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Paul Merrell

Iceland Stuns Banks: Plans To Take Back The Power To Create Money | Global Research - C... - 0 views

www.globalresearch.ca/...5442589

banksters Iceland monetary-policy

shared by Paul Merrell on 13 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • Who knew that the revolution would start with those radical Icelanders? It does, though. One Frosti Sigurjonsson, a lawmaker from the ruling Progress Party, issued a report today that suggests taking the power to create money away from commercial banks, and hand it to the central bank and, ultimately, Parliament. Can’t see commercial banks in the western world be too happy with this. They must be contemplating wiping the island nation off the map. If accepted in the Iceland parliament , the plan would change the game in a very radical way. It would be successful too, because there is no bigger scourge on our economies than commercial banks creating money and then securitizing and selling off the loans they just created the money (credit) with. Everyone, with the possible exception of Paul Krugman, understands why this is a very sound idea. Agence France Presse reports: Iceland Looks At Ending Boom And Bust With Radical Money Plan Iceland’s government is considering a revolutionary monetary proposal – removing the power of commercial banks to create money and handing it to the central bank. The proposal, which would be a turnaround in the history of modern finance, was part of a report written by a lawmaker from the ruling centrist Progress Party, Frosti Sigurjonsson, entitled “A better monetary system for Iceland”.
  • “The findings will be an important contribution to the upcoming discussion, here and elsewhere, on money creation and monetary policy,” Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson said. The report, commissioned by the premier, is aimed at putting an end to a monetary system in place through a slew of financial crises, including the latest one in 2008.
  • According to a study by four central bankers, the country has had “over 20 instances of financial crises of different types” since 1875, with “six serious multiple financial crisis episodes occurring every 15 years on average”. Mr Sigurjonsson said the problem each time arose from ballooning credit during a strong economic cycle. He argued the central bank was unable to contain the credit boom, allowing inflation to rise and sparking exaggerated risk-taking and speculation, the threat of bank collapse and costly state interventions. In Iceland, as in other modern market economies, the central bank controls the creation of banknotes and coins but not the creation of all money, which occurs as soon as a commercial bank offers a line of credit. The central bank can only try to influence the money supply with its monetary policy tools.
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  • Under the so-called Sovereign Money proposal, the country’s central bank would become the only creator of money. “Crucially, the power to create money is kept separate from the power to decide how that new money is used,” Mr Sigurjonsson wrote in the proposal. “As with the state budget, the parliament will debate the government’s proposal for allocation of new money,” he wrote. Banks would continue to manage accounts and payments, and would serve as intermediaries between savers and lenders. Mr Sigurjonsson, a businessman and economist, was one of the masterminds behind Iceland’s household debt relief programme launched in May 2014 and aimed at helping the many Icelanders whose finances were strangled by inflation-indexed mortgages signed before the 2008 financial crisis.
  • Paul Merrell on 13 Apr 15
     
    In closely related news, a Pentagon spokesman announced that soldiers of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Brigade and 22nd and 26th Marine Expeditionary Units were in the "mopping up stage" of routing terrorists who had captured the city of Reykjavík, Iceland in an April 7, 2015 surpise attack. According to knowledgeable sources in the White House, the terrorist invasion was reported by an unidentified official of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who had received urgent telephone calls from counterparts in Iceland's central bank. "We're still assessing the situation, but it looks like all members of the Icelandic government were brutally executed by the terrorists just before they retreated," Rear Adm. John Kirby said. Asked for the name of the terrorist organization that carried out the attack, Adm. Kirby said that the name had not yet been declassified, but said that he hoped to be able to announce that information soon.     
Paul Merrell

Iceland Wins Major Case Over Failed Bank - NYTimes.com - 0 views

dealbook.nytimes.com/...ns-major-case-over-failed-bank

Iceland banksters E.U. law

shared by Paul Merrell on 29 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • Iceland won a landmark case at a European court, ending an acrimonious legacy from the collapse of its banking system more than four years ago.On Monday, the court upheld the country’s refusal to promptly cover the losses of British and Dutch depositors who put more than $10 billion in Icesave, the bankrupt online offshoot of a failed Icelandic bank.In a judgment issued in Luxembourg, the court of the European Free Trade Association, orE.F.T.A., cleared Iceland of complaints that it violated rules governing the protection of depositors drawn up by the European Union. While Iceland is not a member of the union, it is bound by most of its rules as a member of E.F.T.A.
  • The case has attracted widespread attention because it touches on issues of cross-border banking that have been at the center of the European Union’s efforts to ensure the future stability of the region’s financial system. The Iceland banking collapse in 2008 — and the mayhem it caused far beyond the country’s borders — raised issues directly relevant to the 27-nation European Union.Monday’s court ruling in Luxembourg is a significant victory for Iceland. Unlike Ireland, Iceland declined to use taxpayer money to bail out foreign bondholders and depositors. This set off a bitter dispute with Britain, which used antiterrorism rules to take control of assets held in Britain by Icesave’s parent, Landsbanki.
  • In an interview this month with British television, Iceland’s president, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, denounced the British government’s approach of using antiterrorist rules to seize Icelandic assets. “We were there together with Al Qaeda and the Taliban on that list,” he said. “We have not forgotten that in Iceland.”
Paul Merrell

