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Re: A new Global Economic Restructure in 2012 [Re: Elle] #143483
06/18/12 07:00 AM
06/18/12 07:00 AM
E
Elle  Offline OP
Active Member 2019
Died February 12, 2019

2500+ Member
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,536
Canada
Silver drachma and a Jubilee(erase of debts) proposed to resolve Greek debt crisis

Max Keiser and Mexican businessman Hugo Price discuss the Greek problem and propose a serious solution.



They suggest that Greece sell 5% of its 110 tons of gold and use the proceeds to issue silver drachmas while also printing up a new paper currency. Toward the end of the interview, they include a cancellation of debt to kick off this new revolutionary monetary policy.

Issuing paper drachmas would satisfy the liberal Greeks who like paper in their wallets and who want to support the Babylonian banking system. Issuing silver drachmas would satisfy the conservative Greeks who prefer to keep their savings in silver.

The main difference is that paper money always goes down in value gradually even in the best of times, and over time this "inflation" erodes the value of people's savings. Silver goes up in over time, so their savings would go up over time, rather than down.

What they are proposing is essentially a war on banks and its paper creation, because if people are given two official government-sponsored currencies--one paper and one silver--the people will soon see the value of silver as an asset. The paper debt note will be shunned, while the asset will be put into savings or used on the street to buy goods and services.


This 20-minute interview is a very practical solution to the entire Greek financial crisis. Also this solution is applicable to any other country.

We do not need to wait for our government to act and provide a silver currency. Any individual that acts to secure their savings by transfering its paper value into silver values will be 1. securing their savings, 2. warring against the Cabals Financial Tyranny.

Keiser says that the silver, because of its true value, is like a silver bullet that is sent directly in the banksters head, or a silver cross that the vampires fear in the sight of it and run away from.


Blessings
Re: A new Global Economic Restructure in 2012 [Re: Elle] #143491
06/18/12 02:49 PM
06/18/12 02:49 PM
K
kland  Offline
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Active Member 2024

5500+ Member
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 6,416
Midland
The only value silver has, aside from it's use in industry, is the value people put on it. Which is the same as with paper.

Gold, silver, paper. Not much use. Except for paper, you could start a fire to keep warm for a short time. Gold can't even be used to pound a nail in a board. It could be used to hold down your papers for starting fires. As others have said, gold and silver do not have very much value, but guns and gas do.

Gold - just so much pavement.

Re: A new Global Economic Restructure in 2012 [Re: kland] #143493
06/18/12 03:01 PM
06/18/12 03:01 PM
Green Cochoa  Offline
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Active Member 2021

5500+ Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 7,003
The Orient
Originally Posted By: kland
The only value silver has, aside from it's use in industry, is the value people put on it. Which is the same as with paper.

Gold, silver, paper. Not much use. Except for paper, you could start a fire to keep warm for a short time. Gold can't even be used to pound a nail in a board. It could be used to hold down your papers for starting fires. As others have said, gold and silver do not have very much value, but guns and gas do.

Gold - just so much pavement.
If you don't know the utility of gold and silver in today's world, such a conclusion is unsurprising.

There are auctions on ebay these days for old computer parts--essentially trash--just for the recovery of their precious metals.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.


We can receive of heaven's light only as we are willing to be emptied of self. We can discern the character of God, and accept Christ by faith, only as we consent to the bringing into captivity of every thought to the obedience of Christ. And to all who do this, the Holy Spirit is given without measure. In Christ "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him." [Colossians 2:9, 10.] {GW 57.1} -- Ellen White.
Re: A new Global Economic Restructure in 2012 [Re: Green Cochoa] #143495
06/18/12 03:39 PM
06/18/12 03:39 PM
G
gordonb1  Offline
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Active Member 2014

Veteran Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 936
Quebec

"Precious metals" only have the value as given by the market. In a functioning economy, where demand is high for natural resources to build iPhones, satellites and cars, these metals have worth.

But when the economy is flat, no one buys, no one builds. Those with cash 'run to gold' to preserve their wealth in something tangible. But this 'gold wealth' is based upon the value which others give it. It's temporary and has always depended upon economic recovery.

People need to eat, but gold and silver are inedible.

___________________________

Re: A new Global Economic Restructure in 2012 [Re: gordonb1] #143500
06/18/12 04:30 PM
06/18/12 04:30 PM
K
kland  Offline
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Active Member 2024

5500+ Member
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 6,416
Midland
Green,

What Gordon said.

Re: A new Global Economic Restructure in 2012 [Re: kland] #143512
06/19/12 05:03 AM
06/19/12 05:03 AM
Green Cochoa  Offline
SDA
Active Member 2021

5500+ Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 7,003
The Orient
"Gold - just so much pavement."

