I'm sure there is an interesting story here,but this article does not convey it. I would be very interested to read about the Iceland situation with the veiled ideological barbs at bankers, international finance, neo-liberalism, etc.
There's an implicit comparison to Greece here, but Greece's public sector is burdened by nepotism and sinecures. I doubt Iceland faced the same hurdle.
An unbiased assessment would be interesting. This is not.
The tl;dr or Iceland is that they where told a bunch of bad stuff would happen if they did not spread the private debt out to the public, the public went OWS and refused, a new government was formed and all the bad things ended up being nothing but boogy men. Whether that applies to other countries is up for debate, but many people see Iceland as the model for rapidly getting out of this mess. IIRC they have already started to see growth.
I second what you said. The article is too biased to be taken into account.
That being said, I really would like to understand with more details what exactly happened to iceland. I remember I researched the subject in 2008 and reached the conclusion Iceland was using a carry trade bubble to finance itself. I am not sure how exactly that played out and at what point in their history their economy started growing artificially due to the expansion of debt.
So, it seems as though there are some errors in the article, but it seems the most interesting piece is roughly true.
To write the new constitution, the people of Iceland elected twenty-five citizens from among 522 adults not belonging to any political party but recommended by at least thirty citizens. This document was not the work of a handful of politicians, but was written on the internet.
I'd love to see more about this process. I'd worry that there would be too much time and text spent on specifics rather than general ideas, writing a constitution isn't easy, IMO.
I don't claim to be an expert when it comes to Iceland. But I know the IMF did eventually give them all the bailout money. See this quote from 3 days after the link was published (From here: http://tribune.com.pk/story/240763/iceland-bailout-imf-appro...)...
The International Monetary Fund on Friday approved the final release of funds in its $2.25 billion bailout programme for Iceland, three years after its economy plunged into crisis in a banking collapse. After a sixth and final review of the country’s progress in reforming its financial system and restoring economic growth, the IMF said it was releasing another $450 million to the northern Europe island nation. But according to an official involved in discussions between Iceland and the IMF, Reykjavik might make a request for new funding from the IMF that would be less tied to conditions. Iceland’s booming economy collapsed in 2008 when suddenly the hugely overstretched banking sector plunged into crisis and its three major banks went belly-up within a matter of weeks.
Iceland is to speed up a massive sale of retail assets belonging to the Landsbanki bank in an attempt to pay off the lion’s share of the country’s outstanding debt to Britain within months.
Landsbanki has a financial interest in frozen food store chain Iceland, the famous London toy store Hamleys, jewellery group Aurum - which owns Goldsmiths and Mappin & Webb - and department store group House of Fraser.
The bank, which was effectively nationalised in 2008 during the financial crisis and is now run by a resolution committee, will begin the renewed effort in the coming weeks to attempt to raise at least part of the money ‘by Christmas’, sources said.
Iceland is to speed up a massive sale of retail assets belonging to the Landsbanki bank in an attempt to pay off the lion’s share of the country’s outstanding debt to Britain within months.
Landsbanki has a financial interest in frozen food store chain Iceland, the famous London toy store Hamleys, jewellery group Aurum - which owns Goldsmiths and Mappin & Webb - and department store group House of Fraser.
The bank, which was effectively nationalised in 2008 during the financial crisis and is now run by a resolution committee, will begin the renewed effort in the coming weeks to attempt to raise at least part of the money ‘by Christmas’, sources said.
Iceland Proposes Plan for Sustained Economic Recovery
Iceland’s government unveiled a plan to create “supply-driven, self-sufficient economic growth” as the island nation emerges from its economic and financial collapse.
The plan will be reviewed every six months, the Reykjavik- based Economy Ministry said today in an e-mail.
The island will put in place a six-point plan, including a completion of household and corporate debt restructuring and the gradual removal of capital controls.
“Economic policy in the next years is based on strengthening the competitiveness of industries, which will be the base for an export-driven economic growth,” according to the statement. “It’s important that the financial sector supports” the plan, the ministry said.
Iceland’s banks defaulted on $85 billion in 2008. The country completed a 33-month International Mo...
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[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 31.9 ms ] threadThere's an implicit comparison to Greece here, but Greece's public sector is burdened by nepotism and sinecures. I doubt Iceland faced the same hurdle.
An unbiased assessment would be interesting. This is not.
To write the new constitution, the people of Iceland elected twenty-five citizens from among 522 adults not belonging to any political party but recommended by at least thirty citizens. This document was not the work of a handful of politicians, but was written on the internet.
I'd love to see more about this process. I'd worry that there would be too much time and text spent on specifics rather than general ideas, writing a constitution isn't easy, IMO.
Also, it isn't a clean-room effort, so you just need trustworthy people who have been vouched for.
[1] http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bikeshedding
The International Monetary Fund on Friday approved the final release of funds in its $2.25 billion bailout programme for Iceland, three years after its economy plunged into crisis in a banking collapse. After a sixth and final review of the country’s progress in reforming its financial system and restoring economic growth, the IMF said it was releasing another $450 million to the northern Europe island nation. But according to an official involved in discussions between Iceland and the IMF, Reykjavik might make a request for new funding from the IMF that would be less tied to conditions. Iceland’s booming economy collapsed in 2008 when suddenly the hugely overstretched banking sector plunged into crisis and its three major banks went belly-up within a matter of weeks.
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And I'm pretty sure they ARE paying off the UK still. From 4 days before the link above was published (From Here:http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2028276/Icel...)
Iceland is to speed up a massive sale of retail assets belonging to the Landsbanki bank in an attempt to pay off the lion’s share of the country’s outstanding debt to Britain within months. Landsbanki has a financial interest in frozen food store chain Iceland, the famous London toy store Hamleys, jewellery group Aurum - which owns Goldsmiths and Mappin & Webb - and department store group House of Fraser. The bank, which was effectively nationalised in 2008 during the financial crisis and is now run by a resolution committee, will begin the renewed effort in the coming weeks to attempt to raise at least part of the money ‘by Christmas’, sources said.
Iceland is to speed up a massive sale of retail assets belonging to the Landsbanki bank in an attempt to pay off the lion’s share of the country’s outstanding debt to Britain within months. Landsbanki has a financial interest in frozen food store chain Iceland, the famous London toy store Hamleys, jewellery group Aurum - which owns Goldsmiths and Mappin & Webb - and department store group House of Fraser. The bank, which was effectively nationalised in 2008 during the financial crisis and is now run by a resolution committee, will begin the renewed effort in the coming weeks to attempt to raise at least part of the money ‘by Christmas’, sources said.
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Beyond that their economy is still having a tough time. Here's a quote from a week ago (Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-10/iceland-imf-propose...)
Iceland Proposes Plan for Sustained Economic Recovery
Iceland’s government unveiled a plan to create “supply-driven, self-sufficient economic growth” as the island nation emerges from its economic and financial collapse. The plan will be reviewed every six months, the Reykjavik- based Economy Ministry said today in an e-mail. The island will put in place a six-point plan, including a completion of household and corporate debt restructuring and the gradual removal of capital controls. “Economic policy in the next years is based on strengthening the competitiveness of industries, which will be the base for an export-driven economic growth,” according to the statement. “It’s important that the financial sector supports” the plan, the ministry said. Iceland’s banks defaulted on $85 billion in 2008. The country completed a 33-month International Mo...