The reason is that the global financial institutions are arguably more important than national ones. If Icelandic banking institutions fail, their economy can s

The reason is that the global financial institutions are arguably more important than national ones. If Icelandic banking institutions fail, their economy can still be serviced by global banking institutions. Technically that is true for America too. American economy could be serviced by foreign banks. However, the American banking industry is big enough to knock out the entire global financial system. Iceland's isn't. Just one bank, Lehman Brother, almost caused the whole house of cards to come down.