Iceland the first European Nation to sign Free Trade Agreement with China | nsnbc inter... - 0 views

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China Iceland free-trade-agreements

shared by Paul Merrell on 17 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has been signed in Beijing by Mr. Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade of Iceland, and Mr. Gao Hucheng, Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, in the presence of the Prime Minister of Iceland and the Premier of China. The agreement, signed on September 15, made Iceland the first European nation to sign and FTA with China. 
  • The central aim of the Iceland-China Free Trade Agreement is to promote trade by abolishing tariffs on imports and to further enhance economic ties between the two countries, reports the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of Iceland, adding that it is in essence similar to other FTAs that Iceland, as a member of European Free Trade Association (EFTA), has already concluded. The new bilateral FTA covers trade in goods and services, rules of origin, trade facilitation, intellectual property rights, competition and investment. Furthermore, the FTA entails that the two states should enhance their co-operation in a number of areas, including on labor matters and the environment, reports the MoFA of Iceland. A Joint Free Trade Commission will supervise the functioning of the FTA and establishes a framework for resolving trade issues that may arise in the future. The Iceland-China Free Trade Agreement will enter into force when legal procedures of acceptance in both countries have been concluded.
Paul Merrell

11,000 Icelanders Offer To House Syrian Refugees - 0 views

theantimedia.org/offer-to-house-syrian-refugees

war & peace refugees Europe Iceland Syria

shared by Paul Merrell on 05 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • The Icelandic government is reconsidering its national refugee quota after a social media campaign resulted in over 11,000 Icelanders offering up a room in their homes to refugees. As Europe struggles to cope with unprecedented levels of those seeking shelter, residents of the sparsely populated Nordic island country resorted to direct action to pressure their leaders. Iceland was recently awarded the title of “most peaceful country” in the Global Peace Index, with Syria ranking the least peaceful. With a population of 330,000 — less than many European cities — the country’s government had previously stated it could only take in 50 people this year. Taking matters into their own hands, over 16,000 Icelanders joined a Facebook page created on Sunday to pressurize the Icelandic government into accepting more refugees. In addition to offering rooms in homes, people have pledged financial support with air fares, language teaching, clothing, food, and toys, and the page has been inundated with messages of gratitude from Syrians, some of whom are writing from refugee camps. As a result of the outpouring of support, Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson announced that a committee is being formed to re-assess the country’s current policy.
  • Undoubtedly, thousands of people across the globe are equally horrified. Inspired by Iceland’s example, social media campaigns have sprung up and united those who are dismayed by the pitiful humanitarian response to the crisis. As distressing images and stories of the hurdles and barriers faced at every turn by those seeking sanctuary saturate the European press, similar schemes have snowballed throughout Europe. In Britain, more and more people are condemning the government’s shameful response to the crisis — a response particularly ironic considering most refugees are fleeing conflicts that the U.K.’s imperialist interventions have directly contributed to. .BottomResponsiveBanner { width: 300px; height: 250px; } @media (min-width:420px) { .BottomResponsiveBanner { width: 336px; height: 280px; } } @media (min-width:1300px) { .BottomResponsiveBanner { width: 728px; height: 90px; } } Not prepared to sit back, groups like Citizens UK are pressuring U.K. leaders to step up to the plate. More than 250,000 Brits have signed a petition calling for Britain to take its fair share of Syrian refugees. Ireland’s ”Pledge a Bed” campaign was overwhelmed with thousands of offers of spare rooms within hours of its launch while hundreds of Germans have offered to share their homes on the Refugees Welcome website.
  • Swiftly following suit and not to be outdone, offers of support haven’t stopped at Europe’s shores. A U.S. group called Open Homes, Open Hearts US – for Syrian refugees launched earlier this week. With no easy answers and no end in sight, the political firestorm will continue, as will the global outrage at the humanitarian tragedy. The only thing clear is that if the West were prepared to accept more refugees, desperate families wouldn’t be forced to rely on smugglers or to climb into perilous boats and refrigeration lorries.
  • Paul Merrell on 05 Sep 15
     
    Many reports in the last couple of weeks show that a wave of sympathy for war refugees is sweeping Europe in reaction to government efforts to prevent refugees from reaching Europe and forcing those already there into guarded camps. And the connection of those refugees to European foreign policy and participation in wars in the Mideast is being made. The propaganda paint of NATO nations waging "humanitarian" wars in the Mideast is definitely chipping off. 
Gary Edwards

