Iceland tells the UK & Dutch to swivel - Again.......

withabix

ILW wrote: »

Why did the UK government guarantee the deposits of a foreign bank?

Because most of the money being lost was local authority deposits - ie OUR MONEY.

Personally I don't think we should be bailing out Greece, Ireland or Portugal (or Spain next). We kept out of the Euro for good reason.

IronWolf

Good luck running your country Iceland when you cant loan a penny anymore.
And say byebye to EU membership

ILW

withabix wrote: »

Because most of the money being lost was local authority deposits - ie OUR MONEY.

So why not just give the money to the LAs, rather than giving it to a foreign bank to hand it back, who then decide that they are not going to repay it? Am I missing something?

IronWolf

ILW wrote: »

So why not just give the money to the LAs, rather than giving it to a foreign bank to hand it back, who then decide that they are not going to repay it? Am I missing something?

they did, but now they want Iceland to pay them back the money they gave to the LAs

burnleymik

At least the residents of Iceland get the option of a refferendum to vote on the big issues, where as we are often just dictated to.

Generali

burnleymik wrote: »

At least the residents of Iceland get the option of a refferendum to vote on the big issues, where as we are often just dictated to.

The people forced the issue by turning national elections into a referendum on bailing out foreign savers. Why should they pay? I wouldn't want to pay all my money to bailing out the middle classes and local Governments of foreign countries because they were too dumb to realize that the reason Icelandic banks offered higher rates is because they were more risky.

You get nothing for nothing. If someone will pay you a higher rate of interest there is a reason for that.

Masomnia

Up to the compensation limit I think Iceland should cough up, as they're legally obliged to, as far as I can tell anyway, through that passport system. Something like that, where the FSA guaranteed a certain amaount and the Icelandic government the rest.

Beyond the compensation limit there's no reason they should pay, and if I was Icelandic I'd be livid at the mere suggestion!

PasturesNew

Can we ship out all our chavs, ne'er do wells and unwanted illegals and send them over for Iceland to sort out. Get our money's worth "in kind" as they have to pay to sort them out. It'd only cost us a couple of ships - there were 2-3 for sale last week (ex battleships).... all we'd have to do is ask to take them on a test drive.

ILW

Could we not do a deal where they keep the money, but their creditors take on all the fishing rights?

Degenerate

Generali wrote: »

The people forced the issue by turning national elections into a referendum on bailing out foreign savers. Why should they pay?

Because the government they previously elected chose on their behalf to enter into international treaties for cross-border banking with government guarantees. Furthermore, they chose to take full advantage of the terms of those treaties by allowing their banks to operate on home soil and run an extremely lax risk model, whilst tempting foreign savers with good rates and the promise of a guarantee that was supposed to be as rock-solid as their home country's scheme.

I wouldn't want to pay all my money to bailing out the middle classes and local Governments of foreign countries because they were too dumb to realize that the reason Icelandic banks offered higher rates is because they were more risky.

You get nothing for nothing. If someone will pay you a higher rate of interest there is a reason for that.

Hardly a fair statement when referring to deposits covered by government guarantee. These are all supposed to be risk-free, at least to the extent of the guarantee limit. This was a case of false advertising of risk by Icelandic banks, in full collusion with the Icelandic government. Basically a government-sponsored fraud.

By welching on the international obligations that they entered into freely and enthusiastically, the Icelanders are basically admitting they are a failed state. Perhaps we should just invade. I jest, but seriously it is an open question now whether this population of 300,000 people is capable of producing a viable government fit to sit at the top table with the big boys of Europe.