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Icelandic here. What bankers did we prosecute? As far as I know, only two people of minor importance have been prosecuted. And we didn't "crowd-source" our con
by arnarbi 14y ago
Icelandic here. What bankers did we prosecute? As far as I know, only two people of minor importance have been prosecuted.
And we didn't "crowd-source" our constitution (which hasn't been changed yet, btw). The committee of 25 people simply maintained a website where they could collect opinions. They had no significance other than being input to the work of that committee. But I suppose many Icelandic are happy to let this kind of misunderstanding propagate, rather than explaining how we messed up the election of those 25 people, how their suggestion for a new constitution is actually only "advice" for the parliament, and how nothing has happened yet as we still have the same old constitution.
We also don't like to mention that there is little wrong with our old constitution. It's pretty standard. The suggestions for the new one, as far as the banking crisis goes, are about more transparency in government. Other changes are about different things (such as ownership of natural resources, etc.)
There is a lot of misinformation and hype in the foreign media around how Iceland has handled the crisis. As an Icelander living abroad, talking about this topic mainly consists of telling people "actually, that's not what happened..".
- zharko 14y agoVery interesting, indeed as an outsider it's hard to see what really happens there... no matter the media that reports on Iceland they will try to hype something. Can you please write here a list of facts about what happened there after the crisis besides what you already wrote? I'm curious to learn
- arnarbi 14y agoYou ask me to write an unbiased history essay for the last 5 years, which I'm neither qualified nor able to do. Haven't read these in detail, but the look ok on a quick glance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932012_Icelandic_financial_crisis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932012_Icelandic_fin... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icesave_dispute http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icesave_dispute
- yesbabyyes 14y agoVery interesting. Regarding ownership of natural resources, though, I think that's pretty relevant and related to the financial crisis. In other countries, that's exactly what's taken as collateral for loans. As I understand it, Iceland refused to give up the volcanic heat for debt -- a very wise decision. I think Iceland (and other countries) could do well looking at Alaska and their oil fund for inspiration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund