Bloomberg: “While the IMF loans to Hungary and Ukraine make up less than 20 percent of those countries’ gross domestic products, Iceland needs loans worth more than its entire GDP to repay debts built up through five years of economic boom.”
The oddest part is that one of the Icelanders interviewed in the story brags that he has participated in five protests over the past month. Instead of holding your breath for political changes that won’t occur, what about getting a job?
If protesting equated to increased wealth then the French would be titans of finance. Argentina would be a safe-haven for long-term bond investors. Organizers from MoveOn would top the Forbes rich list. And South Korea wouldn’t be on the cusp of insolvency (there are between 50-100 riot buses permanently located here in downtown Seoul due to the insatiable appetite to protest over the latest rumor circulating on CyWorld).
Be sure to check out Portfolio’s new slide show on worthless money. Since mass protesting didn’t reverse the monetary policy in those countries then the Icelandic krona could eventually be added to the list.
See also: Professional Protestors and the Political Class
The party’s over for Iceland
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Protests for things that the state cannot and should not provide- another weakness in democracy…
Yep, my country Argentina would be the richest one in the world, seriously.
I have the perfect solution: GM should relocate to Iceland.
I’d like to invite you all to join in the End the Fed rallies planned for Saturday, November 22, 2008 at each regional Federal Reserve Bank. A thousand people are expected in Philadelphia; hundreds in New York and elsewhere.
Will the rallies end the Fed? I don’t know, but unless we are willing to speak truth to power, in the public spaces of our society, truth will hardly ever be heard.
http://www.endthefed.us/
But look on the bright side: at least those protestors haven’t thought of buying ammunitions or can’t buy them. We would have revolutions concluding a protest and that wouldn’t be pretty. Not that I am saying there aren’t any genuine grievances that deserve to be addressed, but if it is to have cities turned into bloody battlegrounds (Just like Karl Marx loves it), then I would rather find another way, if there is one.
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