That's the comment I was responding to. I have yet to see gold used as pavement anywhere I've trod. It has a bit more value than that. It is worth more than paper for good reason. If we were to pay for things in paper, plastic, or gold, I can tell you which of the three would have more inherent worth and tend to hold its value over time.

Paper is a renewable resource, and of seemingly unlimited supply. Gold is a commodity which is much more restricted. Supply and demand.

If you demand the paper or plastic, then it may have some worth. But there may come a time when dollars have no more value than fire starter. Of course, gold cannot start a fire. But it will have value for other areas of usefulness. Just because you may not be able to start a fire on gold doesn't make it worthless--unless, of course, you have no desire for anything other than starting a fire.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.


We can receive of heaven's light only as we are willing to be emptied of self. We can discern the character of God, and accept Christ by faith, only as we consent to the bringing into captivity of every thought to the obedience of Christ. And to all who do this, the Holy Spirit is given without measure. In Christ "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him." [Colossians 2:9, 10.] {GW 57.1} -- Ellen White.
Re: A new Global Economic Restructure in 2012 [Re: kland] #143513
06/19/12 06:26 AM
06/19/12 06:26 AM
E
Elle  Offline OP
Active Member 2019
Died February 12, 2019

2500+ Member
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,536
Canada
Originally Posted By: kland
The only value silver has, aside from it's use in industry, is the value people put on it. Which is the same as with paper.

I appreciate your(Kland, GC, & Gordon) interest on the topic. I need to agree that people today value more paper than silver. However, they have been conditioned to think this way by the Banksters for many years.

These are the current factors that we need to consider :

1)the people are starting to be aware of the Bankster's(Cabals) tyranny and agenda which is slavery to debts,

2) Countries’ government are controlled by the Cabals

3)The Cabals created paper money out of thin air – no backing whatsoever

4)JPMorgan and other Banksters has been suppressing the market prices of silver(and other commodities) so to keep the people trust in paper.

5)The economy crash of 2009 is a picnic compare to what is unfolding now with over 200 Trillions dollars current exposed derivatives in the USA alone, and other realities that is still hidden. Reality is Mystery Babylon is falling -- has fallen.

6)Many traders and economist has been saying for over a year now, that all paper assets will be lost by the end of 2012. This is not that hard to believe with a major worldwide economy crash at hand.

7)Max Keiser's silver campaign is very sound advice to save the people’s assets, and to directly war against Mystery Babylon’s Financial Tyranny and slavery.

Originally Posted By: kland
Gold, silver, paper. Not much use. Except for paper, you could start a fire to keep warm for a short time. Gold can't even be used to pound a nail in a board. It could be used to hold down your papers for starting fires. As others have said, gold and silver do not have very much value, but guns and gas do.

Silver has many uses in technology and have much more uses than gold. It is true that we cannot eat gold or silver, however it has been a reliable use for currencies between nations all through history.

Nations needs a reliable currency to trade with. It is true that at times we can trade potatoes for hay between neighbors; however, it is not always very practical to trade in such manner always. Gold and more so, silver was always been the choice currencies that went through the test of time.

Also, the Lord recognizes Silver as a currency and even fixed a price to it " a homer of barley seed at fifty shekels of silver."(lev 26:16)

I see this as the Lord’s Barley/Silver Standard which set’s a non-inflationary economy. It denote the amount of labor to mine and refine a shekel of silver compared to the labor needed to produce a homer of barley.

Both silver and barley come from the earth, and The Lord claims both the land and all mineral rights. "The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, declares the Lord of hosts." Haggai 2:8

The fact that the Lord claims ownership of all He created is that men cannot speculate on something they do not own and set prices on these as it has been and is customary today. This is usurpation when we do. Plus charging interest is violating G-d’s laws.

God has established laws for a stable economy that is based upon production and labor--true wealth--rather than speculative wealth which leads to inflationary and deflationary cycles. The world is in need to return to the Lord’s Laws and ways.


Blessings
Re: A new Global Economic Restructure in 2012 [Re: Elle] #143551
06/20/12 06:57 PM
06/20/12 06:57 PM
E
Elle  Offline OP
Active Member 2019
Died February 12, 2019

2500+ Member
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,536
Canada
ICELAND. No news from Iceland?… why?

Link : http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-787377

How come we hear everything that happens in Egypt but no news about what’s happening in Iceland:

In Iceland, the people has made the government resign, the primary banks have been nationalized, it was decided to not pay the debt that these created with Great Britain and Holland due to their bad financial politics and a public assembly has been created to rewrite the constitution.

