Sunday, January 3, 2010

Icelanders Revolt Over Bailout

This BBC report reminded me about the turmoil in Germany after it had to pay reparations for the Great War (no, I wasn't alive then!):
Iceland's parliament has approved the plans to reimburse 3.8bn euros (£3.4bn) lost by Dutch and British savers when the Icesave scheme failed in 2008.
Many taxpayers say they are being made to pay for the bank's mistakes. The petition urges the president to veto the bill that allows the move, and calls for a referendum on the issue. Almost a quarter of voters in Iceland have signed a petition against plans to repay money lost by foreigners when an Icelandic online bank collapsed.
The compensation amounts to some 12,000 euros for each citizen on the island nation of 320,000.
Under the new deal the money - which represents 40% of the country's GDP - will be repaid gradually, staggered until 2024.