Reinventing Banking: From Russia to Iceland to Ecuador - 1 views

www.counterpunch.org/...m-russia-to-iceland-to-ecuador

Banksters

shared by Gary Edwards on 12 Dec 15 - No Cached
  • Global developments in finance and geopolitics are prompting a rethinking of the structure of banking and of the nature of money itself. Among other interesting news items: * In Russia, vulnerability to Western sanctions has led to proposals for a banking system that is not only independent of the West but is based on different design principles. * In Iceland, the booms and busts culminating in the banking crisis of 2008-09 have prompted lawmakers to consider a plan to remove the power to create money from private banks. * In Ireland, Iceland and the UK, a recession-induced shortage of local credit has prompted proposals for a system of public interest banks on the model of the Sparkassen of Germany. * In Ecuador, the central bank is responding to a shortage of US dollars (the official Ecuadorian currency) by issuing digital dollars through accounts to which everyone has access, effectively making it a bank of the people.
  • A major concern with stripping private banks of the power to create money as deposits when they make loans is that it will seriously reduce the availability of credit in an already sluggish economy. One solution is to make the banks, or some of them, public institutions. They would still be creating money when they made loans, but it would be as agents of the government; and the profits would be available for public use, on the model of the US Bank of North Dakota and the German Sparkassen (public savings banks). In Ireland, three political parties – Sinn Fein, the Green Party and Renua Ireland (a new party) — are now supporting initiatives for a network of local publicly-owned banks on the Sparkassen model. In the UK, the New Economy Foundation (NEF) is proposing that the failed Royal Bank of Scotland be transformed into a network of public interest banks on that model. And in Iceland, public banking is part of the platform of a new political party called the Dawn Party.
  • Particularly interesting is a proposal to provide targeted lending for businesses and industries by providing them with low-interest loans at 1-4 percent, financed through the central bank with quantitative easing (digital money creation). The proposal is to issue 20 trillion rubles for this purpose over a five year period. Using quantitative easing for economic development mirrors the proposal of UK Labour Leader Jeremy Corbin for “quantitative easing for people.”
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  • William Engdahl concludes that Russia is in “a fascinating process of rethinking every aspect of her national economic survival because of the reality of the western attacks,” one that “could produce a very healthy transformation away from the deadly defects” of the current banking model.
  • Iceland’s Radical Money Plan Iceland, too, is looking at a radical transformation of its money system, after suffering the crushing boom/bust cycle of the private banking model that bankrupted its largest banks in 2008. According to a March 2015 article in the UK Telegraph: Iceland’s government is considering a revolutionary monetary proposal – removing the power of commercial banks to create money and handing it to the central bank. The proposal, which would be a turnaround in the history of modern finance, was part of a report written by a lawmaker from the ruling centrist Progress Party, Frosti Sigurjonsson, entitled “A better monetary system for Iceland”.
  • Under this “Sovereign Money” proposal, the country’s central bank would become the only creator of money. Banks would continue to manage accounts and payments and would serve as intermediaries between savers and lenders. The proposal is a variant of the Chicago Plan promoted by Kumhof and Benes of the IMF and the Positive Money group in the UK.
  • Ever since 2000, when Ecuador agreed to use the US dollar as its official legal tender, it has had to ship boatloads of paper dollars into the country just to conduct trade. In order to “seek efficiency in payment systems [and] to promote and contribute to the economic stability of the country,” the government of President Rafael Correa has therefore established the world’s first national digitally-issued currency.
  • Unlike Bitcoin and similar private crypto-currencies (which have been outlawed in the country), Ecuador’s dinero electronico is operated and backed by the government. The Ecuadorian digital currency is less like Bitcoin than like M-Pesa, a private mobile phone-based money transfer service started by Vodafone, which has generated a “mobile money” revolution in Kenya.
  • According to a National Assembly statement: Electronic money will stimulate the economy; it will be possible to attract more Ecuadorian citizens, especially those who do not have checking or savings accounts and credit cards alone. The electronic currency will be backed by the assets of the Central Bank of Ecuador.
  • That means there is no fear of the bank going bankrupt or of bank runs or bail-ins. Nor can the digital currency be devalued by speculative short selling. The government has declared that these are digital US dollars trading at 1 to 1 – take it or leave it – and the people are taking it. According to an October 2015 article titled “
  • Banking Moves into the 21st Century The catastrophic failures of the Western banking system mandate a new vision. These transformations, current and proposed, are constructive steps toward streamlining the banking system, eliminating the risks that have devastated individuals and governments, democratizing money, and promoting sustainable and prosperous economies.
  • Gary Edwards on 16 Dec 15
     
    Excellent article on banking, lending, and currency reform initiatives.  Thanks to Marbux!
Paul Merrell

