The only entry I will post about the Icesave crap. Promise.
I break my silence for the following announcement after headlines such as:
"Iceland blocks deal to pay Britain and the Netherlands £3.6bn for losses caused by collapse of failed bank Icesave" (UK Daily Mail)
and
"Iceland's president blocks £2.3bn Icesave deal to compensate the UK" (UK Daily Telegraph)
To all you reporters from the UK and Holland who can't see this anyway:
Are you stupid?
The Icelandic president did NOT decide we wouldn't pay, you morons. He decided to allow a public vote on whether we will pay with the existing law from August or with the new law that was passed last week. It's not a question of IF, but HOW, we pay. So fuck off with your total lack of basic investigative journalism you half-brained sensationalist retards.
Don't know what I'm talking about?
Banks were privatized. Greedy people had control of them. Icelandic law and administration didn't cover some of their entrepreneurial maneuverings such as the infamous Icesave - a bank that allowed UK and Netherland nationals to avoid paying taxes by using the banking equivalent of a duty free zone.
The banks crashed as a result of the big crisis. Icelandic banks were hit hard. Icesave customers suddenly lost access their money, just like a lot of other people. But Icesave wasn't guaranteed by their respective countries for the same reason that they were able to get better interest on their savings - it's registered in Iceland.
Icelandic law had no clear picture of this and they clearly didn't have a clue about what the Icelandic banks had been doing or what that entailed. They failed. Miserably. And since we are a responsible nation, and since ultimately our government operates by a democratic process, we are responsible for the actions of our government. We have since replaced the government, by the way, but in my personal opinion, a lot more needs to change.
The people who had been running those banks stole SEVERAL TIMES THE AMOUNT OF THE TOTAL ICESAVE DEBT from the Icelandic people. They're still not in jail. In fact, many of them are currently suing the crashed banks they had been running for millions more in "lost severance" and other such crap. Some were blatantly stealing (one guy is suing his bank for more than the 120million of bank funds he stole, oh sorry, "stored" in his private account "to keep it safe"... wtf? seriously?)
Anyway. If you want to read about the situation, don't read the bullshit the media is delivering, or do so with a very critical eye.
As for Icesave - the new law stands until it is either passed or failed in a public vote. We're paying, and we're paying with gargantuan interest (normal payment of international debts are in the 0.5% interest to the highest of 3% interest rate. We're supposed to pay 5%). There's only 300.000 of us, and that number is declining as people flee the soaring inflation and tax rates. The old law had clauses the brits and netherlanders didn't like, such as if the debt we have to pay in a year is larger than x% of the global production, we could postpone payment so that we could, you know, continue to provide minimal health care, education and public safety. That, apparently, is too much to ask. Fuckers. So there's a new law without any such clauses, and it STANDS FOR THE TIME BEING YOU FUCKTARDS AND IF IT FAILS WE STILL PAY.
"Iceland blocks deal to pay Britain and the Netherlands £3.6bn for losses caused by collapse of failed bank Icesave" (UK Daily Mail)
and
"Iceland's president blocks £2.3bn Icesave deal to compensate the UK" (UK Daily Telegraph)
To all you reporters from the UK and Holland who can't see this anyway:
Are you stupid?
The Icelandic president did NOT decide we wouldn't pay, you morons. He decided to allow a public vote on whether we will pay with the existing law from August or with the new law that was passed last week. It's not a question of IF, but HOW, we pay. So fuck off with your total lack of basic investigative journalism you half-brained sensationalist retards.
Don't know what I'm talking about?
Banks were privatized. Greedy people had control of them. Icelandic law and administration didn't cover some of their entrepreneurial maneuverings such as the infamous Icesave - a bank that allowed UK and Netherland nationals to avoid paying taxes by using the banking equivalent of a duty free zone.
The banks crashed as a result of the big crisis. Icelandic banks were hit hard. Icesave customers suddenly lost access their money, just like a lot of other people. But Icesave wasn't guaranteed by their respective countries for the same reason that they were able to get better interest on their savings - it's registered in Iceland.
Icelandic law had no clear picture of this and they clearly didn't have a clue about what the Icelandic banks had been doing or what that entailed. They failed. Miserably. And since we are a responsible nation, and since ultimately our government operates by a democratic process, we are responsible for the actions of our government. We have since replaced the government, by the way, but in my personal opinion, a lot more needs to change.
The people who had been running those banks stole SEVERAL TIMES THE AMOUNT OF THE TOTAL ICESAVE DEBT from the Icelandic people. They're still not in jail. In fact, many of them are currently suing the crashed banks they had been running for millions more in "lost severance" and other such crap. Some were blatantly stealing (one guy is suing his bank for more than the 120million of bank funds he stole, oh sorry, "stored" in his private account "to keep it safe"... wtf? seriously?)
Anyway. If you want to read about the situation, don't read the bullshit the media is delivering, or do so with a very critical eye.
As for Icesave - the new law stands until it is either passed or failed in a public vote. We're paying, and we're paying with gargantuan interest (normal payment of international debts are in the 0.5% interest to the highest of 3% interest rate. We're supposed to pay 5%). There's only 300.000 of us, and that number is declining as people flee the soaring inflation and tax rates. The old law had clauses the brits and netherlanders didn't like, such as if the debt we have to pay in a year is larger than x% of the global production, we could postpone payment so that we could, you know, continue to provide minimal health care, education and public safety. That, apparently, is too much to ask. Fuckers. So there's a new law without any such clauses, and it STANDS FOR THE TIME BEING YOU FUCKTARDS AND IF IT FAILS WE STILL PAY.