And all of this in a peaceful way. A whole revolution against the powers that have created the current global crisis. This is why there hasn’t been any publicity during the last two years: What would happen if the rest of the EU citizens took this as an example? What would happen if the US citizens took this as an example.

This is a summary of the facts:

2008. The main bank of the country is nationalized.
The Krona, the currency of Iceland devaluates and the stock market stops. The country is in bankruptcy

2008. The citizens protest in front of parliament and manage to get new elections that make the resignation of the prime minister and his whole government.
The country is in bad economic situation.
A law proposes paying back the debt to Great Britain and Holland through the payment of 3,500 million euros, which will be paid by the people of Iceland monthly during the next 15 years, with a 5.5% interest.

2010. The people go out in the streets and demand a referendum. In January 2010 the president denies the approval and announces a popular meeting.
In March the referendum and the denial of payment is voted in by 93%. Meanwhile the government has initiated an investigation to bring to justice those responsible for the crisis, and many high level executives and bankers are arrested. The Interpol dictates an order that make all the implicated parties leave the country.

In this crisis an assembly is elected to rewrite a new Constitution which can include the lessons learned from this, and which will substitute the current one (a copy of the Danish Constitution).
25 citizens are chosen, with no political affiliation, out of the 522 candidates. For candidacy all that was needed was to be an adult and have the support of 30 people. The constitutional assembly starts in February of 2011 to present the ‘carta magna’ from the recommendations given by the different assemblies happening throughout the country. It must be approved by the current Parliament and by the one constituted through the next legislative elections.

So in summary of the Icelandic revolution:
-resignation of the whole government
-nationalization of the bank.
-referendum so that the people can decide over the economic decisions.
-incarcerating the responsible parties
-rewriting of the constitution by its people

Have we been informed of this through the media?
Has any political program in radio or TV commented on this?
No! The Icelandic people have been able to show that there is a way to beat the system and has given a democracy lesson to the world


Blessings
Re: A new Global Economic Restructure in 2012 [Re: Elle] #143552
06/20/12 07:03 PM
06/20/12 07:03 PM
E
Elle  Offline OP
Active Member 2019
Died February 12, 2019

2500+ Member
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,536
Canada
Iceland Dismantles Corrupt Gov’t Then Arrests All Rothschild Bankers

Read more: http://www.disclose.tv/news/Iceland_Dism...5#ixzz1yMU2FaTw

Link : http://www.disclose.tv/news/Iceland_Dism...d_Bankers/85375


June 20, 2012 - Since the 1900′s the vast majority of the American population has dreamed about saying “NO” to the Unconstitutional, corrupt, Rothschild/Rockefeller banking criminals, but no one has dared to do so. Why? If just half of our Nation, and the “1%”, who pay the majority of the taxes, just said NO MORE! Our Gov’t would literally change over night. Why is it so hard, for some people to understand, that by simply NOT giving your money, to large Corporations, who then send jobs, Intellectual Property, etc. offshore and promote anti-Constitutional rights… You will accomplish more, than if you used violence. In other words… RESEARCH WHERE YOU ARE SENDING EVERY SINGLE PENNY!!! Is that so hard? The truth of the matter is… No one, except the Icelanders, have to been the only culture on the planet to carry out this successfully. Not only have they been successful, at overthrowing the corrupt Gov’t, they’ve drafted a Constitution, that will stop this from happening ever again. That’s not the best part… The best part, is that they have arrested ALL Rothschild/Rockefeller banking puppets, responsible for the Country’s economic Chaos and meltdown.

Last week 9 people were arrested in London and Reykjavik for their possible responsibility for Iceland’s financial collapse in 2008, a deep crisis which developed into an unprecedented public reaction that is changing the country’s direction.

It has been a revolution without weapons in Iceland, the country that hosts the world’s oldest democracy (since 930), and whose citizens have managed to effect change by going on demonstrations and banging pots and pans. Why have the rest of the Western countries not even heard about it?

Pressure from Icelandic citizens’ has managed not only to bring down a government, but also begin the drafting of a new constitution (in process) and is seeking to put in jail those bankers responsible for the financial crisis in the country. As the saying goes, if you ask for things politely it is much easier to get them.

This quiet revolutionary process has its origins in 2008 when the Icelandic government decided to nationalise the three largest banks, Landsbanki, Kaupthing and Glitnir, whose clients were mainly British, and North and South American.

After the State took over, the official currency (krona) plummeted and the stock market suspended its activity after a 76% collapse. Iceland was becoming bankrupt and to save the situation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) injected U.S. $ 2,100 million and the Nordic countries helped with another 2,500 million.

Great little victories of ordinary people

While banks and local and foreign authorities were desperately seeking economic solutions, the Icelandic people took to the streets and their persistent daily demonstrations outside parliament in Reykjavik prompted the resignation of the conservative Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde and his entire government.

