Banking crisis over, Iceland's economy thaws

[Dawn Cannon]

Many see Iceland as offering a lesson to struggling European countries such as Greece and Spain

GRINDAVIK, Iceland — In this small Icelandic village, sailors are making double their pre-crisis pay, haddock sales to places like Boston and Brussels are booming and unemployment is almost zero - signs of this island's surprisingly rapid rise from the ashes of banking ruin.

While much of Europe wallows in recession, the economy of this volcanic island in the mid Atlantic is growing at a clip that has surprised many people, thanks to a currency fall - in which the crown lost almost half its value to the euro - an export and tourism boom as well as growing consumer confidence.

"This is probably one of our best years," said Arnthor Einarsson, a fisherman readying his boat for his next catch as seagulls circle huge piles of fishing nets on a rocky peninsula about one hour south of the capital Reykjavik.

Only a few years ago, a banking boom in which the sector's assets grew to 10 times the country's GDP lured many of Iceland's 320,000 population from traditional industries into the world of finance. Fisherman got into banking and sailors speculated on booming real estate.

Those heady days have gone. Gas-guzzling Land Rovers have been replaced with fuel-efficient Volkswagens, a sign perhaps of a more sober consumer mood in which economic growth is based on a steady expansion of exports rather than flash-in-the-pan speculation.

The wounds that sparked massive street protests against the financial elite are slowly healing. Even the then prime minister has been tried by a special court, closing one chapter.

Granted, there is still a long way to go, but many see Iceland as offering a lesson particularly to European countries such as Greece and Spain, stuck with shrinking economies and lacking the option of devaluing to boost their international competitiveness.

Iceland's GDP growth estimated at some 2.6 percent this year will outshine even powerhouses like Sweden.

"These are among the highest numbers in Europe," said Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson. "Sometimes it is easier to turn a small boat around than a big ship."

Currency depreciation though is only part of the picture.


Capital controls, progressive taxes and a careful phasing-in of austerity measures were also key to getting the country back on track, bringing a more than 10 percent fiscal deficit back to a near balance.

Iceland also did what other parts of Europe haven't dared to do - let its banks go under. It took some of the cost itself but forced foreign creditors to take the biggest hit.

Lauded by some economists for taking unorthodox measures to fix its broken economy, others see it as a one-off example that would be hard to replicate.

"The lessons don't transfer directly because of the relative size of the old banks in relation to the economy. What we were left with was quite manageable," said Jon Bentsson, senior economist at Islandsbanki.

Back to basics
Three years after its near meltdown, Iceland looks healthy on many measures. It successfully finished an IMF bailout program and has already made one early repayment. It expects the sale of assets from failed bank Landsbanki to cover its $5 billion in debts to Britain and the Netherlands.

In February, Iceland recovered its investment-grade rating from Fitch, which praised the country for restoring macroeconomic stability, adding to investment-grade ratings from Standard and Poor's and Moody's Investors Service.

Icelanders are getting work, going shopping and their house prices are rising again.

And while the penthouse of a gleaming new skyscraper in downtown Reykjavik sits empty, Icelanders are piling into a hip new restaurant on the ground floor called the Hamburger Factory.

Car sales doubled in the first quarter. Jon Olafsson, who runs an auto dealership on the outskirts of Reykjavik, expects to sell almost 1,000 cars this year, having sold less than 100 cars in 2009.

"This is a high volume day for us," he says, pointing at a shiny row of cars just rolled out on his lot. His customers are back en masse, hunting for leaner, greener cars, and he is recruiting staff to meet demand.

While signs point to recovery, many remain cautious about the future and bitter over the past.

continued:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47280153.../#.T6gsl1LzCTM

[Rick Ronsavelle]

Banking crises are never over until the State separates from banking COMPLETELY. Starting with eliminating "legal tender laws" which forcibly forbid competing monies.

The notion of "macroeconomics" must go. There is no such entity as "economy as a whole." There are only buyers and sellers.

[Alex Linder]

Iceland also did what other parts of Europe haven't dared to do - let its banks go under.

That's the key. The government shouldn't be bailing out those who speculate and lose. When they do that's a form of socialism, or legal swindling - one in which the already rich and connected are paid out of the pockets of everyone else. It is monstrously unfair. As Rick says, if the government's not involved in banking at all, then it's up to the man where he puts his money. If he puts it wrong, he loses it. And if his bank goes under, he feels the pain. As it is now, with our FDC-insurance safety, what do we get? We get to pay for the superrich to try to become even richer, and if they fail, we get to bail them out. Speculation is not the problem - government is the problem. Where you put your money is your business.

Forcing people into the same system, the favored solution of the dumbest and weakest characters in human society at all times, is the root of most ordinary 'political' problems (sic).

[Tomasz Winnicki]

Originally Posted by Alex Linder

Where you put your money is your business.