First to Fall? Panama Papers Bring Down Iceland PM, Portending Future Fallout | Common ... - 0 views

www.commondreams.org/...d-pm-portending-future-fallout

Auction 2016 Hillary Panama-Papers Iceland Ukraine British-Virgin-Isles Chile

shared by Paul Merrell on 07 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • In the first instance of a prominent politician taken down by the 11.5 million documents leaked in the Panama Papers, Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson resigned on Tuesday after fully 10 percent of Iceland's population rallied in protest of his wife's secret, offshore shell company holding millions. Gunnlaugsson was asked about the account on the day the leak was announced in a television interview, and he walked out rather than answer the question:
  • The next day, "an estimated 22,000 Icelanders slung eggs and protested outside the Parliament building" demanding his resignation, as Common Dreams reported. Gunnlaugsson initially refused to bow to the public pressure, but eventually announced his resignation on Tuesday evening.
  • News editor of the Reykjavík Grapevine Paul Fontaine said Tuesday, "While the Prime Minister's particular role in the Panama Papers leak is huge, and I don't want to downplay it, I also don't want to downplay the involvement other Icelanders—and the countless others around the world—also had in this." "This extends beyond the prime minister; it reaches parliament, it reaches Reykjavík City Hall, and it reportedly reaches hundreds of as yet unnamed Icelandic businesspeople," Fontaine pointed out. "The greater crime, which the Panama Papers illustrate comprehensively, is that we have a secret economy connected to and even supporting some of the worst aspects of the global capitalist system."
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  • Meanwhile, Ukraine's president faces possible impeachment proceedings for his offshore holdings in the British Virgin Islands, and the Chilean head of anti-corruption group Transparency International resigned Tuesday after the Panama Papers revealed his own use of secret shell companies.
  • Relatively few Americans have been named in the leak thus far, perhaps pointing to the country's status as one of the foremost locales for creating shell corporations like those documented in the Panama Papers. "Americans can form shell companies right in Wyoming, Delaware or Nevada," said Shima Baradaran Baughman, a law professor at the University of Utah, in an interview with Fusion. "They have no need to go to Panama to form a shell company to use for illicit activities."
  • David Dayen explored in depth the paltry U.S. regulations around onshore shell companies in Salon: "While we force foreign financial institutions to give up information on accounts held by U.S. taxpayers through the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010, we don’t reciprocate by complying with international disclosure requirements standardized by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and agreed to by 97 other nations. As a result, the U.S. is becoming one of the world’s foremost tax havens."
  • President Barack Obama addressed the Panama Papers leak for the first time on Tuesday, condemning the laws that make offshore tax havens legal. But those words rang hollow to many observers who recalled that the Obama Administration was behind the very trade deal, Panama TPA, that enshrined the rights of firms such as Mossack Fonseca to funnel millions into untraceable offshore shell companies. As Common Dreams noted, "Much of [Mossack Fonseca's] activities were not necessarily illegal—thanks to agreements such as the Panama TPA." It is worth noting that Bernie Sanders advocated against the deal.
  • Reform also seems unlikely should Hillary Clinton become the Democratic party's nominee, considering that she and her husband own a shell corporation such as the ones documented in the Panama Papers, as the Associated Press reported last year. Unnamed officials told the AP that "the entity was a 'pass-through' company designed to channel payments to the former president." Thanks to the nature of the laws surrounding such corporations, Clinton is not required to disclose the company's existence or earnings in her campaign finance reports. Still, observers are hopeful that this record-shattering leak will drum up enough public pressure to not only topple prominent politicians, but to also propel the efforts of groups seeking real legislative reform. "The Panama Papers are a boost to the global movement to stop tax-haven abuse and recapture trillions of the hidden wealth of nations," wrote author Chuck Collins in The Nation. "This story isn’t going away anytime soon."
Paul Merrell

Iceland Sentences 29th Banker To Prison, US Bankers Still Collecting Bonuses - 1 views

www.mintpressnews.com/...213256

banksters Iceland prisons

shared by Paul Merrell on 01 Feb 16 - No Cached
  • While the world economy struggles to recover from the 2008 financial crisis, most of the bankers who caused the collapse are still collecting massive salaries and have faced few, if any, consequences. Except in Iceland. In one of the countries hit hardest by the collapse, 29 bankers have now been sentenced to prison for their roles in the crash. According to, Stefan Simanowitz, writing for The Huffington Post on Jan. 5, “Just before Christmas, the former CEO of Iceland’s Glitnir bank and two other senior bankers were sentenced to jail terms of up to five years for market manipulation and breach of fiduciary duties.”
  • Simanowitz questioned why the United States and the United Kingdom, for example, have been far more lenient on their banks. “[N]ot a single senior banking executive in the US or the UK has been jailed for their role in the financial crisis. Whilst banks — such as the five found to be rigging the Libor rate — have been hit with substantial fines, the individual bankers behind the fraud, market rigging and irresponsible lending that led to the economic meltdown have all avoided time behind bars.”
Paul Merrell

Icelandic Justice and Criminal Bankers - nsnbc international | nsnbc international - 0 views

