Root cause of Geysers in Iceland?
I think they have plenty of energy and land. Why do they go to Russia?
Posted on 10/10/2008 12:18:22 PM PDT by george76
People go bankrupt all the time. Companies do, too. But countries?
Iceland was on the verge of doing exactly that on Thursday as the government shut down the stock market and seized control of its last major independent bank. That brought trading in the country's currency to a halt, with foreign banks no longer willing to take Icelandic krona, even at fire-sale rates.
As the meltdown in the Icelandic financial system quickened, with the government seemingly powerless to do anything about it, analysts said there was probably only one realistic option left: for Iceland to be bailed out by the International Monetary Fund.
"Iceland is bankrupt," said Arsaell Valfells, a professor at the University of Iceland. "The Icelandic krona is history. The IMF has to come and rescue us."
Iceland has approached Russia about a loan of €4 billion, or $5.5 billion, to help see it through the crisis, but Haarde said no agreement had been reached.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
I think I read that every man woman and child in Iceland owes about $115,000 in government debt. England has lost a lot of “government money” (i.e., their own government’s money) because Iceland has refused to let various governmental organization (in England) get their money out of Iceland’s bank, thereby defaulting. It’s apparently a big deal, and so England used some terrorism law to freeze all Iceland’s assets in England.
It’s getting interesting around the world....
No one marries anymore either. The out of wedlock birth rate is somewhere around 60 percent. What do they care? The government will be the surrogate spouse, providing benefits to subsidize single parenthood.
The devaluation of the marital unit makes me sick.
Sorry, I don’t want a bunch of pale, depressed socialists to become our 51st State. No thanks!
We need to read more Saul Alinsky. All we have to do is spend years screwing up their socialism and using it against them and before you know it, they’ll be forced to embrace conservatism.
KEF arrivals must have some limit they can buy, or can with draw from atm’s from foreign accounts?
“ww2 and the new deal during the GD didn’t bankrupt the US. We still had sound money then.”
seriously? FDR banned gold ownership. Our money was a bunch of FRN’s and a few US notes, along with mostly silver change.
Yes. We can definitely come to an agreement...
Either or both under normal circumstances, but I would suggest keeping most of your funds in USD if you are going to be in the Reykjavik area since major hotels and stores will take them. Don't know what the exchange rate will be. Some will also allow purchases directly in USD.
There is so much bollocks going on in this discussion, and around the world. I wish my fellow conservatives were a little more enlightened. You should realize we are one of the worlds most Friedmanian experiment there are (look it up on Wikipedia) and not some socialistic hell hole so many here are claiming. Of course we have been working ourself out of a scandinavian style socialdemocratic system, but we newer went as far as they did anyway.
But Iceland is far from going bankrupt, your information is, like most things about this issue, inaccurate.
Iceland has virtually NO GOVERNMENT DEPT. We have been paying up all our government depts over the past decades. Much of the assets of the banks will be able to pay for their foreign and domestic obligation, and the government has ensured that their domsestic obligations (at least in inloans) will be met fully. That means we will stand up with a banking system suited for domestic needs, a little more domestic depts, but still no external depts and one of the lowest tax regimes in Europe.
That in addition to a young, higly educated (and fertile) population, used to working hard and for long hours, a people with individualistc streak, entrepreunially minded who will be able to take advantage of how easy it is to found companies here because of little red tape, a fully funded pension system and after the collapse of the Krona a workforce aiwailable to be hired cheaply, will be a favorible scene for investment when all of Europe will have to raise taxes even more than now to pay for their bailouts of their banks. We are just doing what capitalistic principles foretell, badly run banks and companies will collapse, not endlessly put all losses on the burden of taxpayers but scoop up all the profits themselves.
Althhough I am optimistic for the long term a little is pending on what will happen with government guarantee of Icesave accounts (of Landsbanki, whose subsidiary status in Britain makes the Icelandic state partly responsible for their inloans) in Britain and Holland and very likely suits claims against the british governments economic warfare that destroyed the strongest bank (Kaupþing) that would have survived if it hadn´t been for British actions against the BRITISH bank Kaupthing, Singer & Friedlander owned by icelandic Kaupþing (so their inloans were all the time guaranteed by the british state not the Icelandic one)
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/daniel_hannan/blog/2008/10/09/we_are_treating_iceland_disgracefully
Post 37 plus post 82 equals sensory overload.
It has been known for a long time that the main source for the wealth in Iceland is Russian money. Now the oligarchs in Moscow have persuaded the Russian taxpayers to save their investments. Naturally it is easier when some of the decision makers have their money there as well.
This is from a letter by Gigory Pasko:
But there are other opinions as well. I will enumerate them all in order:
1. it is entirely possible that this - is the creation of advantageous political conditions for the impending development of the Arctic ocean shelf;
2. it can not be ruled out that Russia will demand of Iceland some kind of services for itself on the European political field, for example the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia;
3. Russia will ask to grant it a platform for the basing of refuelling aircraft for Russian Tu-160s –long-range aviation bombers that can carry nuclear warheads, for example, to the shores of the USA. All the more so given that a place for a military base after the departure of the NATO military in the area of Keflavik has been freed up. By the way, from 6 through 12 October Russian long-range aviation is conducting exercises;
4. in the best case for Iceland, Russia will ask for a visa-free regime for citizens of the RF. (Although a touristic paradise for Russians this country will not likely become: cold, rainy… There’s enough of this boon in Russia already);
5. by allocating the loan to Iceland Russia is strongly consolidating its image on the international arena that had been tarnished after the Georgian-Russian conflict. And for her this is important.
http://www.robertamsterdam.com/2008/10/grigory_pasko_a_letter_from_ic.htm
Interesting!
Not surprisingly, in my day, that was the “eat me” sign.
Thank you for the info - and best wishes to you and your compatriots in Iceland!
p.s. More info and photos on Miss Iceland contestants and winners are needed on this thread.
"3. Russia will ask to grant it a platform for the basing of refuelling aircraft for Russian Tu-160s –long-range aviation bombers that can carry nuclear warheads, for example, to the shores of the USA. All the more so given that a place for a military base after the departure of the NATO military in the area of Keflavik has been freed up. By the way, from 6 through 12 October Russian long-range aviation is conducting exercises"
Which is a more pressing issue? Global Climate Change or Global Market Collapse? Why is it only taking now for the media to pay attention?
Bodacious!
Root cause of Geysers in Iceland?
I think they have plenty of energy and land. Why do they go to Russia?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.