Citizens demanded, in addition, to convene early elections, and they succeeded. In April a coalition government was elected, formed by the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left Green Movement, headed by a new Prime Minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir.

Throughout 2009 the Icelandic economy continued to be in a precarious situation (at the end of the year the GDP had dropped by 7%) but, despite this, the Parliament proposed to repay the debt to Britain and the Netherlands with a payment of 3,500 million Euros, a sum to be paid every month by Icelandic families for 15 years at 5.5% interest.

The move sparked anger again in the Icelanders, who returned to the streets demanding that, at least, that decision was put to a referendum. Another big small victory for the street protests: in March 2010 that vote was held and an overwhelming 93% of the population refused to repay the debt, at least with those conditions.

This forced the creditors to rethink the deal and improve it, offering 3% interest and payment over 37 years. Not even that was enough. The current president, on seeing that Parliament approved the agreement by a narrow margin, decided last month not to approve it and to call on the Icelandic people to vote in a referendum so that they would have the last word.

The bankers are fleeing in fear

Returning to the tense situation in 2010, while the Icelanders were refusing to pay a debt incurred by financial sharks without consultation, the coalition government had launched an investigation to determine legal responsibilities for the fatal economic crisis and had already arrested several bankers and top executives closely linked to high risk operations.

Interpol, meanwhile, had issued an international arrest warrant against Sigurdur Einarsson, former president of one of the banks. This situation led scared bankers and executives to leave the country en masse.

In this context of crisis, an assembly was elected to draft a new constitution that would reflect the lessons learned and replace the current one, inspired by the Danish constitution.

To do this, instead of calling experts and politicians, Iceland decided to appeal directly to the people, after all they have sovereign power over the law. More than 500 Icelanders presented themselves as candidates to participate in this exercise in direct democracy and write a new constitution. 25 of them, without party affiliations, including lawyers, students, journalists, farmers and trade union representatives were elected.

Among other developments, this constitution will call for the protection, like no other, of freedom of information and expression in the so-called Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, in a bill that aims to make the country a safe haven for investigative journalism and freedom of information, where sources, journalists and Internet providers that host news reporting are protected.

The people, for once, will decide the future of the country while bankers and politicians witness the transformation of a nation from the sidelines.

Sources and more information:

• GLOBAL ELITES THROWN OUT OF ICELAND: Iceland Dismantles Corrupt Gov't Then Arrests All Rothschild Bankers

Author: The Meister Since the 1900 s the vast majority of the American population has dreamed about saying "NO" to the Unconstitutional, corrupt, Rothschild Rockefeller banking criminals, but no one has dared to do so. Why? If just half of our Nation, and the "1 ", who pay the majority of the taxes, just said NO MORE! Our Gov't would literally...


Blessings
Re: A new Global Economic Restructure in 2012 [Re: Elle] #143555
06/20/12 08:18 PM
06/20/12 08:18 PM
E
Elle  Offline OP
Active Member 2019
Died February 12, 2019

2500+ Member
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,536
Canada
Iceland's Example to the World

http://www.hermes-press.com/iceland_index.htm

The people of Iceland have demonstrated what citizens of all nations should do:

Reject the fraudulent idea that debts perpetrated by capitalist leaders should be borne by "the people"

Arrest and convict capitalist leaders who commit political and economic crimes

Negate fraudulent mortgage debt created by capitalist criminals (April, 2012)

"This is awesome. It shows when the people DO STAND UP they have more power and win against the corrupt bankers and politicians of a country. Iceland is forgiving and erasing the mortgage debt of the population. They are putting the bankers and politicians on the 'Bench of the Accused.' Which means I assume they are putting them on trial for corruption.
"Now the rest of people of the world need to start doing the same thing. We all need to stand up and against all the corruption and fraud of the banks and politicians that are puppets of the banks and corporations."

Whatever fate befalls Iceland in the future, its people have provided an example for citizens the world over to follow. This is a way forward for the American political and economic system. As we'll see in the section of this essay on Iceland's history, Iceland has been controlled and criminally manipulated by a capitalist junta similar to the American cabal, and is still somewhat under the thumb of this junta to this day. Despite, the depredations of the Icelandic junta, however, Icelandic citizens have been able to elect a number of more progressive leaders and reject responsibility for Icelandic capitalist debts.

The people of Iceland twice voted not to repay international debts incurred by banksters, rejecting the idea that "the people" are responsible for bankster debts.

Icelandic citizens held a first referendum in the spring of 2009 to decide whether the people should pay for the criminally incurred debts of the banksters and whether their government could impose these debts on the people without their consent. Ninety-three percent voted no!