Sounds like you still don't know what money is, better said, what it should be in a free market WN society. If (now) it was truly yours or mine then we could literally burn a $50 in front of a cop without any legal repercussions. I don't disagree with what you wrote. We can do only so much given the corrupt usury system in place. Nice to see good people (Icelanders) make the system, as corrupt as it is, work to their benefit.

Something still puzzles me. It seems everybody wants somebody else's money (it's funny because it's just paper/plastic with numbers on it that everybody can print), just not their own. Why did Iceland borrow from Britain? Isn't Britain and every other Western country for that matter billions or trillions of dollars in debt too? And the question I always like to ask is - exactly to which bank do we owe all that money to (plus interest of course) ?

[Rick Ronsavelle]

Sounds like you still don't know what money is, better said, what it should be in a free market WN society. If (now) it was truly yours or mine then we could literally burn a $50 in front of a cop without any legal repercussions.

[Tomasz Winnicki]

Double face-palm eh? So you have it all figured out? Enlighten us.

[Swede]

Originally Posted by Tomasz Winnicki

Double face-palm eh? So you have it all figured out? Enlighten us.

He is feeling superior because he is actually inferior.

[The Bobster]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-...101241732.html

Surprising JPMorgan loss hits stock market late
Reuters – 25 minutes ago
By Edward Krudy

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures fell sharply on Thursday evening as JPMorgan Chase & Co stunned investors with news that its chief investment office had incurred "significant mark-to-market losses" that it said could "easily get worse."

JPMorgan's stock (JPM) fell nearly 7 percent to $38.05 in after-hours trading and dragged down shares across the entire banking sector. Its executives called an extraordinary conference call with analysts at 5 p.m. EDT where Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said "egregious" mistakes had been made.

The news from JPMorgan comes at a difficult juncture for the stock market as investors wrestle with heightened concerns about Europe's debt crisis and signs are emerging that the U.S. economic recovery may be starting to slow.

"When there's uncertainty, investors' first reaction is to sell," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial in Westport, Connecticut. "This is not the kind of news you expect from a high-quality management team and a well-run bank."

S&P 500 futures fell 11.6 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration of the contract. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 16.75 points.

If there is nothing to reassure investors between now and the start of trade on Friday the weakness in likely to spill over into the cash market.

Shares of JPMorgan's peers fell sharply after hours on the news. Bank of America (BAC.N) stock fell 2.9 percent to $7.48 and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) dropped 2.5 percent to $103.65, while Citigroup (C.N) lost 3.9 percent to $29.45.

The Chief Investment Office is the arm of the bank that JPMorgan has said it uses to make broad bets to hedge its portfolios of individual holdings, such as loans to speculative-grade companies.

[James Hawthorne]

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Tuesday hit back at comments by US President Barack Obama about the threat of the European debt crisis, saying it had originated in the United States.

"The crisis did not start in Europe... Lehman Brothers was not a European bank," Fabius said after talks with his counterpart Giulio Terzi in Rome.

-- Must Watch Video -- Narrated by Matt Damon.

Inside Job is the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, Inside Job traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia.

http://vimeo.com/32828077

[Hugh]

And the question I always like to ask is - exactly to which bank do we owe all that money to (plus interest of course) ?

This bank here, the Bank for International Settlements.

http://www.bis.org/




All financial transactions globally are controlled by it, as they settle each countries international transactions through its system.

It thus controls all the trading of the central banks, and no central banks, including the Fed, thus no stock exchange and no company can operate outside its structure.
The central banks each control the local banks the same way.

It sets global monetary policy, decides how much each country can print, lend to their governments at what rates, period etc.

It can cut off an entire countries international transactions within moments, simply by shutting off its central banks access to the network of banks, and it approves, or not, any central bank wanting to join.

Global control of the around 200 central banks, through one bank.

Rothschild and co have to issue instructions to less than a half dozen men, to control the entire worlds money supply, as well as the entire global financial system.

You'll be glad to know that they are currently reviewing the system, as the half dozen are too cumbersome, and they want to refine the process further.

Here you can see the slave overseers

http://www.bis.org/press/photo_gallery.htm

Just for fun, here you can see one of 40 or so places the Rothschilds own themselves. It's one of their smaller residences of course, but it is rather jolly, and you really must stop by and see their collections. Oh do.

http://www.waddesdon.org.uk/house/house/

http://collection.waddesdon.org.uk/highlights.page.do

Naturally, through the BIS, they also co-own every property with a bank mortgage on the planet, as well as goods to the value of whatever credit has been issued. Just like the Protocols advise.

Amazing isn't it. People know all about movie stars lives, and the specials on sale in the nearby Walmart, but can't identify their owners.

[Rick Ronsavelle]

Swiss banks are the most reliable of all.

As its customers are central banks and international organisations, the BIS does not accept deposits from, or provide financial services to, private individuals or corporate entities. The BIS strongly advises caution against fraudulent schemes.

