Iceland let its banks fail in 2008 now only 4% jobless

[revelarts]

IF the big banks had been allowed to fail here and they put bankers in Jail here as they did in Iceland we'd be better off.
But Keeping the banks in the 80's would have been ideal.


Iceland let its banks fail in 2008 because they proved too big to save.
Now, the island is finding crisis-management decisions made half a decade ago have put it on a trajectory that’s turned 2 percent unemployment into a realistic goal.

While the euro area grapples with record joblessness, led by more than 25 percent in Greece and Spain, only about 4 percent of Iceland’s labor force is without work. Prime MinisterSigmundur D. Gunnlaugsson says even that’s too high.
Source: Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-27/let-banks-fail-becomes-iceland-mantra-as-2-joblessness-in-sight.html):

[glockmail]

The free market works every time it's tried.

[tailfins]

Your analysis is too simplistic. Much of Iceland's economy is based on payments from the United States in exchange for a military presence. The US can't find an economic patron.

[fj1200]

IF the big banks had been allowed to fail here and they put bankers in Jail here as they did in Iceland we'd be better off.
But Keeping the banks in the 80's would have been ideal.

Your headline implies that they are in a better position now than they were before; that's not the case by your metric:

5883

4% is not their norm, ~2% is so they are still underperforming. The last I read was that Iceland's banking system was overly conservative and was holding back growth.

Iceland is Europe's ticking time bomb -- again
FORTUNE -- The inevitable unmasking of Iceland's dubious economic recovery could have severe consequences for the rest of Europe. Since 2008, the small island nation has been able to avoid an all-out economic meltdown thanks largely to government-imposed capital controls that have kept its currency from imploding. At the same time, the nation's zombie banks have managed to avoid total collapse thanks to delay tactics that have allowed them to avoid settling with their creditors.But the walls the government and its banks erected to shield its population from the outside elements have finally started to crumble. Unfortunately, there is not much Iceland can do to save itself at this point; it will need to face the music eventually. The bigger concern is what impact another Icelandic currency crisis could have on Europe in the months ahead. After all, Iceland's spectacular collapse (http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/01/magazines/fortune/iceland_gumbel.fortune/index.htm) in 2008 helped set the European debt crisis in motion as it exposed weaknesses in the region's banking system. Another Icelandic meltdown could easily reignite investor fears, leading to yet another panic on the continent.
...
But hang on: Iceland has made little, if any, real progress in tackling its economic issues. The government and its banks have simply employed measures designed to delay the pain, not cure the disease. Capital controls imposed by the government in 2008 are still in effect, forcing its citizens, and, more importantly, the nation's massive pension fund, to invest mainly in Iceland. At the same time, Icelandic consumers still find it hard to buy foreign goods, forcing them to buy less-desirable local equivalents, giving an artificial boost to the domestic economy. Meanwhile, high interest rates have made borrowing expensive. A moot point, considering Iceland's now-zombie banks aren't really lending; they are too busy dealing with fallout from the billions of krona worth of bad loans on their books.
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/08/12/iceland-is-europes-ticking-time-bomb-again/

[revelarts]

did you guys go to the link and read the bloomberg article?

[fj1200]

did you guys go to the link and read the bloomberg article?

Sure. Did you only read the good stuff? :poke:

[revelarts]

I think i wasn't as clear as i could have been. i noticed i even left out a word in my short comment.
I really try not to be to be to wordy but if i'm not people always seem to assume i'm saying something i'm not.

1 my 1st point is a general one.
Iceland let the banks Fail,
here we didn't.
There they have nearly the same unemployment rates as before.
Here we were told that the earth would open up and fire from hell would destroy us all if the banks EVER were allowed to fail.
that's my 1st point.
the situation in Iceland puts a LIE to the idea that some banks are 2 big to fail.

