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The developed world is going to hell and probably deserves it. Today, I’m going to show you what should have been done both during and post the GFC. That it wasn’t, and now almost certainly won’t, is a problem for us all but that’s a story for another day.

Today, we look to Iceland and marvel at what they managed to accomplish both leading into the GFC and then coming out of it, and then we scratch our heads at the latest news just out from their central bank.

On with it then…

It was over a decade ago now when I very nearly took a flight to Reykjavik but at the last minute opted instead to go to Copenhagen, which I regret since I’m told it’s like Scotland on steroids (sounds like a blast). What clinched the decision in the end was that a scotch was about 3 times the price in Reykjavik, and since I was heading out for a wild boys week this was important in our considerations, though I’m told that in the land of fire and ice the women are indeed unbelievable.

Its history is that of an arctic backwater reliant on fishing fishing, energy, aluminium smelting, and tourism. A place with hardy living conditions and hardier people.

Between the late 90’s and 2008 they, however, went through what can only be described as a stratospheric rise from this backwater specialising in fishing to one which specialised in global finance.

Using the Irish financial model as a blueprint, Iceland decided to revamp its economy repositioning itself in the international community as a low-tax jurisdiction for foreign finance and investment.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Iceland Interior Minister Reveals Plot By Obama Administration “To Frame Julian Assange”

December 10, 2016

Iceland Interior Minister Reveals Plot By Obama Administration “To Frame Julian Assange”

Back in October we noted a scheme, linked to the Hillary Clinton campaign, to tie Julian Assange and WikiLeaks to a pedophilia ring (see “Hillary Clinton Linked To Mysterious Front Associated with Julian Assange Pedophile Smear“). Of course, the scheme was revealed amid daily dumps by WikiLeaks of John Podesta’s emails leaving the Clintons, and their many “friends in high places”, scrambling for anyway possible to shut Assange down.

WikiLeaks ✔@wikileaks

A front has released through US Democratic media an elaborate story accusing Julian Assange of paedophillia & taking US$1million from Russia

12:16 PM – 18 Oct 2016

Therefore, it should probably come as no surprise that the former Interior Minister of Iceland, Ogmundur Jonasson, has now come forward to reveal details of a 2011 plot by the Obama administration to frame Julian Assange. According to a report from RT, the U.S. first contacted Icelandic authorities in June 2011 to offer “help” in fending off hackers that the U.S. said were looking to destroy software systems in the country. Jonasson was initially “suspicious” of the U.S. offer to help, suspicions which he said were confirmed later in the summer of 2011 when a “planeload of FBI agents” showed up in Iceland seeking support in an effort to “frame Julian Assange and Wikileaks.”

In June 2011, Obama administration implied to Iceland’s authorities they had knowledge of hackers wanting to destroy software systems in the country, and offered help, then-Interior Minister Ogmundur Jonasson, said in an interview with the Katoikos publication.

However, Jonasson said he instantly became “suspicious” of the US good intentions, “well aware that a helping hand might easily become a manipulating hand.”

Later in the summer 2011, the US “sent a planeload of FBI agents to Iceland seeking our cooperation in what I understood as an operation set up to frame Julian Assange and WikiLeaks,”Jonasson said.

Icelanders seemed like a tough nut to crack, though.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Panama Papers: Iceland’s PM resigns over offshore tax haven revelations

April 5, 2016

Panama Papers: Iceland’s PM resigns over offshore tax haven revelations

Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson denied any wrongdoing amid protests by thousands

Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, seen Tuesday, and his wife have come under fire for being linked to an offshore company that may represent a severe conflict of interest.

Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, seen Tuesday, and his wife have come under fire for being linked to an offshore company that may represent a severe conflict of interest. (Bertil Enevag Ericson/Scanpix/Reuters)

He had earlier refused to step down.

Icelanders mount massive protest against prime minister1:04

Agriculture Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson told Icelandic broadcaster RUV that Gunnlaugsson was stepping down as leader of the country’s coalition government.

