, unjust, etc ad naseum.

No, the average joe was not making ANY money, only the bankers and corrupt politicians were. What planet do you live on? Iceland gained nothing in the last 10 years from having it's economy pirated to the rest of the international community.

[quote[
I will be impressed if Iceland makes it through the next decade without signing away a bucket load of their sovereignty to obtain funds. Not that that would be made public.

They won't ever have to do that again, considering they now have their own which prints it's own money as is legally allowed and as is the moral obligation of any nation. No nation should be borrowing money for it's citizens from foreign investors when it can use it's own natural resources among other things to drive currency.

I imagine most lenders will want a substantial guarantee on any future loans.

No, they won't be borrowing any more fiat currency. They have no need for it. With them also moving to a referendum democracy, Iceland is the model of politics that we should start importing to other countries.

Do you really know economics? Have you not been around in the last 10 years and seen the destruction that international banking cartels have done to nations all around the world?

The entire financial crisis was planned and executed by these people with their fiat currencies and illegal money practices. The fact that you would defend these people and blame the citizens of nations who were lied to by them is kind of jarring.

~Tenth

So what if Iceland doesn't export anything??

Good for them! Exporting should only be necessary IF there is a surplus and the LOCAL people are taken care of first.

They don't have a lot of natural resources except geothermal energy. It just goes to show that you can have a strong economy with limited resources if the people share a lot of really good values, like fair wealth distribution, not being in perpetual debt and rejecting globalization.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
No, the average joe was not making ANY money, only the bankers and corrupt politicians were. What planet do you live on? Iceland gained nothing in the last 10 years from having it's economy pirated to the rest of the international community.

Average Joe didn't profit? Really? What are mortgages for? Average Joe profited in material wealth.

Second, Iceland gained immensely from this transaction.

Iceland Export Value (2002): 204,303,000 ISK
Iceland Export Value (2010): 560,000,000 ISK

Nope, Iceland didn't make a thing of off this...

They won't ever have to do that again, considering they now have their own which prints it's own money as is legally allowed and as is the moral obligation of any nation. No nation should be borrowing money for it's citizens from foreign investors when it can use it's own natural resources among other things to drive currency.

They have no choice. They are not big enough to operate independently and they are an economy based on trade. There options are to play by the other guys rules, or don't play.

How does fish and huts (granted, heated by geo) sound to you? That's pretty much all they can provide with out importing.

No, they won't be borrowing any more fiat currency. They have no need for it. With them also moving to a referendum democracy, Iceland is the model of politics that we should start importing to other countries.

Incorrect. Iceland does not produce any of the resources critical to the modern world. They are completely dependent on trade. They have no choice but to put their currency up against the global market. What was the krona at before the collapse? 85-90 ISK/Euro. What's it at today? 157.44 ISK/EURO Let's see where it goes when they run out of money again...oh wait, they are already running massive deficits again.

Do you really know economics? Have you not been around in the last 10 years and seen the destruction that international banking cartels have done to nations all around the world?

The entire financial crisis was planned and executed by these people with their fiat currencies and illegal money practices. The fact that you would defend these people and blame the citizens of nations who were lied to by them is kind of jarring.

You are questioning my knowledge on economy while you do exactly what the planners want?

Iceland has just become a fully dependent nation...not independent. The have no credit value, they have no international trust, and they rely on trade. They have become completely dependent on those they were trying to free themselves of...where's the golf clap emote?

This is what the planners want. They want dependence. Dependence gives obedience.

The way out of this mess, and the way to screw with the planners, is to pay down our debts and NOT GET ENDEBTED AGAIN! Plain and simple.

Pay off your credit cards, pay off your mortgage, loans, etc. And never borrow again. If you don't borrow, they have no power over you.

Edit to add:

Tenth,

You do know that Iceland is currently being propped up by the IMF and the Nordic Nations (Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmarl)?

To the tune of 4 billion Euros (632.77 billion ISK). 1.56 billion IMF, 2.44 billion Nordic.

None of the general population is privy to the details of those..."loans".

You do also know that all of the future projections for Iceland's recovery have been based on the current ISK rate?

Iceland has been sold out as a slave state by their government. Joe average just hasn't realised it.

They went from an ugly, yet manageable state, to a bought and paid for state...

reply to post by peck420


I did not know any of that last stuff...

My bad.

Off to educate myself.

~Tenth

Twice apparently.

Starting over on a vast scale seems doomed to failure but is simple in its economic theory. The theory is to remove all bank debt in the US, Individuls begin at zero with what they have, car, House, Credit Card debt. The same with every corporation, small and large business, retiremwnt plan and Government funded project. Equality benefits all only banks are marginalized. they become what they are points of transfer and nothing more. It is the reset button. Someone please push it.

Originally posted by MissingRonnieR
Starting over on a vast scale seems doomed to failure but is simple in its economic theory. The theory is to remove all bank debt in the US, Individuls begin at zero with what they have, car, House, Credit Card debt. The same with every corporation, small and large business, retiremwnt plan and Government funded project. Equality benefits all only banks are marginalized. they become what they are points of transfer and nothing more. It is the reset button. Someone please push it.

I think that this is the ulitimate plan to make people accept a nwo currency. I believe from what I've seen that they will completely depreciate the value of the dollar and then wait awhile while people starve and riot and struggle. Then they will come in on so called said white horse and delivery everyone from debt and issure a new world currency that will be backed by some value.

You gotta make people want it.

It has repaid, early, many of the international loans that kept it afloat. Unemployment is hovering around 6 percent, and falling. And while much of Europe is struggling to pull itself out of the recessionary swamp, Iceland’s economy is expected to grow by 2.8 percent this year.

Everything has turned around,” said Adalheidur Hedinsdottir, who owns and runs the coffee chain Kaffitar, the Starbucks of Iceland, and has plans to open a new cafe and start a bakery business. “When we told the bank we wanted to make a new company, they said, ‘Do you want to borrow money?’ ” she went on. “We haven’t been hearing that for a while.”

Analysts attribute the surprising turn of events to a combination of fortuitous decisions and good luck, and caution that the lessons of Iceland’s turnaround are not readily applicable to the larger and more complex economies of Europe.

But during the crisis, the country did many things different from its European counterparts. It let its three largest banks fail, instead of bailing them out. It ensured that domestic depositors got their money back and gave debt relief to struggling homeowners and to businesses facing bankruptcy.

“Taking down a company with positive cash flow but negative equity would in the given circumstances have a domino effect, causing otherwise sound companies to collapse,” said Thorolfur Matthiasson, an economics professor at the University of Iceland. “Forgiving debt under those circumstances can be profitable for the financial institutions and help the economy and reduce unemployment as well.”

ny times