Cibbuano
charlesIceland gripped by mob hysteria
:
Icelandic television hosted a debate between the Prime Minister of the country and other political experts, only to have the station rushed by an angry mob, who forced the channel to shutdown.
Google reports:
"For more than two decades, the leaders of Iceland's political parties have met every New Year's Eve over champagne and spiced herring to talk about the year ahead on Iceland's Channel 2 television.
But this year's show with Prime Minister Geir Haarde was cut short 45 minutes into the program when a torch-wielding crowd stormed Reykjavik's Hotel Borg in an attempt to get to the studio."
But this year's show with Prime Minister Geir Haarde was cut short 45 minutes into the program when a torch-wielding crowd stormed Reykjavik's Hotel Borg in an attempt to get to the studio."
Read that again: a torch-wielding crowd. What's happening in Iceland?
Well, I suppose it has something to do with the economic success of Iceland, the explosion of wealth, the expectation of certain quality of life - and then the collapse of all of that as the country was sucked harder into the economic crisis than other countries of its size.
What was at fault? Leverage.
Once the word that brought fleet-footed orgasms to the ears of financial analysts and economists, leverage is now a dirty, dirty word. Yes, the more leverage you have, the more potential profit you can make - but obviously, the downside is that you're on the hook for that much more. There are no free lunches.
It caught everyone by surprise, and the bottom fell out in many places around the world - but no one expected the Spanish Inquisition, either...
The solutions for Iceland are limited, it would seem, as they have a small population and have, in the past, relied on the willingness of their banks to make investments abroad. Hard lessons, indeed, and I suppose the population isn't so happy to watch the PM eat caviar on TV.
*this image is from CenLemar
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