Earlier Tuesday, Iceland’s President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson refused to grant Gunlaugsson’s request to dissolve parliament and call for an election.

Thousands of Icelanders protested outside parliament on Monday and Tuesday demanding that Gunlaugsson resign.

Leaked financial documents allege that the prime minister and his wife set up a company in the British Virgin Islands with the help of a Panamanian law firm. Gunlaugsson is accused of a conflict of interest for failing to disclose his involvement in the company, which held interests in failed Icelandic banks that his government was responsible for overseeing.

Hundreds of people demonstrated in Reykjavik on Monday after news broke about the leaked documents. (Stigtryggur Johannsson/Reuters)

The so-called Panama Papers — legal records from the Mossack Fonseca law firm based in Panama — were published Sunday night by news organizations working with the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, including CBC News.

Ukraine’s president implicated

Ukraine’s fiscal service will examine the documents relating to President Petro Poroshenko’s offshore assets that were published over the weekend after a massive data leak, the head of the service, Roman Nasirov, said on Tuesday.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Panama Papers

April 5, 2016

The Panama Papers

A lot of emails have been coming in with regard to the Panama Papers. Let me say this from the outset — Panama has been the key place to establish offshore accounts for decades. This was not a government hack. The German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung obtained the stash of records from an anonymous source and shared their findings with more than 100 media groups through the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The documents show links to 72 current or former heads of state including dictators. The ICIJ is hell bent on attacking the rich, not politicians. So are they protecting fellow Socialists? The press has not made all the documents available and that is curious, for they too can be protecting favored people.

This is the biggest document leak in history and it is exposing world leaders and their secretive, offshore financial dealings. Some 11.5 million documents have been leaked from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, which has offices in 35 countries. This leak has exposed a trove of confidential financial dealings by the elites and spans to aides of Russian President Vladimir Putin all the way to relatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Naturally, the press likes to focus on Putin. There is much more hidden behind the press curtain.

While the elite seek to hunt people for taxes, they often live separate financial lives. This tremendous conflict of interest has now been revealed. Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson secretly owned millions of dollars in bank bonds during his country’s financial crisis when the country’s financial system collapsed and banks had to be bailed-out. Thousands are now demanding Iceland’s Prime Minister to resign over Panama Papers revelations.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

First Panama Papers Casualty? Former Iceland Premier Calls On Current PM To Resign To “Prevent An Uprising”

April 3, 2016

First Panama Papers Casualty? Former Iceland Premier Calls On Current PM To Resign To “Prevent An Uprising”

One of the more prominent names featured in the Panama Papers disclosure is that of Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson. The reason is that according to the leaked files, Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and his wife secretly owned a company called Wintris set up in 2007 on the Caribbean island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, to hold investments with his wealthy partner, later wife, Anna Sigurlaug Pálsdóttir.

As Guardian reports, the couple were living in the UK at the time and had been advised to set up a company in the tax haven in order to hold and invest substantial proceeds from the sale of Pálsdóttir’s share in her family’s business back in Iceland.

Gunnlaugsson owned a 50% stake in Wintris for more than two years, then transferred it to Pálsdóttir, who held the other 50%, for one dollar. The prime minister’s office now says his shareholding was an error and “it had always been clear to both of them that the prime minister’s wife owned the assets”. Once drawn to the couple’s attention in late 2009, the error was corrected.

Towards the end of Gunnlaugsson’s time as a Wintris shareholder, having returned to Iceland, he was elected to parliament as leader of the Progressive party.

Gunnlaugsson, who became prime minister four years later, never disclosed his Wintris shares on Iceland’s parliamentary register of MPs’ financial interests.

As the Guardian also reported earlier, in the video clip below, PM Gunnlaugsson walks out of an interview with Swedish television company SVT. Gunnlaugsson is asked about Wintris, which he says has been fully declared to the Icelandic tax authority. Gunnlaugsson says he is not prepared to answer such questions and decides to discontinue the interview, saying: ‘What are you trying to make up here? This is totally inappropriate.’