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financial-collapse Iceland criminal-prosecution banksters economic-turnaround

shared by Paul Merrell on 17 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • On September 15, 2008, a former Goldman Sachs chairman, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen, deliberately triggered a predictable global financial meltdown when he decided to break precedent and let Lehman Bros, the fourth-largest Wall Street investment bank, go bankrupt. The reasons for his decision are for another time. The fallout from that traumatic financial crisis remains very much with the world financial system to this day, more than seven years later. One of the little-noticed casualties of that Lehman Bros. debacle was the worst banking crisis in the history of one of the world’s smallest countries, Iceland. How that country of 323,000 citizens chose to deal with the crisis is a model for the rest of the world. Instead of beatifying the criminal bankers responsible for worst world financial crisis in history, the people of Iceland did something quite different.
  • Paul Merrell on 17 Apr 16
     
    F. William Engdahl does a great job of summing up the bankster and economic situation in Iceland. 
Paul Merrell

Iceland Defies Bank Backlash: Advance $1.2 Billion Debt Relief Plan - 0 views

www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37023.htm

financial-collapse Iceland debt-relief banksters

shared by Paul Merrell on 02 Dec 13 - No Cached
  • Iceland’s government has announced that it will be writing off up to 24,000 euros ($32,600) of every household’s mortgage, fulfilling its election promise, despite overwhelming criticism from international financial institutions. The measure was introduced by the country’s prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, the leader of the Progressive Party which won the late-April elections on a promise of household debt relief. According to the government’s website the household debt will be reduced by 13 percent on average.  Citizens of Iceland have been suffering from debt since the 2008 financial crisis, which led to high borrowing costs after the collapse of the krona against other currencies.   “Currently, household debt is equivalent to 108 percent of GDP, which is high by international comparison,” highlighted a government statement, according to AFP. "The action will boost household disposable income and encourage savings.” The government said that the debt relief will begin by mid-2014 and according to estimates the measure is set to cost $1.2 billion in total. It will be spread out over four years. 
  • The financing plan for the program has not yet been laid out. However, Gunnlaugsson has promised that public finances will not be put at risk. It was initially proposed that the foreign creditors of Icelandic banks would pay for the measure. International organizations have confronted the idea with criticism. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have advised against it, citing economic concerns. Iceland has “little fiscal space for additional household debt relief” according to the IMF, while the OECD stated that Iceland should limit its mortgage relief to low-income households. In the meantime, ratings service, Standard & Poor's, cut back on its outlook for Iceland's long-term credit rating to negative from stable, stating that the economic measure could affect the confidence of foreign investors if it ends up being paid for by the existing creditors of Icelandic banks.
Paul Merrell

Iceland convicts bad bankers and says other nations can act | Reuters - 0 views

www.reuters.com/...-bankers-idUSKBN0LG2O420150213

financial-collapse Iceland banksters litigation criminal-convictions

shared by Paul Merrell on 16 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • Iceland's Supreme Court has upheld convictions of market manipulation for four former executives of the failed Kaupthing bank in a landmark case that the country's special prosecutor said showed it was possible to crack down on fraudulent bankers. Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, Kaupthing's former chief executive, former chairman Sigurdur Einarsson, former CEO of Kaupthing Luxembourg Magnus Gudmundsson, and Olafur Olafsson, the bank's second largest shareholder at the time, were all sentenced on Thursday to between four and five and a half years.The verdict is the heaviest for financial fraud in Iceland's history, local media said. Kaupthing collapsed under heavy debts after the 2008 financial crisis and the four former executives now live abroad. Though they sometimes returned to Iceland to collaborate with the court investigation, none were present on Thursday.Iceland's government appointed a special prosecutor to investigate its bankers after the world's financial systems were rocked by the discovery of huge debts and widespread poor corporate governance. He said Thursday's ruling was a signal to countries slow to pursue similar cases that no individual was too big to be prosecuted.
  • "This case...sends a strong message that will wake up discussion," special prosecutor Olafur Hauksson told Reuters. "It shows that these financial cases may be hard, but they can also produce results."Not all of Iceland's prosecutions have succeeded. But the country's efforts contrast with the United States and particularly Europe, where though some banks have been fined, few executives have been tried and voters suffering post-crisis austerity conditions feel bankers got off lightly.A recent scandal at the Swiss private bank of Europe's biggest lender HSBC has highlighted the controversy again and sparked a political row about whether the bank did enough to pursue possible tax dodgers..
  • Iceland struggled initially to appoint a special prosecutor. Hauksson, 50, a policeman from a small fishing village, was encouraged to put in for the job after the initial advertisement drew no applications. Nor have all of his prosecutions been trouble-free: two former bank executives were acquitted in one case, while sentences imposed on others have been criticized for being too light.However, Icelandic lower courts have convicted the chief executives of all three of its largest banks for their responsibility in a crisis that prosecutors said highlighted the operations of a club of wealth financiers in a country of just 320,000 people.They also convicted former chief executives of two other major banks, Glitnir and Landsbanki, for charges ranging from fraud and market manipulation.Parliament relaxed bank secrecy laws in Iceland to help the prosecutors investigate bank documents without court orders."Why should we have a part of our society that is not being policed or without responsibility?" Hauksson said. "It is dangerous that someone is too big to investigate - it gives a sense there is a safe haven."Seven criminal cases involving bankers have made it to the Supreme Court, which upheld six of them. Five more, including cases of CEOs - are due to be heard by the top court. Another 14 cases are awaiting possible prosecution, Hauksson said.
Paul Merrell

