Hi NorthernSantuary,
I think the Icelandic problem will be interesting to see where it heads to. I'm not too sure of the benefits of a popular uprising as that would not solve the deep problem. It would just change the players and could even make it worse!
I see other countries with a similar profile to Iceland, like Ireland for example, which came to become the most flourishing country in Europe, until a few months ago. The banking system has almost but gone, as the Irish government bought up bad debt from English banks if the account holders swapped their accounts over to an Irish bank. Big mistake.
Spain seems to be starting to go down the pan also, with its' bonds being treated as junk.
Let's look and learn.
I'm a long way off, knowing that eventually the problem will spread to here - bank shares are falling - as the banks over here like Unibanco charge a lot for their services and interest rates for loans are the most expensive in the world. If there are fewer loans that would cut a humongous chunk out of their profits and they will have to do two things:
Increase banking charges and reduce costs. They have already reduced costs by merging with Itaś and made a species of automatic unpersonal banking (looks a little like a social security office!) so they will be hard pushed to reduce even further costs. If they increase banking charges too much, people would stop banking with them.
They will have to take it on the chin and try to weather the storm.
Although the problem isn't as bad as it is in the US or Iceland, for sure the problem will make a serious dent in the local economy.
Best regards,
Steve
Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthernSantuary
Iceland's government is on the point of collapse as angry protesters stake out the parliament in Reykjavik. Hint of things to come for other countries?
Quote
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...lobalrecession
The heat is on
Iceland's government is on the point of collapse as angry protesters stake out the parliament in Reykjavik |