My 2nd point is that I think that the banks should have had more oversite and the reg laws applied hard and fast and More bankers should have gone to Jail in the 80's and 90s to have nipped in the bud the trillions in BS speculator, derivatives, lying ratings and the like.

those were my 2 main thoughts. Iceland is too socialist and cold for me BUT i think they did do Exactly the right thing in not letting the banks put the Country on the hook for it's bad debts. ANd If the sate is going to give money away doing for individuals across the broad on home mortgages is a better way imo .

[revelarts]

Your headline implies that they are in a better position now than they were before; that's not the case by your metric:

5883

4% is not their norm, ~2% is so they are still underperforming. The last I read was that Iceland's banking system was overly conservative and was holding back growth.

Iceland is Europe's ticking time bomb -- again


http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/08/12/iceland-is-europes-ticking-time-bomb-again/

Compared to Greece and other Euro countries, how are they doing Debt wise FJ?

[tailfins]

did you guys go to the link and read the bloomberg article?

I skimmed it because the premise is moot. Iceland has a low unemployment rate because it has an economic patron: US.

[fj1200]

Compared to Greece and other Euro countries, how are they doing Debt wise FJ?

Sorry, no go. You can't change your argument mid-stream. :slap:


I think i wasn't as clear as i could have been. i noticed i even left out a word in my short comment.
I really try not to be to be to wordy but if i'm not people always seem to assume i'm saying something i'm not.

1 my 1st point is a general one.
Iceland let the banks Fail,
here we didn't.
There they have nearly the same unemployment rates as before.
Here we were told that the earth would open up and fire from hell would destroy us all if the banks EVER were allowed to fail.
that's my 1st point.
the situation in Iceland puts a LIE to the idea that some banks are 2 big to fail.

My 2nd point is that I think that the banks should have had more oversite and the reg laws applied hard and fast and More bankers should have gone to Jail in the 80's and 90s to have nipped in the bud the trillions in BS speculator, derivatives, lying ratings and the like.

those were my 2 main thoughts. Iceland is too socialist and cold for me BUT i think they did do Exactly the right thing in not letting the banks put the Country on the hook for it's bad debts. ANd If the sate is going to give money away doing for individuals across the broad on home mortgages is a better way imo .

I think you're a bit off in your analysis in your zeal to hate on the bailouts. First, their unemployment rate is not "nearly" back, it's still about DOUBLE what they had before and that's without getting into any issues that they may have similar to our U6 unemployment rate. Second, we had plenty of banks fail here and I don't think that Iceland had any realistic option of bailing out their banks anyway as they owed extreme amounts of debt. It would be interesting to see what sort of depositor protection that they have there. Third, I think if the Federal Reserve hadn't done most of the heavy lifting then things could have been far worse than they ended up being. I think TARP was ultimately not very useful in truly preventing any serious harm. And lastly, I still think you're criminalizing economic behaviors; I blame the Fed for everything anyway.

I applaud Iceland and hope that their experiment is truly successful but at the same time I think they are both too restrictive in their policies on the one hand and they also have/had options available to them that we don't have here. We can't impose those sorts of capital controls that Iceland did.

[fj1200]

I skimmed it because the premise is moot. Iceland has a low unemployment rate because it has an economic patron: US.

I'm guessing that they have low unemployment rates for other reasons. Nevertheless, how much do we pay Iceland?

[revelarts]

Sorry, no go. You can't change your argument mid-stream. :slap:
you posted a whole story on the upcoming collaspe of Iceland i pointed out it's in better shape that others that tried other means.



I think you're a bit off in your analysis in your zeal to hate on the bailouts. First, their unemployment rate is not "nearly" back, it's still about DOUBLE what they had before and that's without getting into any issues that they may have similar to our U6 unemployment rate. Second, we had plenty of banks fail here and I don't think that Iceland had any realistic option of bailing out their banks anyway as they owed extreme amounts of debt. It would be interesting to see what sort of depositor protection that they have there. Third, I think if the Federal Reserve hadn't done most of the heavy lifting then things could have been far worse than they ended up being. I think TARP was ultimately not very useful in truly preventing any serious harm. And lastly, I still think you're criminalizing economic behaviors; I blame the Fed for everything anyway.

