[jeffkrol]

Sorry, just part of my "let's see what Iceland is up to" day.............

Iceland Has Hired An Ex-Cop Bounty Hunter To Go After The Bankers That Wrecked Its Economy - Business Insider
Hauksson's job description, according to PressEurop's translation of the piece:

"On one hand, we have to investigate all suspicion of fraud and offences committed before 2009, on the other hand, we bring the lawsuits against the suspects to court ourselves," Hauksson explains. This is a 'totally new' method which allows the investigators to "follow the case" and the judicial system to "know the cases like the back of their hand". This is indispensable in order "to compete with the well-prepared defence attorneys".

Hauksson oversees a posse of 100 researchers to help track down outlaws. He's netted some major convictions since starting in 2009, including the former chief of staff of the country's finance minister on insider trading charges. Many others await their day in court, Chabas writes.

And he will track you down even if you've fled abroad.

"Searches continue and the team pursues its investigations abroad in the foreign subsidiaries of the Icelandic banks and includes questioning foreigners," Chabas writes. " 'We enjoy full international cooperation,' stresses Olafur Hauksson."

for fun:
16 Reasons To Move To Iceland Right Now - Business Insider

reiteration of an earlier post..
Iceland forgives mortgage debt to save its economy

mikemike and winder pay attention............

It's probably not a concept that most U.S. banks and lawmakers want to think about, but the fact is, Iceland's economy has grown by leaps and bounds since the government there implemented widespread debt forgiveness for many of its citizens.

The initiative came about Bloomberg - Business, Financial & Economic News, Stock Quotes " target="_blank">following protests by Icelanders in 2008-2009 who were angry at the country's leaders and bankers for its fiscal and economic collapse. At one point, protestors gathered around the Parliament building and pelted it with rocks.

In the ensuing months, Iceland banks have forgiven loans equaling 13 percent of the country's annual gross domestic product, which has eased the debt burden for more than 25 percent of Iceland's population, according to a February report published by the Icelandic Financial Services Association.

"You could safely say that Iceland holds the world record in household debt relief," Lars Christensen, chief emerging markets economist at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen, told Bloomberg News. "Iceland followed the textbook example of what is required in a crisis. Any economist would agree with that."

Well, not ANY economists eh.............

Maybe just the ones that MAKE SENSE..

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/29/509191/chart-mortgage-debt-holdi...ery/?mobile=nc

The most recent empirical evidence, from academic quarters to the IMF, shows that underwater mortgage debt is creating a drag on the economic recovery. The recovery is weaker in places where mortgage debt is the highest, as more mortgage debt results in lower consumption and higher unemployment.

– Other explanations of the relationship between the housing crash and the weak economy, such as structural unemployment created by the house bubble, contain serious weaknesses.

– Debt writedowns, foreclosure mitigation, and other housing sector specific policies are a crucial tools in dealing with this “balance-sheet recession” and gettng the economy started again.

– Foreclosures exacerbate these problems by creating vicious cycles of destructive economic activity. Some estimate that foreclosures have caused an additional 25 percent of the decline in economic activity.

As this chart shows, the areas with the largest percentage of underwater mortgages have the highest unemployment rates:

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Last edited by jeffkrol; 07-13-2012 at 02:49 PM.

[jeffkrol]

Addendum from my hometown rag..........

Northern light

In 2000, Iceland was the 10th-wealthiest nation in the world. Over the previous five years, the economy had grown by an average of 4.86%, about 0.5 percentage point faster than the United States. Iceland's financial system was highly regulated, with the government-controlled banking sector operating with a prudent degree of leverage.
Icelanders marveled at the quality of their personal and economic lives. Most did not want or need to overreach in search of additional material gain.
But the country's power brokers weren't satisfied with simple abundance, and drove a massive deregulation campaign that eventually included Iceland's previously circumspect financial system.
The fiercely competitive environment fostered by deregulation compelled the newly privatized banks to extend injudicious amounts of credit into the real estate market. Loans eventually reached a staggering 10 times the size of the economy, and house prices doubled over a short period.
The results were predictable and inevitable: a massive credit bubble that eventually brought economic chaos to a nation that had been prosperous. For Iceland, deregulation was a solution in search of a problem.

Sound familiar?

It should. Iceland's vast expansion of its financial services industry was similar to that in the United States.
But the stories have since diverged, in two significant ways.
Iceland put its former prime minister, Geir Haarde, on trial for failing to take all necessary measures to prevent the banking collapse. (In April, Haarde was convicted of "negligence" but acquitted of three more serious charges.) A special prosecutor brought criminal cases against two major banking figures and is actively investigating about 100 others.
In the U.S., no politician or banker has been charged in connection with credit speculation schemes that brought immense personal and financial suffering. While greed, incompetence and outrageous severance packages are not illegal, it strains credulity to believe that trillions of dollars could be lost without a single crime being committed.Not too big to fail
Iceland also has applied a different blend of economic remedies from those tried by the U.S., Europe and Japan. It allowed its financial institutions to go bust, sanctioned mortgage debt forgiveness, and renationalized major banks.
The credit bubble hit Iceland particularly hard. Per-capita gross domestic product remains 40% below the 2007 peak. But those unorthodox economic policies may be starting to bear fruit.
Iceland's debt rating recently was upgraded to investment grade from "junk" status. It's projected economic growth rate of 2.5% this year is about 1 percentage point higher than in the U.S. and nearly 3 percentage points above the recession-racked eurozone. Gross government debt is 65% of GDP, compared with 90% for the United States and 220% in Japan.

For a lesson on financial meltdowns, look to Iceland - JSOnline

And a bit for the right.......
Icelandic Myths

Unorthodox approach to defaulting on debt
Yet Iceland has spurred this economic miracle without bailing out the bankers with untold billions.
Instead, Iceland did "everything the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the global economic establishment thinks you should never do", according to Allister Heath, editor of business daily City A.M., when "it allowed banks to go bust, it defaulted on its debt, it reneged on international deals and so on, putting taxpayers first".

who would have thunk it..
http://www.mindfulmoney.co.uk/12568/knowledge-bank/iceland-the-economic-model-to-follow.html

counterpoint:

Mr Lárusson forecast that "few, if any of the indicted bankers will face anything more than minor fines".

Here on Mindful Money, Simon Ward, chief economist at Henderson, warned in his blog that Iceland's economic growth since devaluing the krona has not been significantly higher than in Balkan states that pursued austerity measures to defend euro exchange rates pegs.

Hurray for Latvia ..again............
http://www.mindfulmoney.co.uk/wp/simon-ward/should-greece-follow-iceland-or-the-baltics/

Wonder who's "little people" are happier...................

[Ratmagiclady]

Fishing, Dragons, and Screaming would beat the glbal Wall Street at this point. (The geothermal taps don't hurt, either. )