October 2008

We the Icelandic people

October 8, 2008

It is hard to know how – or indeed, if – to respond to some of the comments that have been written on this blog over the last couple of days. Some readers and commenters are adamant that Iceland is already bankrupt, or that bankruptcy is inevitable. I do not know what sort of information [...]

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Iceland is not going bankrupt

October 7, 2008

In the comments to the last post a number of points were made that I thought I’d rather address in a separate post rather than try to respond to them in the comments box. First, I get the sense that some people perceived the whole deal around the currency swap agreement [or currency swap lines, [...]

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As the Russians come riding on their white steed

October 7, 2008

Our Prime Minister is holding a press conference as I type this, has just done so in Icelandic and is at the moment speaking to the foreign journalists that are here in Niceland monitoring the situation. Things have happened swiftly this morning, as in previous days. The legislation introduced in parliament yesterday was passed last [...]

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Our fearless leader speaks

October 6, 2008

Apropos the last post, our Prime Minister addressed the nation about an hour ago to announce that a bill would be submitted and presumably passed in parliament today [they'd already met with the opposition, who agreed to cooperate] which will give the Financial Supervisory Authority extensive scope to intervene in the operations of Iceland’s financial [...]

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Stay calm. Deep breath now.

October 6, 2008

Last Friday, I sold everything I had in two separate mutual funds managed by Glitnir bank. One was the now-notorious Fund 9, composed of short-term securities, that Glitnir had touted as being risk-free, in that the only thing that might devalue was the accumulated interest. As YT and thousands of other Nicelanders discovered last week, [...]

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The Icelandic Central Bank gets slammed

October 5, 2008

Tomorrow it will be a week since the takeover of Glitnir bank by the Icelandic state, and as the dust begins to settle, serious contenders are weighing in with some extremely harsh criticism of the Icelandic Central Bank and its governors. One is Richard Portes, a professor at the London School of Business, who last [...]

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Let them eat pickled ram’s testicles

October 4, 2008

So, our fearless leaders are presently working around the clock to try to save us from imminent disaster. Apparently there have been back-to-back meetings since early this morning between the government and all “vested-interest parties” who presumably are negotiating on behalf of us simple folk: union leaders, pension fund managers and suchlike. It’s kind of [...]

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Wrapping up a week of insanity

October 3, 2008

The turmoil and public uncertainty concerning the Glitnir takeover by the state as outlined in the last post had pretty much evaporated by the following day. The reason is simple: our economy is in dire straits to put it mildly and wallowing in blame and resentment is a ‘luxury’ that nobody can afford. All hands [...]

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“The biggest bank robbery in Icelandic history”

October 1, 2008

All through the day yesterday, rumours circulated that the takeover of Glitnir bank by the state had been based on sinister motives. The word on the street was that this was yet another chapter in the ongoing saga of our former PM Davíð Oddsson’s personal vendetta against Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson and Jóhannes Jónsson – the [...]

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