Pay up, Iceland!

[.Morticia.]

We will not pay of our own free will! Those banks were private banks and the public should not be forced to pay for loans someone else took.
It was Browns decision to pay everyone back in full when it was not necessary by law and then he used terrorist laws against us which cost us a lot of money

Go screw yourselves

Have there been any protests against bailing out the private banks?

And who owned these banks, Icelanders?

If so, they must have earned a profit before the collapse.

Did they ever share their wealth with the people then?

Can the owners be forced to pay?

It's a small place, do you think there will be any social effects?

What if the country defaults?

Argentina defaulted and they are still on the face of the planet.

[Seth]

We will not pay of our own free will! Those banks were private banks and the public should not be forced to pay for loans someone else took.
It was Browns decision to pay everyone back in full when it was not necessary by law and then he used terrorist laws against us which cost us a lot of money

Go screw yourselves

I'm with you. The biggest mistake both Bush and Obama made was using TARP money to bail out foreign investors and banks who stood to lose their shirts and underwear as the result of investing in risky mortgage bundling schemes. Most of the TARP money we taxpayers are on the hook for went instantly out of the US to pay off foreign investors in toxic mortgage paper.

Stick to your guns, Iceland. The taxpayers of Iceland are NOT responsible for the losses of the banking industry, and must NOT bail out foreign investors, even if they are other nations. It is that practice of governments backing private (bad) investment schemes that CAUSES this sort of recession/collapse.

No government should EVER secure or indemnify ANY private investment, EVER!

[Seth]

No-one can guarantee 100% an investment. However, assurances were made at governmental level for Landsbanki to be allowed to sell their products to British and Dutch investors. Naive perhaps, but that's the way these things go. The icelandic people should not be made to pay, in my humble opinion. However, the Icelandic economy will probably suffer due to reduced credit ratings and be blocked from joining the EU.

Sucks to be the British and the Dutch I guess.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Surely Iceland has something they could offer England?

[Seth]

Surely Iceland has something they could offer England?

I'll take her and pay of Iceland's debt myself...at the Zimbawbean exchange rate. Ought to come to about a buck fifty.

[MrJonno]

No government should EVER secure or indemnify ANY private investment, EVER!

Try running any economy when people can't trust the safety of their money in the bank, no one would save anything (more debt) and /or keep them money under the bed!

[JimC]

No government should EVER secure or indemnify ANY private investment, EVER!

Try running any economy when people can't trust the safety of their money in the bank, no one would save anything (more debt) and /or keep them money under the bed!

But there's Reds under the bed, they'll steal it all!

[Clinton Huxley]

I've invested all my money in pork bellies

[JimC]

I've invested all my money in pork bellies

How low can you go...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I've invested all my money in pork bellies

How low can you go...

What a swinish comment.

[Santa_Claus]

There will definately be consequences for us but as for blocking us from joining the EU I am thrilled and probably more than half of all Icelanders. Fuck the EU

Although I am a great EU supporter - in this case I think Iceland should stick to it's guns with the simple message of "F#ck off" (sometimes a complex legal argument is best communicated simply ). On top of that the Icelandic Govt should hold a public inquiry into both the Icelandic banks going pop and into the wider credit crunch - witnesses under oath and invited by supoena. With wrong doing prosecuted (I am guessing already criminal investigations / prosecutions going on in Iceland). I would also "invite" the EU to do the same thing....

My bet is that the UK Govt would not want the Russian Mob / Govt connections to their own freinds and family revealed publically - nor to be held account in a court of law for there decisions. But whoever chairs the inquiry will need a bullet and bomb proof car

[klr]

No government should EVER secure or indemnify ANY private investment, EVER!

Try running any economy when people can't trust the safety of their money in the bank, no one would save anything (more debt) and /or keep them money under the bed!

Exactly. That's the same dilemma we have here in Ireland, except on a much larger scale. A much, much larger scale. And with interest rates being as low as they are, depositors are not putting their money in banks in the first place to try and get a big return on their investment. They want security. If the banks won't give them that, then hello mattress!

[Sælir]

No government should EVER secure or indemnify ANY private investment, EVER!

Try running any economy when people can't trust the safety of their money in the bank, no one would save anything (more debt) and /or keep them money under the bed!

Exactly. That's the same dilemma we have here in Ireland, except on a much larger scale. A much, much larger scale. And with interest rates being as low as they are, depositors are not putting their money in banks in the first place to try and get a big return on their investment. They want security. If the banks won't give them that, then hello mattress!

Well the banks guarantee a certain amount of money so what you really need to do is distribute your money between banks if you have that much.

Today the Daily Mirror is against Iceland today and says we should pay it all back with interest but I expect that´s not really a quality newpaper though

http://www.mirror.co.uk/opinion/voiceof ... -23053900/

But Telegraph is on our side

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peter ... f-himself/

[klr]

No government should EVER secure or indemnify ANY private investment, EVER!

Try running any economy when people can't trust the safety of their money in the bank, no one would save anything (more debt) and /or keep them money under the bed!

Exactly. That's the same dilemma we have here in Ireland, except on a much larger scale. A much, much larger scale. And with interest rates being as low as they are, depositors are not putting their money in banks in the first place to try and get a big return on their investment. They want security. If the banks won't give them that, then hello mattress!

Well the banks guarantee a certain amount of money so what you really need to do is distribute your money between banks if you have that much.

Well, because the guarantees here are from the government, things are a bit more complicated than that. In addition to the 100,000 Euro "general" government guarantee that applies to a person's savings in each bank, there is also a further Irish government guarantee that has no upper limit at all. In a way, this second guarantee makes sense: Since someone is able to increase the amount of their money under government guarantee simply by spreading it out between a number of banks, then 100,000 is not really the upper limit to the general guarantee at all.

Also, the Irish government now owns most of the banking system.

And yes, some of of us do have "that much", because we didn't go crazy buying property during the boom years.

Today the Daily Mirror is against Iceland today and says we should pay it all back with interest but I expect that´s not really a quality newpaper though

http://www.mirror.co.uk/opinion/voiceof ... -23053900/

But Telegraph is on our side

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peter ... f-himself/

I'd tell you what The Times says, but Rupert Murdoch wants me (and everyone else) to pay for that information. Sod that I say ...

[Pensioner]

Always the same, things never change. The rich wants the working man to pay for their mistakes and greed, fuck them says I, with brass knobs on.