In April of 2011 the Icelandic citizens held a second referendum to decide whether to accept or reject a government-concocted agreement negotiated between Iceland, the Netherlands and the UK to pay back the British and Dutch governments for the money they spent to recompense savers with the failed Icesave bank. Covering the debt would have cost Iceland's 317,000 citizens around $17,000 each. Again, they voted to reject the capitalist "agreement;" this time by close to sixty percent (58.9%).

This rejection of the bankster "agreement" was highly significant since current European governments, pressured by speculators such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorganChase, the IMF, and the European Commission were calling for the imposition of austerity measures on Icelandic citizens, for which they had not voted. After the second Icelandic referendum, even the pro-capitalist Financial Times on 4/13/2011 had to acknowledge that Icelandic citizens had voted to "put citizens before banks."

To see how and why all this transpired in Iceland, we need to review what capitalist atrocities they had experienced. The economic terrorism visited upon Icelandic citizens is essentially the same as that suffered by American and other citizens throughout the world.

Iceland's History
"After more than 600 years of foreign rule, Iceland's social structure was the most feudal of all Nordic countries at the beginning of the 20th century. Fishing dominated the economy, generating most of the foreign-currency earnings and allowing the development of an import-based commercial sector. This created urban economic activities: construction, services, light industry. After the second world war the economy grew strongly, because of Marshall Plan aid (there was a large US-Nato military base); an abundant export commodity, cold-water fish, unusually blessed with high income elasticity of demand; and a small, literate population with a strong sense of national identity.

"As Iceland became more prosperous it established a welfare state, in line with the tax-financed Scandinavian model, and by the 1980s had attained a level and a distribution of disposable income equal to the Nordic average. Yet it remained both more regulated and more patron-client-dominated than its European neighbours; a local oligopoly restricted the political and economic landscape.

"There is a direct line of descent from the quasi-feudal power structures of the 19th century to the modernised Icelandic capitalism of the later 20th century, when a bloc of 14 families, popularly known as The Octopus, were the economic and political ruling elite. The Octopus controlled imports, transport, banking, insurance, fishing and supplies to the Nato base and provided most top politicians. The families lived like chieftains.

"The Octopus controlled the rightwing Independence Party (IP) which dominated the media and decided on senior appointments in the civil service, police and judiciary. The local, state-owned banks were effectively run by the dominant parties, the IP and the Centre Party or CP. Ordinary people had to go through party functionaries to get loans to buy a car, or for foreign exchange for travel abroad. Power networks operated as webs of bullying, sycophancy and distrust, permeated with a macho culture, something like the former Soviet Union.

"This traditional order was challenged from within by a neoliberal faction, the Locomotive group, which had coalesced in the early 1970s after law and business administration students at the University of Iceland took over a journal, The Locomotive, and promoted free-market ideas. Their aim was not just to transform the society but also to open career opportunities for themselves, rather than wait for Octopus patronage. At the end of the cold war their position strengthened materially and ideologically, as the communists and social democrats lost public support. The future IP prime minister, David Oddsson, was a prominent member.

"Oddsson, born in 1948 with a middle-class background, was elected as an IP councillor to the Reykjavik municipal council in 1974; by 1982 he was mayor of Reykjavik, leading privatisation campaigns, including selling off the municipality's fishing industry, to the benefit of members of the Locomotive group. In 1991 he led the IP to victory in the general election, and reigned (not too strong a word) as prime minister for 14 years, overseeing the growth of the financial sector, before installing himself as governor of the Central Bank in 2004. He had little experience or interest in the world beyond Iceland. His Locomotive group protégé Geir Haarde, finance minister from 1998 to 2005, took over as prime minister shortly after. These two men most directly steered Iceland's great experiment to create an international financial centre in the North Atlantic, midway between Europe and America.

"The liberalisation of the economy began in 1994, when accession to the European Economic Area, the free-trade bloc of EU countries, plus Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway, lifted restrictions on cross-border flows of capital, goods, services and people. The Oddsson government then sold off state-owned assets and deregulated labour. Privatisation began in 1998, implemented by Oddsson and Halldor Asgrimsson, the leader of the CP. Of the banks, Landsbanki was allocated to IP grandees, Kaupthing to their counterparts in the CP, its coalition partner; foreign bidders were excluded. Later, Glitnir, a private bank formed from the merger of several smaller ones, joined the league.

"So Iceland roared into international finance aided globally by abundant cheap credit and free capital mobility, and domestically by strong political backing for the banks. The new banks merged investment banking with commercial banking, so that both shared government guarantees. And the country had low sovereign debt, which gave the banks high marks from the international credit-rating agencies. The major shareholders of Landsbanki, Kaupthing, Glitnir and their spin-offs reversed the earlier political dominance of finance: government policy was now subordinated to the ends of finance.

