Ireland And Iceland Can Change Things By Voting; What Can We Do? - FDL

Ireland And Iceland Can Change Things By Voting; What Can We Do?
By: masaccio - FDL
Sunday May 8, 2011 10:40 am

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Iceland’s economy was crushed by the failure of huge banks with heavy concentrations of on-line deposits at high interest rates from citizens of Britain and the Netherlands. Ireland’s banks failed too. Iceland responded by agreeing to guarantee the deposits of its citizens, but refusing to guarantee the deposits of foreigners. Ireland immediately guaranteed all deposits at its failed banks and promised that bonds held by investors in the banks would be paid in full. In both countries, unlike the US, the voters had a say in what happened next.

The President of Iceland refused to sign off on the guarantee of foreign deposits, forcing a referendum. The first deal cut by Iceland with the British and Dutch were rejected outright. It would have imposed huge burdens on the citizens of Iceland, amounting to about $65,000 per household.The second amounted to about $17,000 per household, but the numbers may not be comparable. The second deal was decisively rejected. The British and the Dutch, apparently unused to the idea of democracy, promised to sue. Good luck. Iceland also imposed currency controls, refusing to allow foreign deposits out of the country. That amounts to $4.1 billion, which may be counter-pressure for the suits.

There have been actual arrests, and there may be actual prosecutions in the collapse of at least one Iceland bank.

The Irish government imposed horrifying austerity measures, leading, as one would expect, to human misery and low growth. This led to the crushing defeat of the Irish government at the polls. At least there is an investigation into the banksters who caused the disaster, albeit slow.

Now look at the US. No prosecutions. No investigations. No votes. Nothing. Giant banks and the rich people who own and operate them are so firmly in charge here that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, then President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, told the Attorney General of New York that aggressive prosecutions would wreck the financial system. The modest reforms of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill worry Ben Bernanke, the Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank. Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase tells us that he and his friends won and it’s time to move on from all this ugly name-calling.

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More: http://firedoglake.com/2011/05/08/ireland-and-iceland-can-change-things-by-voting-what-can-we-do/

:kick:

Which bankers have had their estates, artwork, wardrobes, and cars sold at auction? Which politicians have been put on a diet of bread and water? Which CEOs have been told to move in with relatives because their house is being used to satisfy creditors? I didn't think so.

:hi:

:kick: