sundrenched

Iceland: What It's Like to Live in a World Without Money

The biggest mistake was for the Icelandic government to take over the banks and their liabilities. That put the whole nation on the hook, to the tune of a quarter million USD per inhabitant. Criminal stupidity! Instead of "merely" those banks and their greedy depositors losing everything, the whole nation is now bankrupted.

A word to explain why I call them "greedy depositors" (and not victims). In my home country of Belgium, Kaupthing was until recently offering 6% on savings accounts, when no other bank went over 4%. People who moved their money to new-kid-on-the-block Kaupthing should have been aware that they were taking on a greater risk.