Iceland looks at ending boom and bust with radical money plan - Telegraph - 0 views

www.telegraph.co.uk/...t-with-radical-money-plan.html

banksters Iceland monetary-policy

shared by Paul Merrell on 13 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • Iceland's government is considering a revolutionary monetary proposal - removing the power of commercial banks to create money and handing it to the central bank. The proposal, which would be a turnaround in the history of modern finance, was part of a report written by a lawmaker from the ruling centrist Progress Party, Frosti Sigurjonsson, entitled "A better monetary system for Iceland". "The findings will be an important contribution to the upcoming discussion, here and elsewhere, on money creation and monetary policy," Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson said. The report, commissioned by the premier, is aimed at putting an end to a monetary system in place through a slew of financial crises, including the latest one in 2008.
  • He argued the central bank was unable to contain the credit boom, allowing inflation to rise and sparking exaggerated risk-taking and speculation, the threat of bank collapse and costly state interventions. In Iceland, as in other modern market economies, the central bank controls the creation of banknotes and coins but not the creation of all money, which occurs as soon as a commercial bank offers a line of credit. The central bank can only try to influence the money supply with its monetary policy tools. Under the so-called Sovereign Money proposal, the country's central bank would become the only creator of money. "Crucially, the power to create money is kept separate from the power to decide how that new money is used," Mr Sigurjonsson wrote in the proposal.
  • Banks would continue to manage accounts and payments, and would serve as intermediaries between savers and lenders. Mr Sigurjonsson, a businessman and economist, was one of the masterminds behind Iceland's household debt relief programme launched in May 2014 and aimed at helping the many Icelanders whose finances were strangled by inflation-indexed mortgages signed before the 2008 financial crisis. The small Nordic country was hit hard as the crash of US investment bank Lehman Brothers caused the collapse of its three largest banks. Iceland then became the first western European nation in 25 years to appeal to the International Monetary Fund to save its battered economy. Its GDP fell by 5.1pc in 2009 and 3.1pc in 2010 before it started rising again.
Paul Merrell

Island puts its EU Bid on Ice | nsnbc international - 0 views

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Iceland EU-membership Iceland-withdrawal

shared by Paul Merrell on 13 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • Foreign Minister Sveinsson issued a formal statement, saying that he had informed the current Latvian EU President as well as the European Commission about Island’s decision to withdraw its EU membership application.
  • The application was submitted to the EU six years ago. Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson explained: “The EU and Iceland have discussed the country’s position on the status of its bid to join the European Union. … The government doesn’t intend to resume preparing for EU membership”. The decision didn’t come without forewarning. In January Island’s Prime Minister Sigmundur Davið Gunnlaugsson went on the record about the possible withdrawal of Island’s EU membership application, saying: “Participation in EU talks is not really valid any more. .. Both due to changes in the European Union and because it’s not in line with the policies of the ruling government to accept everything that the last government was willing to accept. Because of that we are back to square one”. The announcement about Island’s withdrawal of its application for EU membership comes as EU-skeptic parties in the Scandinavian neighbor country Denmark complain that their parties are denied access to documents which other parties receive. That is, documents pertaining an upcoming decision about whether Denmark should abolish its reservations about the coordination of Danish and EU law.
  • One of the primary drivers behind Island’s reservations with regard to an EU membership are EU fishing quota which, according to Icelandic fishery experts would be devastating for the Atlantic  island nation’s fishery and related industries. Island is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and a member of the Schengen areas. Reservations about a full EU membership are also driven by an increasing EU interference in national sovereignty with regard to legislation, the development of a military column within the EU, lack of transparency, money spent on influencing EU election outcomes by infiltrating social media, corruption and interference into domestic economic and monetary policies such as in Greece.
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  • Foreign Minister Sveinsson noted that any future decision about Island’s EU membership would have to be based on the outcome of a referendum. So far, Island is content with its EEA and EFFTA membership.
  • Paul Merrell on 13 Mar 15
     
    Make that Iceland rather than Island. Why buy a ticket to travel on a sinking ship?
Paul Merrell

