Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Iceland's president, announced Tuesday that he would not sign into law the Icesave bill, which stipulates terms for the repayment of loans to Britain and the Netherlands. Instead, a referendum will be held on the matter, with polls indicating that a substantial majority of Icelanders will reject the latest version of the measure.
To my mind, this is a good think. The parasite banksters would be full for this (IE the national government paying off their bad debts). It's about time the masses are allowed to speak on the subject.
The move provoked a furious response in international financial circles. Fitch immediately downgraded Iceland's long-term debt rating to junk status. British reaction was especially aggressive, with the Times reporting that the Treasury may consider seizing the remainder of Landsbanki's UK-based assets. Jeremy Warner began his comments in the Telegraph, "Right, that's it. They are definitely not going to be allowed into the European Union now. In fact they will be lucky if we don't set the gunboats on them."
The Brits need the money to continue to pay off their bankster parasites in the City of London. Maybe they should have a referendum on how such payments should be handled (and, no, the Tories taking power is just another case of one branch of the same neo-liberal party...and make no mistake, New Labour is a neo-liberal party...having the reigns of power). It won't happen.
Such responses typify the determination of the ruling elite that working people must be made to pay for the financial crisis. Any challenge to this diktat is met with fury, contempt and threats of ever-greater financial penalties against the population of the "offending" country.
And, yet...it's several of the smaller countries (Iceland, Lithuania, Greece, and to a point Ireland) who are the outposts of rebellion against the international financial order. Good for them. Perhaps we'll learn from their examples.
I'll let you read the rest of the article. You'll see that the Brits are being a bit hypocritical (surprise there, no?) and that the rates expected for Iceland to pay should the law go into effect is roughly $53k per family...all to pay of a debt from a 'private' institution. Read it, let your blood boil a bit, then apply the lessons to our situation here in the States.
Read the rest here.