I applaud Iceland and hope that their experiment is truly successful but at the same time I think they are both too restrictive in their policies on the one hand and they also have/had options available to them that we don't have here. We can't impose those sorts of capital controls that Iceland did.

"back, it's still about DOUBLE what they had before"
they had 2% now they have 4%, yes that's double, LOL!! yes there on the edge Armageddon. lol.

As far as realistic Options to bailout banks go, well the IMF and a few other Euro banks were ready to give credit to Iceland to do it. URGED them to. but they wisely refused.
Our banks had extreme debts as well i'm not sure how "realistic" it was for the congress to vote us more debt their debt.

As far as the FED "helping" Well "Here's a few extra trillion of debt , again and again and again..."
that doesn't sound like help in the long run to me.

But the Banks and Gov't all have blame to go round but if your going to point out Iceland Doubled Unemployment rate as significant. then the comparetive losses by the banks multi wrapping bad debts into deritives and falsly inflating their values by trillions seem significant when compared to the initial billons in HUD and other gov't generated problems.


"I still think you're criminalizing economic behaviors; I blame the Fed for everything anyway."
For some reason Bankers never think they do any wrong.

I with you on Iceland's progress, what ever they can do, all the best to them

[fj1200]

you posted a whole story on the upcoming collaspe of Iceland i pointed out it's in better shape that others that tried other means.

The story was that their situation is not the glorious success story that you were proclaiming.


"back, it's still about DOUBLE what they had before"
they had 2% now they have 4%, yes that's double, LOL!! yes there on the edge Armageddon. lol.

As far as realistic Options to bailout banks go, well the IMF and a few other Euro banks were ready to give credit to Iceland to do it. URGED them to. but they wisely refused.
Our banks had extreme debts as well i'm not sure how "realistic" it was for the congress to vote us more debt their debt.

As far as the FED "helping" Well "Here's a few extra trillion of debt , again and again and again..."
that doesn't sound like help in the long run to me.

But the Banks and Gov't all have blame to go round but if your going to point out Iceland Doubled Unemployment rate as significant. then the comparetive losses by the banks multi wrapping bad debts into deritives and falsly inflating their values by trillions seem significant when compared to the initial billons in HUD and other gov't generated problems.


"I still think you're criminalizing economic behaviors; I blame the Fed for everything anyway."
For some reason Bankers never think they do any wrong.

I with you on Iceland's progress, what ever they can do, all the best to them

Yes, Iceland is double and the US is less than double. Your standard puts us in the lead which is shameful considering the nightmare we're going through.

Iceland did take some IMF money as I recall though wisely rejected bailing out foreigners.

That's the Fed's job; Lender of last resort.

Iceland's unemployment rate is significant as are other aspects including the fact that they have particular tools available to them that we do not have to us; currency controls being one.

I'm sure plenty of bankers think that they're wrong, criminal however is a completely different standard. A Federal Reserve induced bubble isn't a criminal enterprise.

[revelarts]

...
I'm sure plenty of bankers think that they're wrong, criminal however is a completely different standard. A Federal Reserve induced bubble isn't a criminal enterprise.

... :0 ... sooo what kind of enterprise is it?

[aboutime]

ref. Perhaps with the weekend upon us. You'd like to take the time to explain WHY you hate America so much?

[fj1200]

... :0 ... sooo what kind of enterprise is it?

Um, a Congressionally authorized one??? One that doesn't confer wisdom unfortunately.

[revelarts]

ref. Perhaps with the weekend upon us. You'd like to take the time to explain WHY you hate America so much?

...geez...
I love America,
It's what some Americans are doing I have problems with.

why don't your love all the Commanders and Chief sailor? Current included.
And show some respect to the office?

[aboutime]

...geez...
I love America,
It's what some Americans are doing I have problems with.

why don't your love all the Commanders and Chief sailor? Current included.
And show some respect to the office?


I have always respected the office. Just wish the present Occupant did the same.