Executives at collapsed Iceland bank jailed for fraud | Reuters - 0 views

uk.reuters.com/...d-crisis-idUKBRE8BR0EW20121228

banksters Iceland

shared by Paul Merrell on 30 Dec 12 - No Cached
  • (Reuters) - Two former executives at an Icelandic bank which collapsed in the 2008 financial meltdown were sentenced to jail on Friday for fraud which led to a 53 million euro loss, in the first major trial of Icelandic bankers linked to the crisis.
Paul Merrell

The Reykjavik Grapevine - News from Iceland / Four Kaupthing Executives Sentenced To Pr... - 0 views

grapevine.is/...Executives-Sentenced-To-Prison

banksters criminal-convictions Iceland

shared by Paul Merrell on 13 Dec 13 - No Cached
  • In a landmark ruling, Reykjavík District Court sentenced four former executives of Kaupthing Bank to between 3 and 5 1/2 years in prison for financial crimes dating back to 2008.
  • In the court's opinion, the four conspired to conceal the fact that one of the investors in Kaupthing, Mohammad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, owned his 5.01% stake in the bank thanks to money lent to him by the bank itself.Investigations into the four go back to the Icelandic bank crash of autumn 2008. In the wake of a report on the contributing causes of the crash from the Special Investigative Commission, the Special Prosecutor’s Office was created. The office targeted many top bank officials from Glitnir and Kaupthing.Eva Joly, who at one point served as an assistant to the Special Prosecutor, told the Grapevine last year that Iceland should "be proud you invested in these investigations", while cautioning to have patience - investigations were three years along at the time.The four are expected to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. All of their prison sentences are non-probationary.
Gary Edwards

Is The US Finally Ready For Revolution? - Democratic Underground - 1 views

www.democraticunderground.com/101970

ready-for-revolution

shared by Gary Edwards on 02 Jul 13 - No Cached
  • Gary Edwards on 02 Jul 13
     
    Written in June of 2012, before the national elections, this commentary remains the ringing truth.  Maybe more Americans are ready to listen this fourth of July? ........................... "Is America Ready For Revolution? I have always strongly believed that it's not possible to be a good Christian without standing up against social injustice and government corruption in all its forms. As I take a look around me today I find a lot of things wrong with our country. In fact, I have been a proponent for radical change for several years now, and I have written and published 2 books on this very topic. Where shall I begin? In God-blessed America, the land of the free where everyone is an economic slave, our founding fathers' sacred idea of a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" has become but a cruel joke. Former president George W. Bush has notoriously called our Constitution - our supreme law of the land - "that (expletive) piece of paper". The federal government is currently spending at least $60 billion per month on military excursions in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and northern and western Africa - including operating between 800 and 1,000 foreign military bases all over the world. Our country's over-used flying drone aircraft kills hundreds daily overseas, many of whom are only innocent bystanders. Meanwhile here on the home front, one in seven people are on food stamps, and at any given time one in four American children are going hungry today. Our country spends more money incarcerating people than it does on education. What's up with that? Our political system is openly rigged against the best interests of the American people. A massive market mechanism is securely entrenched in our political system where political influence is openly bought and sold. Tens of thousands of highly-paid middlemen called "lobbyists" facilitate the legal transfer of billions between moneyed special interests and our so-called "representatives" i
Paul Merrell

Former Icelandic minister claims FBI tried to frame Julian Assange | Daily Mail Online - 0 views

www.dailymail.co.uk/...ried-frame-Julian-Assange.html

surveillance state Assange Wikileaks Iceland FBI frame-up

shared by Paul Merrell on 14 Dec 16 - No Cached
  • Ögmundur Jonasson said US authorities first told him in June 2011 that there was an 'imminent attack' on Iceland's government databases But when they arrived in August, Jonasson claims the FBI 'sought Iceland's cooperation to frame Assange and WikiLeaks' Jonasson said he then immediately kicked them out of Iceland The story was widely reported on in 2013, but Jonasson made no mention of the US trying to frame Assange It became known that the mission was part of a 'wide-ranging investigation' into Assange and WikiLeaks Jonnason said himself he made it clear he is on 'Assange and WikiLeaks' side'
Gary Edwards

Taxpayers strike it rich? - Foster Gamble - YouTube - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

Thrive-Movement Foster-Gamble CAFR

shared by Gary Edwards on 07 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • Gary Edwards on 07 Jul 12
     
    Excellent video blog/discussion with Foster Gamble of the Thrive Movement.  Foster explains CAFR: The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report that local and State governments must file annually.  The CAFR includes the investments funds that governments control.  For local cities lfiling bankruptcy, ike Stockton, CA, the CAFR's are in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  Foster explains that Stockton is foot dragging on their CAFR, perhaps hoping to break the union pension and healthcare funds through a quick chapter 9 bankruptcy where the CAFR isn't put on the table? This is good stuff, demonstrating fully that governments are in the business of seizing wealth and control of property by hook or by crook.  Nice finish with the Iceland story.  The Icelanders refused to play the Bankster game, and jailed Rothschild-Rockefeller banksters and politicians while refusing to pay both the interest and debt those clowns had racked up. Excerpt: As cities and states struggle to balance their budgets, folks everywhere are losing their jobs, parks are closing and people most in need are getting left in the dust. As Foster describes in this video blog, it doesn't have to be this way. Trillions of dollars of taxpayer money is currently sitting in unpublicized government investment funds and people are organizing to get it back.
Gary Edwards

