Angelo: Our gratitude to those who have sighted the phenomenon of Iceland. We thought that contrary to the rest of the world, Iceland has not made private bankster dept public and they are even trying to jail negligent banksters. Here we have a response from a citizen at ground zero in the form of a letter to Max Keiser:
Having read and watched some of the stuff you have published on Iceland I want to thank you for your effort to explain things to the world in plain English. You are still misinformed about some of the things happening here in Iceland. I put the following comment on to your page but also want to send it to you directly:
It is a total nonsense that the Icelandic government has been using state money to help hard-pressed households. The Icelandic government has been guarding the banks like it would mean the end of the world if the appropriate debt restructuring would take place. The only restructuring of debts that has taken place is because a small group of people (that I belong to) has been demanding that every day for more than three years. The government and the banks have been giving into our demands and with heavy heart. This is not what they wanted and when IMF came here, they did not have this in mind. IMF came here to protect foreign creditor’s assets in Iceland.
Have in mind that when the three major banks collapsed in October 2008 and new were founded on their ruins the loan portfolio was transferred from the old banks to the new one on fair value, that is with heavy discount. The government has been backing the banks in trying as hard as they can to collect the loans at claim value in the old banks but not at book value/fair value in the new banks. For this reason the new banks have been profiting like never before returning some 180 bn IKR for the first three years of operation and that is only from operation here in Iceland. The old banks were only able to make such profit pre-collapse because of their international operation. Most of the profit comes from revaluation of loans that they got heavily discounted. So they are operating like hedge funds. Buying cheap and selling at higher price. And they call them self banks!
Have in mind that criminal investigation is under way on the conduct of the bankers pre-collapse. Also have in mind that loans in Iceland are heavily indexed so the principal takes changes according to the index used. The fx-index went up 70-150 per cent because of the devaluation of the IKR. The CPI has gone up some 60 per cent since January 2005. We that fight for justice here in Iceland want this to be corrected as this mutation in the indices was the result of what the bankers did. A parliament report suggests that the banks were not run properly, most likely breaking law, running Ponzi schemes, hoaxes, frauds, etc. (As it turns out that is what banking seems to be about all around the world.) Well we want the banks to return the plunder, that is what was taken from us through their actions. We find them as much a thieve as the ones that break into our homes and steal a TV or jewelry. People all over the world should also demand that the banks return what they have been taking from them in the name of “banking”, that actually has nothing to do with banking but is basically the biggest sting ever set up.
Sure the Icelandic government did not rescue the old banks and the creditors had to take a hit. And that is what has to happen all over the world. Lets never forget that banks and investors (hedge funds) run their own risk management programs. If their risk assessment fails that is their to swallow not their customers. If a car retailer sells me a car and the it goes burst, it is not mine to compensate them for their misfortune. The same should apply to bank and hedge funds. If Goldman Sachs has trillions of toxic assets they have to deal with it and get out of the mess them self. Oh, I forget. They are too big to fail. Then break the company into pieces and make each piece only so big that it can fail with out the global financial system going down to its knees.
Please continue your good work of telling people the truth.
Marino G. Njalsson Iceland (Source)