Iceland
I'm still baffled as to why the citizens of a country should be liable for the failings of a company which has it's HQ there. I understand and sympathise with the view that the people saving in the banks shouldn't be screwed, but why should regular Icelanders pay? I really don;t get it. What's their connection to the excesses?
Whenever it was (sometime in the 19th Century?) that it was realised that banks going bankrupt was broadly speaking a bad thing, because of the chaos and the suffering of ordinary people in the collapse, it was in a period in which these issues were largely contained within a nation. So, if the government of the UK (say) had to step in to prop up a bank, such that the ordinary savers could get their money out at least, then that made some sense. But we don't live in that world any longer, and if we still accept that retail banking is something which needs to be supported beyond the levels that other companies go to the wall, then it needs to be on a different scale than before, I'd say.
In short I have every sympathy with Icelanders saying - look this isn't our debt, this a debt that these banks failed on, and as such they should be punished, not us. Sell off the assets and distribute it to those who lost out, jail the bankers, seize their assets etc etc. Do whatever it takes to get people their money back, but why punish people who had nothing to do with it?
I'm still baffled as to why the citizens of a country should be liable for the failings of a company which has it's HQ there. I understand and sympathise with the view that the people saving in the banks shouldn't be screwed, but why should regular Icelanders pay? I really don;t get it. What's their connection to the excesses?
Whenever it was (sometime in the 19th Century?) that it was realised that banks going bankrupt was broadly speaking a bad thing, because of the chaos and the suffering of ordinary people in the collapse, it was in a period in which these issues were largely contained within a nation. So, if the government of the UK (say) had to step in to prop up a bank, such that the ordinary savers could get their money out at least, then that made some sense. But we don't live in that world any longer, and if we still accept that retail banking is something which needs to be supported beyond the levels that other companies go to the wall, then it needs to be on a different scale than before, I'd say.
In short I have every sympathy with Icelanders saying - look this isn't our debt, this a debt that these banks failed on, and as such they should be punished, not us. Sell off the assets and distribute it to those who lost out, jail the bankers, seize their assets etc etc. Do whatever it takes to get people their money back, but why punish people who had nothing to do with it?
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