Monday, January 26, 2009

WSJ's Video: How Iceland's Financial System Crashed - massive debts, government falls

Over the past few months, Iceland's financial sector imploded, and recently, the government collapsed. The following two videos, from the Wall Street Journal Online, explain some of the dynamics behind this country's reverse of fortune.

HOW ICELAND COLLAPSED 12/26/08

"WSJ's Andy Jordan examines how Iceland's economic miracle came to an abrupt end and explains why the world should care about the collapse of the small country's financial system."

ICELAND COALITION GOVERNMENT COLLAPSES 1/26/09

"Iceland's Prime Minister Geir Haarde is preparing to step down after announcing the collapse of the county's coalition government. Video courtesy of Reuters."

RELATED
Website: The Icelandic Government Information Center: The Icelandic Government Center regarding the current financial circumstances in Iceland
ABC News Video: Iceland's Banking Meltdown (10/21/08)
BBC News Video: Icelanders' fury over economy (12/19/08)
"Iceland's people have been venting their fury over Iceland's economic collapse at public meetings."
"27 years on my job, is like you say, thrown out the window."

BBC News Video: Protesters hit Icelandic PM's car
(1/21/09)

BBC News Video: Crisis claims Icelandic cabinet (1/26/09)

Articles:
Timeline: Iceland economic crisis (BBC News, 1/26/09)
Iceland's Coalition Government Collapses (Charles Forelle, WSJ, 1/26/09)
Banking Crisis Brings Down Iceland Government (Guardian UK, 1/26/09)
"Ruling coalition falls; First government to fail as result of global economic crisis"
Waking up to reality in Iceland (Analysis by Jon Danielsson, Economist, Financial Markets Group, London School of Economics - BBC News, 1/26/09)

"The bankers and government effectively turned Iceland into a gigantic hedge fund sitting in the middle of the North Atlantic...What they failed to implement was the necessary supervision or enforcement of banking regulations."

Sound familiar?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It is not just Iceland anymore, Asia is collapsing - http://tinyurl.com/b4vf7o