[Rick Ronsavelle]

BIS advises caution against fraudulent schemes

The Bank for International Settlements' (BIS) name, logo and address are increasingly being used in attempts to defraud the public, for example through bogus financial transactions, fake lotteries and other scams. In some scams, the BIS is mentioned as the bank through which payments will be made. Fraud may be perpetrated via letter or e-mail, or by using a website purporting to be that of the BIS.

The BIS has been made aware of a number of fake BIS cheques being sent to members of the public in the United States from "Capital Liberty Service Inc" in connection with a lottery scam. (See also the general warning on international lottery scams from the US Federal Trade Commission). The Bank is also aware of fraudulent websites which are misusing its name and the names of members of staff.

In this connection, the BIS would like to remind the public that it neither accepts deposits from, nor provides financial services to, private individuals or corporate entities. This includes payment services such as cheque clearing. The BIS is an international organisation whose banking services are provided exclusively to central banks and other international organisations.

The BIS strongly cautions the public against sending money or disclosing bank or credit card details to any person who claims to represent the BIS or to have a banking relationship with the BIS.

The BIS is not connected in any way with such scams (*), and cannot be held responsible if its name, logo and address are misused in schemes intended to defraud the public. If you consider that you have been the victim of fraud, we recommend that you report any complaint to your local law enforcement authority.

(*) Examples of fraudulent scams/websites of which the BIS has become aware in the recent past include:
http://www.bancintstl.com
http://www.bfoisonline.org
http://www.bfisonline.net
http://www.bfois.org
http://www.bisettlement.com
http://www.bisfi.org

http://www.bis.org/about/warning0405.htm

[The Bobster]

And the question I always like to ask is - exactly to which bank do we owe all that money to (plus interest of course) ?

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/top-...ave-jumped-452

Top Customer: Under Obama, Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Debt Have Jumped 452%
By Terence P. Jeffrey
June 7, 2012

(CNSNews.com) - Since President Barack Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, the Federal Reserve’s holdings of U.S. government debt have quintupled, according to the Fed’s official monthly balance sheet.

On Jan. 28, 2009, a week after Obama’s nomination, the Fed owned $302 billion in U.S. Treasury securities. On April 25, 2012, the latest date reported, the Fed owned five and a half time that much in U.S. Treasury securities--$1.668 trillion.

That is an increase from January 2009 of $1.366 trillion—or 452 percent.

Under Obama, the Federal Reserve has become the single largest owner of U.S. government debt. When Obama entered office, entities in the People’s Republic of China were the largest holders, followed by entities in Japan. At the end of January 2009, China owned $739.6 billion in U.S. government debt and Japan owned $634.8 billion.

By the end of March 2012, China’s holdings of U.S. debt had grown to $1.1699 trillion and Japan’s holdings had grown to $1.083 trillion.

Together, the Federal Reserve, China and Japan had increased their holdings of U.S. debt by $2.2445 trillion since Obama took office.

The total U.S. government debt grew from $10.6179 trillion to $15.6233 between Jan. 28, 2009 and April 25, 2012. Leaving out the intragovernmental debt—which the federal government owes itself—the publicly owned part of the U.S. government debt has climbed from $6.2955 trillion to $10.8607 trillion, an increase of $4.5652 trillion.

The $2.2445 trillion of that new publicly owned U.S. government debt that was purchased by the Fed, China and Japan equals 49 percent of all the new debt the U.S. government has sold to the public since Obama took office.

[Dawn Cannon]

Originally Posted by The Bobster

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/top-...ave-jumped-452

Parity with Liberia and Zimbabwe?

[Dawn Cannon]

Unlike many countries, Iceland largely refused to bail out its banks –with many British and Dutch investors that had enjoyed high interest rates left abandoned. They are doing something else differently, too – prosecuting the “banksters” (banker-gangsters).

Olafur Hauksson, a police commissioner from a small town, was appointed special prosecutor. He was the only applicant.

Hauksson’s “purge” has to date led to a number of convictions, with two former bank officials and the former finance minister’s chief aide currently serving prison sentences. More are awaiting trial. But the prosecutor is not hurrying. “We know that all eyes are on us, that we must not fail. To hasten the process would inevitably lead to errors and, given the current context, with so much mistrust towards institutions on the part of Icelanders, we must, more than ever, be above reproach,” he tells Le Monde’s Charlotte Chabas (translated at Press Europ). His hope is his compatriots will one day “look back and be proud to have drawn the lessons of the past”.

http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary...say-observers/

[America First]

No more garage sales or extra work on Saturday.

The gangsters want their pint of blood !

All my older friends and those who are deceased and lived through the mugging/robbery of US, by the FDR NYC CABAL, carried nothing but cash when traveling.

Banksters & The End Of Cash - YouTube

Banksters & The End Of Cash - YouTube

Looks like were all going to be treated like Gaddafi.