No Solution on Iceland-Britain Banking Dispute

Scottish_Icesaver

The Icelandic government are playing a pretty shrewd and highly political and emotive game here and I think we (Icesavers) should stay as calm as possible. Haarde (sp) and his crony the ex Pm and now Central Bank Governor are forever going on about how they think everything will be okay for the British depositers and how about Iceland's children and grandchildren etc shouldn't pay for the 'mistakes' of today.

What they don't say is that the PM thinks the British depositors should be made 'okay' with the British taxpayers money rather than the return of their assets in Landsbanki hf and the Central Bank Governor doesn't say that Icelandic children and grandchildren shouldn't pay for todays mistakes by Lansbanki hf except for the mistakes that accrue to those customers with an Icelandic address which need to be guaranteed, presumably at the expense of the same future generation of Icelanders.

I would think a half decent journalist could get a great story comparing how these 2 wealthy individuals have personally benefited (i.e. not lost out financially) from this situation while tens of thousands of much poorer individuals in the UK have had to take on debts, lost money because of house purchases that had to be cancelled, and lost monthly interest that I'm sure many pensioners rely on etc etc. Not to count the anxiety and stress caused to these individuals.

I'm just saying that there is a high stakes poker game going on just now and we icesavers have the misfortune to sit at 2 seats on the table, as depositers and as taxpayers. The Icelandic government are trying to emotionally blackmail the worlds press into believeing they are the only victims in this situation (frankly playing a cleverer political game than Darling et al) and also using the fact they know we'll pressure the UK government more and more the longer this drags out to try to get away from this with the maximum political gain possible... and as I said before I'm highly suspicious of the personal stakes the Icelandic govt officials.

I'm very confident we'll get our money back but I would happily wait a bit longer for the certainty we all crave in order that Iceland is forced to meet its financial and moral obligations to us all.

Try and forget about it for the weekend.

climbgirl

Scottish_Icesaver wrote: »

I'm very confident we'll get our money back but I would happily wait a bit longer for the certainty we all crave in order that Iceland is forced to meet its financial and moral obligations to us all.

Agreed, but something other than "we're working on it" would be good from the officials in this. We're currently getting all our information from the press, which isn't reliable and that's not a good situation.

I like the point about how Haarde etc have profited from the boom, would be very interesting to learn more. I find it deeply ironic that he keeps repeating that he doesn't want generations of Icelanders to pay for this when the situation has resulted from his reign as finance minister and prime minister! Granted, he isn't responsible for current economic conditions in the world. But he allowed the banking system in Iceland to get way too big for it's own good. And that's why they haven't coped with the global downturn.

Scottish_Icesaver

climbgirl wrote: »

I find it deeply ironic that he keeps repeating that he doesn't want generations of Icelanders to pay for this when the situation has resulted from his reign as finance minister and prime minister! Granted, he isn't responsible for current economic conditions in the world. But he allowed the banking system in Iceland to get way too big for it's own good. And that's why they haven't coped with the global downturn.

Do you not think that he has some deposits in Lansbanki that have not been frozen as a result of the way this has been handled.... despite his certain considerable wealth. I'm fairly sure he has personally benefited from the political decisions he's taken. How about some journalist asking him and the Central Bank governer (ex Pm) to donate the money they personally had unfrozen by the govt decisions to help the most deserving depositers outside Iceland. I'm sure we could dig up some pretty deserving, harrowing and politically very effective cases very quickly.

climbgirl

Scottish_Icesaver wrote: »

Do you not think that he has some deposits in Lansbanki that have not been frozen as a result of the way this has been handled.... despite his certain considerable wealth. I'm fairly sure he has personally benefited from the political decisions he's taken. How about some journalist asking him and the Central Bank governer (ex Pm) to donate the money they personally had unfrozen by the govt decisions to help the most deserving depositers outside Iceland. I'm sure we could dig up some pretty deserving, harrowing and politically very effective cases very quickly.

Oh absolutely, the whole country benefitted from the enormous growth of their financial industry (that Haarde and his govt allowed to happen). They were once one of the richest countries (per individual) on the planet. He can blame the UK for pushing the country over the edge but that was just the straw that broke the camel's back. I doubt we'll see some personal responsibility, you never do with politicians!

zzyorkshirepuddingzz

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MikeDD

It looks like Iceland have reached an agreement with the IMF. Given that one of stumbling blocks in reaching this agreement was the dispute with the UK over Icesave this is perhaps an indication that an agreement may be close.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/iceland-takes-decisive-action-launch/story.aspx?guid=%7BC4B38336-9BC9-41D8-AA59-5C1524EE14D5%7D&dist=hppr

amistupid

May be they should issue us with Icesave Stamps a bit like the old Green Shield Stamps or may be we should try and pay off our bills with Icesave IOU's.
It would certainly hit the headlines and make an interesting court case if a local authority refused to accept an Icesave voucher as Council tax payment especially if that particular council had it's assets frozen in Iceland. The police would even be reluctant to arrest you as the chances are they would probably be owed money by the same defaulters!

justaquickie

amistupid wrote: »

May be they should issue us with Icesave Stamps a bit like the old Green Shield Stamps or may be we should try and pay off our bills with Icesave IOU's.
It would certainly hit the headlines and make an interesting court case if a local authority refused to accept an Icesave voucher as Council tax payment especially if that particular council had it's assets frozen in Iceland. The police would even be reluctant to arrest you as the chances are they would probably be owed money by the same defaulters!

Like it. IOU = Iceland Owes U.

jem16

Payments to start in November.

http://www.fscs.org.uk/consumer/

amistupid

I've popped then recorked the champagne (well Asti Spewmainly) that many times it's gone flat!