Chinese agency bans online mention of Panama Papers - CNET - 0 views

www.cnet.com/...rs-will-be-dealt-with-severely

Panama-papers

shared by Gary Edwards on 06 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • Gary Edwards on 06 Apr 16
     
    "China is flexing its censorship muscles yet again, banning any online mention of the widely publicized Panama Papers. A government agency sent an order to media groups to "find and delete reprinted reports of the Panama Papers. Do not follow up on related content, no exceptions," according to the China Digital Times. "If material from foreign media attacking China is found on any website, it will be dealt with severely." The Panama Papers refer to 2.6 terabytes of information published online Sunday after a yearlong investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a German newspaper and other news groups. The more than 11 million legal and financial records were stolen from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca's servers. They focus on 140 politicians and public officials worldwide with previously undisclosed involvement in or ownership of offshore financial havens. Relatives of eight current or former members of China's ruling party were implicated. MORE ON THE PANAMA PAPERS Panama Papers show no one's secrets safe Panama Papers leak claims its first victim The most significant findings among the Chinese officials were secret offshore activities linked to the family of Xi Jinping, the country's president. His brother-in-law, Deng Jiagui, was named. Xi assumed office in 2013 and has led a public charge against corruption in China. Also named were Li Xiaolin, daughter of former premier Li Peng, and Jasmine Li, granddaughter of former Standing Committee member Jia Qinglin. The Chinese agency also ordered that references be removed relating to money laundering of people associated with Russian President Vladamir Putin. The Global Times, a publication run by the Chinese government, posted an op-ed shortly after the leaks that implied the Panama Papers' information had been distorted to make countries like China and Russia look bad. The leaks have already made an impact, with Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigni
Paul Merrell

After Cyprus, the EU's Attention Turns to Tiny Luxembourg - Businessweek - 0 views

www.businessweek.com/...ntion-turns-to-tiny-luxembourg

Banksters cyprus financial-collapse luxembourg

shared by Paul Merrell on 02 Apr 13 - No Cached
  • It’s getting hot in Luxembourg, a nation that’s something like Cyprus on steroids. Its population is smaller and its banking sector is bigger. If you thought it was risky for banks in Cyprus to have assets about eight times the national gross domestic product, then what is one to make of Luxembourg, where the multiple is nearly 23?Worryingly for Luxembourg, there’s a new idea afloat that European Union nations, even small ones, should take responsibility for saving banks operating within their borders, instead of falling back on the EU for help.
  • Paul Merrell on 02 Apr 13
     
    Which has enormous repercussions for the "single market" goal for the Euro and the future of the European Union. So far, only the Iceland government response of disavowing the indebtedness of Icelandic banks has worked to rescue national economies from banksters mistakes. Shifting the banksters losses to government --- and the resulting austerity measures --- have only further damaged national economies during the current depression. Lesson learned: Bankruptcy for banksters, not bailouts. Any tangible assets they have will survive but will be owned by their debtors. Under any sane approach to maintaining a national economy, depositors would be granted priority in bankruptcy payments, ahead of other lenders to the bank.
Gary Edwards

oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith: Has Derivatives Deleveraging Fueled the Stock Rally? - 0 views

charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/...tives-deleveraging-fueled.html

Banksters Greece default Charles-Hugh-smith Global-Crisis financial-crisis

shared by Gary Edwards on 10 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Gary Edwards on 10 Feb 12
     
    Charles takes a look at the sudden rise in the stock market, and comes up with a surprising conclusion; these are signs that the collapse of Greece is imminent.  His explanation of  options and derivatives (CDS) is delightful and easy to understand.  But the consequences of what the wizards of smart have done here is staggering.  Read this and you'll know the facts driving the frantic but clever manuevers behind the scenes. And what does Cahrles recommend for Greece?  Do us all a favor and do EXACTLY what the tax payers in Iceland did - shut the idiots down.  Do not allow the politicians to bail out their Bankser buddies with your money.  Do not take on more debt.  Defaut now, fully, totally and without compromise.  Capitalism works.  Maybe not for Banksters and their lady boi politicians.  But it works for the taxpaying citizens who had no idea what kind of a hole the criminal masterminds were digging for them.... excerpt: Greece, please do the world a favor and openly default--right now, today. Declare a default and pay nothing. Force the shadow banking system to recognize a default and bring down the entire rotten heap of worm-eaten corruption.  At that point, there will be no reason to buy equities.
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