Some interesting points (paraphrased):
•Iceland privatized the savings banks and the Landsbankinn, which was effectively the Bank of Iceland (Central Bank) as well
•For the first few years, things looked good, the economy doubled but under the surface the private bankers were creating a huge bubble
•They opened a new offshore Internet bank called Icesave targeting new depositors from the U.K. and Holland by offering attractive interest rates for new depositors
•Hundreds of thousands of new accounts were opened, entire towns and police department pension funds put their money into Icesave
•Using fractional reserve lending, Icesave fanned that into billions for questionable new loans
•Icesave started investing in European ventures, especially in Russia - many now believe that Icesave actually became a money laundering operation for the Russian Mafia
•All the while, trading on the good reputation of solid banking Iceland had built up over the previous decades
•The Icesave accounts were not in Iceland and were never incurred by the Icelandic Government so they were not bailed out
•In the face of tremendous political pressure at home, the British and Dutch governments bailed out the Icesave accounts of their citizens and then tried to make Iceland pay for it
•Today Iceland is the new battle ground as it attempts to become the first nation in modern times to escape the serfdom of the debt money system - if Iceland escapes, the rest of the world will be watching
Go Iceland!!!!