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“Unprecedented Leak” Exposes The Criminal Financial Dealings Of Some Of The World’s Wealthiest People

April 3, 2016

“Unprecedented Leak” Exposes The Criminal Financial Dealings Of Some Of The World’s Wealthiest People

An unprecedented leak of more than 11 million documents, called the “Panama Papers“, has revealed the hidden financial dealings of some of the world’s wealthiest people, as well as 12 current and former world leaders and 128 more politicians and public officials around the world.

More than 200,000 companies, foundations and trusts are contained in the leak of information which came from a little-known but powerful law firm based in Panama called Mossack Fonseca, whose files include the offshore holdings of drug dealers, Mafia members, corrupt politicians and tax evaders – and wrongdoing galore.

The law firm is one of the world’s top creators of shell companies, which can be legally used to hide the ownership of assets. The data includes emails, contracts, bank records, property deeds, passport copies and other sensitive information dating from 1977 to as recently as December 2015.

It allows a never-before-seen view inside the offshore world — providing a day-to-day, decade-by-decade look at how dark money flows through the global financial system, breeding crime and stripping national treasuries of tax revenues.

Here is the brief summary of how these documents have been revealed, via the Sueddeutsche Zeitung:

Over a year ago, an anonymous source contacted the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and submitted encrypted internal documents from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that sells anonymous offshore companies around the world. These shell firms enable their owners to cover up their business dealings, no matter how shady.

In the months that followed, the number of documents continued to grow far beyond the original leak. Ultimately, SZ acquired about 2.6 terabytes of data, making the leak the biggest that journalists had ever worked with. The source wanted neither financial compensation nor anything else in return, apart from a few security measures.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Capital Controls Are Coming

January 26, 2016

Capital Controls Are Coming

The carnage always comes by surprise, often on an otherwise ordinary Saturday morning…

The government declares a surprise bank holiday. It shuts all the banks. It imposes capital controls to stop citizens from taking their money out of the country. Cash-sniffing dogs, which make drug-sniffing dogs look friendly, show up at airports.

At that point, the government is free to help itself to as much of the country’s wealth as it wants. It’s an all-you-can-steal buffet.

This story has recently played out in Greece, Cyprus, Argentina, and Iceland. And those are only a few recent examples. It’s happened in scores of other countries throughout history. And I think it’s inevitable in the U.S.

I believe the U.S. dollar will lose its role as the world’s premier reserve currency. When that happens, capital controls are sure to follow.

This is why it’s crucial to your financial future to understand what capital controls are, how they are used, and what you can do to protect yourself.

Why Governments Impose Capital Controls

Think of the government as a thief trying to steal your wallet as you (understandably) try to run away. With capital controls, the thief is trying to block all the exits so you can’t reach safe ground.

A government only uses capital controls when it’s desperate…when it can no longer borrow, inflate the currency, tax, or steal money in one of the “normal” ways.

In most cases, governments use capital controls in severe crises. Think financial and banking collapses, wars, or chronic economic problems. In other cases, they’re just a way to control people. It’s much more difficult to leave a country when you can’t take your money with you.

Regardless of the initial catalyst, capital controls help a government trap money within its borders. This way, it has more money to confiscate.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How Iceland Escaped From The One Bank

January 6, 2016

How Iceland Escaped From The One Bank

What have the governments of the corrupt Western bloc spent most of their time doing since the Crash of ’08? We can answer this question in three parts:

1) Creating increasingly falsified “statistics” to fabricate the illusion that their economies were not on the verge of all-out economic collapse;

2) Hacking and slashing every social program in sight in order to generate the false savings known as Austerity; and

3) Creating new funny-money and taking on new debt at an exponentially increasing rate in order to delaycollapse, since all that Austerity accomplished was an acceleration of these death spirals.

Making these points apparent to newer readers will require additional elaboration. The starting point is the Crash of ’08 itself. What caused these nations to go from being merely heavily indebted to hopelessly insolvent overnight? That can be summed up in a single euphemism of fraud and crime: “too big to fail.”