"Oddsson and friends relaxed the state-provided mortgage rules, allowing 90% loans. The newly privatised banks rushed to offer even more generous terms. Income tax and VAT rates were lowered to turn Iceland into a low-tax international financial centre. Bubble dynamics took hold. City planners aimed to move Reykjavik from the trajectory of an ordinary city to that of a world city (despite its small population of 110,000) and approved several grandiose new public and private buildings, saying "If Dubai, why not Reykjavik?"

"Iceland's new banking elite were intent on expanding their ownership of the economy, competing and cooperating with each other. Using their shares as collateral, some took out large loans from their own banks, and bought more shares in the same banks, inflating share prices. It worked like this: Bank A lent to shareholders in Bank B, who bought more shares in B using shares as collateral, raising B's share price. Bank B returned the favour. The share prices of both banks rose, without new money coming in. The banks not only grew bigger, they grew more and more interconnected. Several dealings of this kind are now under criminal investigation by the special prosecutor, as cases of market manipulation.

"Tiny Iceland soon managed to enter the big-bank league, with three banks in the world's biggest 300 by 2006. The super-abundance of credit allowed people to consume in extravagant celebration of their escape from the earlier decades of credit rationing (on top of the earlier escape from foreign rule as recently as 1944). They saw themselves as fully independent at last, which may explain their happiness ranking. The owners and managers remunerated themselves on an ever-larger scale. The richer they were, the more they attracted political support. Their private jets, roaring in and out of Reykjavik's airport, seemed to be visual and auditory proof to the part-admiring, part-envious population below. Income and wealth inequality surged, helped by government policies that shifted the tax burden to the poorer population. The bankers made large financial contributions to the governing parties and giant loans to key politicians. The leading Icelandic champion of free-market economics declared in The Wall Street Journal: "Oddsson's experiment with liberal policies is the greatest success story in the world."

"In the euphoria, the dangers of a strategy of "economic growth based on vast foreign borrowing" were overlooked. Icelanders lived out the dictum of Plautus, the third century BC Roman playwright, who had one of his characters declare: 'I am a rich man, as long as I do not repay my creditors.'

"In 2006 there were worries in the financial press about the stability of the big banks, which were beginning to have problems raising funds in the money markets (on which their business model depended). Iceland's current account deficit had soared from 5% of GDP in 2003 to 20% in 2006, one of the highest in the world. The stock market multiplied itself nine times over between 2001 and 2007.

"Landsbanki, Kaupthing and Glitnir were operating far beyond the capacity of Iceland's Central Bank to support them as lender of last resort; their liabilities were real, but many of their assets were dubious. In February 2006 Fitch downgraded Iceland's outlook from stable to negative and triggered the 2006 'mini-crisis': the krona fell sharply, the value of banks' liabilities in foreign currencies rose, the stock market fell and business defaults rose, and the sustainability of foreign-currency debts became a public problem, The Danske Bank of Copenhagen described Iceland as a "geyser economy" on the point of exploding.


"The lesson here is instructive across the pond, but it is a chilling one. If the U.S.--or any sovereign for that matter--attempts to restructure their debts, or to force private investors to take a haircut on their own foolish gambles, these international institutions have promised the equivalent of economic war in response. However, the alternative is for representative governments to sacrifice their independence to a cadre of faceless bankers who share no allegiance to any nation.

"It is the conflict that has already defined the beginning of the 21st Century. The question is whether free peoples will choose to remain free, as Iceland has, or to submit."


"Icelandic bankers and politicians brushed aside the crisis. Iceland's Central Bank took out a loan to double the foreign-exchange reserves, while the Chamber of Commerce, run by representatives of Landsbanki, Kaupthing, Glitnir and their spin-offs, responded with a PR campaign. It paid the American monetary economist Frederic Mishkin $135,000 to lend his name to a report attesting to the stability of Iceland's banks. It allegedly paid the London Business School economist Richard Portes £58,000 ($95,000) to do the same for a later report. The supply-side economist Arthur Laffer assured the Icelandic business community in 2007 that fast economic growth with a large trade deficit and ballooning foreign debt were signs of success: 'Iceland should be a model to the world.' The value of the banks' 'assets' was then around eight times greater than Iceland's GDP.

"In the elections of May 2007, the Social Democratic Alliance (SDA) entered a coalition government with the still-dominant IP. To the consternation of many supporters, SDA leaders ditched their pre-election pledges and endorsed the continued expansion of the financial sector.

