Posted by seumasach on July 14, 2009
Jordan Shilton
14th July, 2009
On June 26, a comprehensive agreement was announced between Iceland’s government, trade unions and employers’ organisations, containing plans for sharp public spending cuts and tax hikes. The “stability pact” had been under negotiation for several weeks and is in response to pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the government to seek a balanced budget by 2013.
Posted in Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: Citizens Movement, iceland and IMF, Iceland capital controls, Icesave, Johanna Sigurðurdóttir, Revolution in Iceland, Voices Of the People | Leave a Comment »
Posted by smeddum on May 12, 2009
>By MICHAEL HUDSON May 11, 2009
Last month the G-20 authorized the International Monetary Fund to increase its loan resources to $1 trillion. It’s not hard to see why. Weakening currencies in the post-Soviet states threaten to raise default rates on foreign-currency mortgages as collapse of the Baltic real estate bubble drags down Swedish banks, while the Hungarian property plunge threatens Austrian banks. It seems reasonable to infer that creditor-nation banks hope to be bailed out. The IMF is expected to lend the Baltic, central European and other debtor-country governments money to pay them. These hapless debtor economies are then to follow IMF “conditionalities” to squeeze enough money out of their populations to pay foreign creditors – and repay the Fund by imposing yet more onerous taxes on their labor and industry, making them even more high-cost and therefore pushing them even further into trade and credit dependency. This is why there have been so many riots recently in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Ukraine, as was the case for so many decades throughout the Latin American countries that introduced the term “IMF riot” to the global vocabulary. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Battle for Europe, Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: bankrupt iceland, Defend Iceland!, iceland and IMF, Revolution in Iceland | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on April 7, 2009
Please click on this link for these absolutely indispensable, masterly interviews:
Posted in Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: bailout real economy, Defend Iceland!, Destruction of real economy, iceland and IMF, Leave the IMF!, Revolution in Iceland | 2 Comments »
Posted by seumasach on April 5, 2009
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Prof. Michael Hudson 5th April, 2009 See also: The European Revolution Begins
Iceland is under attack – not militarily but financially. It owes more than it can pay. This threatens debtors with forfeiture of what remains of their homes and other assets. The government is being told to sell off the nation’s public domain, its natural resources and public enterprises to pay the financial gambling debts run up irresponsibly by a new banking class. This class is seeking to increase its wealth and power despite the fact that its debt-leveraging strategy already has plunged the economy into bankruptcy. On top of this, creditors are seeking to enact permanent taxes and sell off public assets to pay for bailouts to themselves. |
Posted in Financial crisis, Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: Financial crisis, iceland and IMF, Revolution in Iceland | 2 Comments »
Posted by seumasach on February 12, 2009
With the IMF seemingly interceding on their behalf Iceland’s central bankers, particularly David Oddsson, are the immovable object checking the irresistible force of the popular movement on the streets.
Iceland’s Second Central Banker to Resign in June
12th February, 2009
Central Bank governor Eiríkur Gudnason announced his resignation as of June 1 in a letter received by Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir on Tuesday. The PM has expressed her disappointment with the announcement.
Posted in Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: bankrupt iceland, iceland and IMF, Revolution in Iceland | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 11, 2009
Arsaell Valfells
Forbes
9th February, 2009
Iceland has won a “full house,” with political crisis piling up on a debt, banking and currency crisis. As Icelanders are now for the first time in 60 years protesting in the streets, the full impact of the collapse is being felt. In short, the economy has hit a wall. The labor market has, in a year, changed from importing workers from Poland to 10% unemployment. The worst is yet to come.
Posted in Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: bankrupt iceland, financial collapse, financial fraud, iceland and IMF, Revolution in Iceland | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 10, 2009
We, the People of the Republic of Iceland in this period of economic turmoil and near national bankruptcy, declare to the International Monetary Fund, to the Central Banks of all our neighbouring countries and to their respective governments, that it is not in the interest of the people of Iceland that our current government receive loans from anyone.
Posted in Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: bankrupt iceland, iceland and IMF, Revolution in Iceland | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 