At the end of 2008, the West’s puppet governments succumbed to History’s ultimate act of blackmail at the hands of History’s largest and most rapacious crime syndicate: the One Bank . “Give us all your money, or we’ll blow up your entire financial system.” That is the real meaning of “too big to fail”: institutionalized extortion, in perpetuity.

What was the real price tag for this massive extortion operation? Forget the phony numbers published by our corrupt governments and their mouthpieces in the corporate media. The total quantum for these extortion payments was in the tens of TRILLIONS . Obviously the Deadbeat Debtors of the West couldn’t raise more than a tiny fraction of that amount of blackmail money up front. Thus, most of this shakedown of (supposedly) sovereign governments came in the form of future tax breaks and “loss guarantees.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Iceland’s Bankers Face 74 Years in Prison While US Banks Profit After Your Bailout

October 24, 2015

Iceland’s Bankers Face 74 Years in Prison While US Banks Profit After Your Bailout

You could ice skate in Hell sooner than see the United States follow in Iceland’s footsteps with this move: the 26th banker was just sentenced to prison for a combined 74 years between them — each of them jailed for their roles in the 2008 economic collapse.

Five top bankers from Iceland’s two largest banks — Landsbankinn and Kaupþing — were found guilty of embezzlement, market manipulation, and breach of fiduciary duties. Though the country’s maximum penalty for financial crimes currently stands at six years, the Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments to extend the limit. Most of those convicted have so far been sentenced to between two and five years.

Do those sentences sound light to you? Perhaps. Until you consider the curious method of punishment the U.S. employed for its thieving bankers.

While Iceland allowed its government to take total financial control when the 2008 crisis took hold, American bankers — in likely the only ~~bail~~ handout given to criminals of mass destruction — received $700 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds.

Thank you, ~~Congress~~ American taxpayer.

Iceland certainly didn’t make it through the crisis unscathed. It repaid the IMF (the final $332 million owed was paid in full, ahead of schedule, earlier this month) and other lenders for funds needed to prevent a complete financial meltdown nearly eight years ago. Icelandic bankers are still being held to task for their illegal market legerdemain that nearly brought down the financial planet.

In contrast, not one banker in America has ever (nor will ever?) be held responsible for their criminal acts. Instead, essentially in addition to the $700 billion windfall — Big Banks are now raking in over $160 billion in profit every year.

Iceland’s president, Olafur Ragnar Grimmson, described how his country not only weathered the storm, but has been labeled the first European country to fully recover from the crisis:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

U.S. To Lead A Fractured Arctic Council For The Next Two Years

April 27, 2015

U.S. To Lead A Fractured Arctic Council For The Next Two Years

The United States is set to take over the two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council, and although there is a lot of uncertainty over how the U.S. will wield its influence, it will be taking the helm for a period of time that could see much more activity north of the Arctic Circle.

The Arctic Council is an international forum consisting of the eight nations that have territory in the Arctic – Canada, the U.S., Denmark (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia. Up until recently it has been held up as a model of international cooperation. The members worked together on disaster response and environmental stewardship, leaving politics out of the council, all in the name of peace.

But the war in Ukraine has injected tension into the Council, creating conflict where it once didn’t exist. Canadian officials lambasted Russia’s involvement in Ukraine during its two-year tenure (2013-2015), using its platform as Council Chair. With western sanctions on top Russian officials, in February Canadacancelled the Arctic Showcase event in Ottawa that was supposed to be held on April 23 because it did not want sanctioned Russian officials to attend.

Russia has retaliated. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has attended every meeting since 2004 but chose to sit this one out in protest. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin, who has been targeted by western sanctions, visited Svalbard in mid-April, an archipelago that belongs to Norway. Norway protested his visit, and it was seen as a provocation ahead of the Arctic Council summit in Canada. Russia has also stepped up air patrols along its border with Norway in recent months, aggressive moves that have increased since its conflict with the West over Ukraine erupted in 2014.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Iceland To Take Back The Power To Create Money

April 2, 2015

Iceland To Take Back The Power To Create Money

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.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Iceland’s volcanic eruption stokes toxic gas fears

February 4, 2015

Iceland’s volcanic eruption stokes toxic gas fears

The Holuhraun eruption is emitting high volumes of toxic gases and raising health and environmental concerns.