"Though they had survived 2006, Landsbanki, Kaupthing and Glitnir had trouble raising money to fund their asset purchases and repay existing debts, largely denominated in foreign currencies. So Landsbanki pioneered Icesave, an internet-based service that aimed to win retail savings deposits by offering more attractive interest rates than high-street banks. Established in Britain in October 2006, and in the Netherlands 18 months later, Icesave caught the attention of best buy internet finance sites and was soon flooded with deposits. Millions of pounds arrived from Cambridge University, the London Metropolitan Police Authority, even the UK Audit Commission, responsible for overseeing local government funds, as well as 300,000 Icesave depositors in the UK alone.

"Icesave entities were legally established as branches, rather than subsidiaries, so they were under the supervision of the Icelandic authorities, rather than their hosts. No one noticed that the Icelandic regulatory agency had a total staff, including receptionist, of only 45 and suffered high turnover as many went on to join the banks, which offered better pay. No one worried much that, because of Iceland's obligations as a member of the EEA deposit insurance scheme, its population of 320,000 would be responsible for compensating the depositors abroad in the event of failure. Landsbanki's shareholders reaped the short-term profits while most Icelanders didn't know anything about Icesave at all.

"The second 'solution' to difficulties in raising new funds was a way to get more access to liquidity without pledging real assets as collateral. The Big Three sold debt securities to a smaller regional bank, which took these bonds to the Central Bank and borrowed against them, without having to supply further collateral; they then lent back to the initiating big bank. The bonds were called 'love letters' -- mere promises. By participating in this game and accepting as collateral claims on other Icelandic banks the central bank was conniving in the banks' strategy of gambling for resurrection.

"Then the banks internationalised the process: the Big Three established subsidiaries in Luxembourg and sold love letters to them. The subsidiaries sold them on to the Central Bank of Luxembourg or the European Central Bank and received cash in return, which they could pass back to the parent bank in Iceland or use themselves. The OECD calculates that just the domestic love letters, between the CBI and the Icelandic banks, incurred losses to the CBI and the Treasury of 13% of GDP (OECD Economic Surveys: Iceland, June 2011).

"The Icelandic banks fell two weeks after Lehman Brothers. On 29 September 2008, Glitnir approached Oddsson at the Central Bank for help with its looming liquidity problem. To restore confidence, Oddsson instructed the Central Bank to buy 75% of Glitnir's shares. The effect was not to boost Glitnir but to undermine confidence in Iceland. The country's rating plunged, and credit lines were withdrawn from Landsbanki and Kaupthing. A run on Icesave's overseas branches began. Oddsson moved on 7 October 2008 to peg the krona to a basket of currencies at close to the pre-crisis value. With the currency tumbling and in the absence of capital controls, the foreign-exchange reserves were exhausted: the peg lasted for only a few hours, just long enough for those in the know to change their money out of the krona at a much more favourable rate. Inside sources indicate that billions left the currency in these hours. Then the krona was floated, and sank. On 8 October the then UK prime minister, Gordon Brown, froze Landsbanki's UK assets under the anti-terrorism laws. The stock market, bank bonds, house prices and average income went into free-fall.


"The IMF arrived in Reykjavik in October 2008 to prepare a crisis-management programme, the first time the Fund had been called in to rescue a developed economy since Britain in 1976. It offered a conditional loan of $2.1bn to stabilise the krona and backed the British and Dutch governments' demands that Iceland should honour the obligations of the European deposit-guarantee scheme and recompense them for their bailouts of Icesave depositors.


"Iceland's normally placid population erupted in an angry protest movement, principally targeted at Haarde, Oddsson and the IP, although the SDA's foreign minister Ingibjorg Gisladottir was considered tarnished too. Thousands of people assembled in Reykjavik's main square on freezing Saturday afternoons between October 2008 and January 2009, banged saucepans, linked arms in a circle around the parliament building to demand the government's resignation, and pelted the building with food.

"In January 2009, the IP-SDA coalition broke. To date, Iceland is the only country to have shifted distinctly to the left after the financial crisis. An interim SDA-LGM (Social Democrats-Left Green Movement) government was formed in January 2009 to lead until April's election. In the election the IP was reduced to 16 seats, despite the overwhelming bias of the electoral system in its favour, its worst result since its formation in 1929.

"The SDA-LGM government came under immediate pressure to repay the Icesave debt; much of the IMF loan was withheld until Reykjavik agreed. The new government was also divided on whether to apply for full membership of the EU and Eurozone, with most of the SDA strongly in favour. After long negotiations, the government presented the terms they had agreed on the Icesave debt to the parliament in October 2009: £5.5bn ($7.8bn), or 50% of Iceland's GDP, was to be paid to the British and Dutch treasuries between 2016 and 2023.


