Specifically, I challenge Mr. O'Reilly comment: "Icelanders responded by doing little." His implication was that the lazy, liberal Icelandic people just sat back and waited for their nanny state to take care of everything for them. Little? Really? That couldn't be further from the truth.
I spent a year in "Iśland" (as they spell it and where the "I" is pronounced like a long "E") while in the military and I still have a few ongoing friendships from that time. So, I tend to follow what's happening there.
More specifically, I've been following the financial meltdown in Iśland. And unlike what's happening here, Iślanders were able to recognize the rampant political corruption, as well as the greed and co-option of regulators by politicians - and take effective action.
Geir Haarde, Iceland's prime minister from 2006 - 2009, was instrumental in transforming Iceland from a mere fishing and whaling backwater into an international financial powerhouse before the credit crunch caused the economy to crash almost overnight. He managed to take a financial sector that represented a little over 1X their GDP to a colossal giant that consumed more than 9X their GDP.
After the collapse, instead of bailing out its banks, Iślanders forced the over-leveraged financial sector into a painful debt restructuring Outraged after the collapse, Iślanders refused to bail out the banks and instead, forced the over-leveraged financial sector to take a serious haircut through a painful debt restructuring. And, of all the nations across the globe, Iślanders are the only nation who prosecuted their former prime minister (that would be Haarde), for gross negligence as to his role in the 2008 financial crisis.
But they didn't stop there. They also took on Bank leadership. Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, Kaupthing Bank's former chief executive as well as Sigurdur Einarsson, the former chairman, went to trial earlier this year. Investigations continue for Larus Welding, former chief executive of Glitnir bank, who was indicted last year, and Sigurjon Arnason, former head of Landsbanki bank. And, if that wasn't enough, they also indicted a few influential shareholders who helped in the creation of their financial meltdown. And, to make sure it wasn't going to happen all over again, they went even further - they convened a "constitutional convention" and 25 ordinary Iślandic people were elected to rewrite their nation's constitution to make sure corruption and greed wouldn't again overtake their nation. They even used Facebook to solicit contributions from other Iślanders in their deliberations.
Today, though Iśland's banking system defaulted, its government remains solvent and their economy is growing and will outshine Sweden. Capital controls, progressive taxes and a careful phasing-in of austerity measures were also key to getting the country back on track, bringing a more than 10 percent fiscal deficit back to a near balance.
Don't believe everything you read, hear or watch from the right. Check it out for yourself. And, if you don't believe me, I encourage you to take a moment of your time and just GOOGLE it.
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