Reykjavik, Iceland – For the past five months, Icelandic weather forecasts have included daily updates on the movement of noxious gas plumes emitted by the ongoing Holuhraun volcanic eruption.

Poisonous gas appeared in late August last year soon after Holuhraun began to spew molten rock. “Most of the gas is sulphur dioxide, water and carbon dioxide,” said Thorolfur Gudnason, a medical professional with Iceland’s Directorate of Health. “The other gases occur in much lower quantities.”

Sulphur dioxide, which causes respiratory, eye and throat problems, is responsible for most of the eruption-related health issues, said Gudnason.

“But carbon dioxide can be dangerous to those who work near the volcano itself,” he said, referring to scientists studying the lava field.

The 85sq km lava field is the size of Manhattan and located far from inhabited areas in a remote central part of Iceland, just north of the Vatnajokull glacier in an area known as Holuhraun, from which the volcano gets its name.

Unlike the smaller, 2010 Eyjafjallajokull eruption, which spouted ash and disrupted air traffic across Europe, Holuhraun doesn’t spew ash – this only happens when the eruption occurs beneath a glacier.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Can Iceland become the ‘Switzerland of data’? – Features – Al Jazeera English

December 30, 2014

Can Iceland become the ‘Switzerland of data’? – Features – Al Jazeera English.

Reykjavík, Iceland – On a cold, windy December afternoon in the southern Icelandic town of Reykjanesbaer, this former NATO airbase looked like nothing more than a huge warehouse from the outside.

But the barbed-wire fence surrounding it and surveillance cameras atop its gates betrayed its importance.

This facility, which began operating in February 2012, is one of several data centres in Iceland. It’s run by Verne Global, a company that allows its customers to store data on servers here.

Tate Cantrell, the company’s chief technical officer, explained why Verne Global favoured this tiny Nordic nation of all places. “In Iceland, you’ve got this ideal situation: energy, excellent connectivity for data, and a constant cool climate. So Iceland was an obvious choice.”

Iceland’s abundant renewable energy from geothermal and hydroelectric plants means the costs of running these data centres are low. And the Gulf Stream current keeps the temperature in Iceland more or less stable throughout the year, avoiding the need to provide cooling for the servers and computers.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Iceland Unleashes Confiscatory “Exit Tax” On Wealth Deposits | Zero Hedge

December 11, 2014

Iceland Unleashes Confiscatory “Exit Tax” On Wealth Deposits | Zero Hedge.

While on the one hand, Iceland’s decision to inch towards lifting its capital controls is a positive step, it appears what they give with one hand they are taking with another. Just as we predicted three years ago,the muddle-through has failed and there are only hard choices left and sure enough BCG’s envisioned ‘wealth tax’ appears to be rearing its ugly head once more. As Morgunbladid reports, Iceland plans to impose an exit tax as part of removing capital controls, anticipating all bank assets will be subject to the levy, regardless of whether assets are held in local (ISK) or foreign exchange.

As Bloomberg reports,

Iceland’s plan to impose an exit tax as part of removing capital controls anticipates all bank assets will be subject to levy, regardless of whether assets are held in ISK or FX,Morgunbladid reports without saying how it obtained the information.

Part of program may also include forcing foreign holders of ISK assets to swap ISK at discount to a 30-yr FX bond; bond to carry interest rate less than 3%: Morgunbladid

NOTE: Iceland task force on capital controls’ removal met yesterday with representatives of Kaupthing Bank hf, Glitnir Bank hf and LBI hf. The country may proceed with lifting controls early next year, according to task force member Lee C. Buchheit

As we concluded previously,

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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