The Icelandic Credit Crunch. Ray Furlong reports tonight.
In his piece, Ray meets Sturla Jonsson (above)..."an extremely friendly man, he's lost his business and is about to lose his home."
The photos below were "all taken at around mid-morning, which shows how late the sun comes up in Reykjavik at this time of year (around 11, if you're lucky, going down about 3). They're not saving on Christmas lights (they get all their energy free, from geo-thermal sources; the xmas tree is donated every year by Norway) but neither are they expecting a bumper xmas shopping season. Sturla told me he'd holiday'd last year in Florida, but this year's outgoings would be 100 times smaller."
Listen to PM
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~43~RS~)
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I visited Iceland in August this year and stayed with some friends. A stunningly beautiful country and lovelly, lovelly, generous people...
A terrible shame, the predicament they now find themselves in. Still, they retain a sense of humour. Following "their" economic collapse my friends sent me this email
Q. What's the Capital of Iceland?
A. About three-quid...
I truly wish everyone in that country a very speedy economic recovery.
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I blame Kerry Katona and Jason Donovan.
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Despite the fact that Brown froze the assets of UK and IOM based banks, will the Icelandic Govt be providing parental guardianship over the indivudals that have lost millions in KSF Isle of Man branch?
And as such, be returning those assets rightfully owned?
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What lovely pictures!
Whatever makes the furrier think Alastair Gordon would want to buy their goods? And it seems a great pity if our nation is being blamed for the collapse of their banks - after all, we've got enough of those to worry about over here!
I don't see that our Government had much option but to freeze the Icelandic assets given the refusal, by the Icelandic government, to provide any immunity to outsiders who had invested in their banks.
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If they can not see where the money went, then we will be doomed to never learn from mistakes. I suggest he looks around at the local development in the recent years.
Money just does not disappear. Assets do. But then someone was paid for that asset. How about interviewing the ones with the money?
Find out how luxury car companies are doing since they just went through their biggest boom.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44777000/gif/_44777291_brit_lux_cars_226.gif
Someone must have some money? Where is that US brokers 50 billion? It was real when he was given it? I doubt it was burnt in a furnace.
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My name is Ray Furlong. Where is my sprouts tree pic?
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justfloating @ 5, the money was given to all the previous investors as 'interest' they had 'earned'. That's the point of that sort of scam. What I don't entirely understand is, if the person running it gives the money to the previous investors, what is in it for him? Does he cream a bit off the top the entire time, or what?
I particularly liked the Now Show people for pointing out that this is the basis on which the National Insurance works in Britain: it is just the same thing. If it's so wicked when whatever-his-name-is does it, why is it not wicked when the British Government do?
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7.
And Madoff HAD assets (he used to shuffle them from one account to another)
If they had increased in value by 10 percent each year (as assets do during speculative bubles) he would still be in credit.
In fact what he did is exactly what every finance house does.
It has assets it expects to appreciate. So it 'sells' thme just to the new depositors.
When asset values crash, his scheme fails. But so too does that of every insurance and pension scam (sorry I mean business)
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