"The party's health minister resigned in protest, five dissidents refused to vote with the government. The bill was forced through on 30 December 2009, against high feelings in the country. On 5 January 2010 President Grimsson announced that he would not sign it into law, out of respect for the national sentiment. In the ensuing referendum the bill was decisively rejected. In the May 2010 Reykjavik municipal elections, the SDA slumped to 19% and a comedian was elected as the city's mayor. In October protests resumed, and the coalition conceded the election of a constitutional assembly to draw up a new constitution (the existing one having been inherited from Denmark on independence in 1944). When the election was invalidated by the Supreme Court, the assembly was reconvened as a constitutional council appointed by parliament.

"The deal on the table in this April's second Icesave referendum involved substantial concessions on the part of the British and Dutch governments. After the no vote, the disagreement may have to go to international courts.

"The cost of losses on loans and guarantees, added to the cost of restructuring financial organisations, brings the total direct fiscal costs of the crisis to about 20% of GDP, higher than in any other country except Ireland (OECD Economic Surveys, Iceland, June 2011). But the postponement of major public spending cuts until this year [2011] has given the economy breathing space; and the sharp devaluation has helped to generate a trade surplus for the first time in many years. So far, Iceland has experienced smaller falls in GDP and employment than big public-spending slashers like Ireland, Estonia and Lithuania. The unemployment rate, only 2% in 2006, has been between 7% and 9% since 2009; but the rate of outmigration, of Icelanders and other European workers (predominantly Polish), has been the highest since 1889. However, the SDA-LGM government has announced drastic cuts in public spending for 2011 and beyond. Local governments have no budget for fresh projects. Hospitals and schools are cutting salaries and sacking employees. The freeze on house repossessions expired in 2010.

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bLjIn0HAcr4#![/video]

"The IP-SDA government's decision to provide unlimited bank deposit guarantees illustrates its debt to the financial elite. Had it limited the guarantee to 5m krona ($70,000), it would have protected the entire deposits of 95% of depositors; only the wealthiest 5%, including many politicians, benefited from the unlimited guarantee, which now means further constraints on public spending.

"Iceland's tiny scale seemed to make it easier to challenge the government's denial of the impending crisis, but the opposite was true. The Oddsson government undertook an extreme privatisation of information. Iceland's National Economic Institute had a reputation for independent thinking, and Oddsson abolished it in 2002. From then on the banks, international rating companies and the Chamber of Commerce provided almost the only information and running commentary on the state of the economy, present and future.

"Paradoxically, a number of critical reports were published when the bubble was in the early stages, including one by the CBI. But by 2007-08, when the dangers were acute, reports, including those by the IMF, became noticeably softer in tone. It seems that the official financial institutions, as well as bankers and politicians, understood that the situation was so fragile that just to speak of it might trigger a run on the banks.

"In October 2010 the parliament decided to charge Prime Minister Haarde for breach of ministerial responsibility. The permanent finance secretary Baldur Gudlaugsson (former member of the Locomotive group) has been given two years in prison for using inside information for his personal advantage while selling his shares in Landsbanki in September 2008. But the special prosecutor in charge of the investigation of the banks has been working with a team of 60 lawyers and others for the past two years and has so far brought no charges. Meanwhile Oddsson was appointed in September 2009 as editor-in-chief at Morgunbladid, the leading Iceland daily, and orchestrated coverage of the crisis. A commentator said that was like appointing Nixon editor of The Washington Post after Watergate. Iceland's elite looks after its own." 1

Capitalist Retaliation

When a nation such as Iceland goes up against the global capitalist cabal, we can expect it to retaliate in any way possible. As of September, 2011, two cabal retaliatory operations have been launched against Iceland:


Israeli Zionists falsely accuse Icelanders of racism

The current cabal U.S. White regime is planning economic sanctions against Iceland, using the excuse of whaling irregularities


Lessons Still To Be Learned

The Icelandic example is one of genuine significance: citizens in all countries besieged by international capitalist vultures should refuse to bail them out when their criminal operations threaten the entire economy. But Iceland's example is also one of only partial success:


-The Icelandic people failed to extricate themselves from their capitalistic economy

-They failed to eradicate their capitalist ruling junta

-They failed to institute a cooperative commonwealth economy for the benefit of all citizens--even though their writing a new constitution gave them the perfect opportunity to do so

We can certainly take an important lesson from what Icelandic citizens have been able to do. But, in echoes of Lincoln's great address, it is for us to be dedicated to the unfinished work which the Icelandic people so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--the replacement of fascism and predatory capitalism with a cooperative commonwealth polity that shall initiate a new birth of freedom through a government of the people, by the people, for the people.


Blessings
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