Should America follow Iceland?

Well I will be staying here while everyone else flees to other countries they think are sooooo much better.

So Long! :bounce

I would actually like people to leave that aren't happy here. America would be a lot better place imo.

uberrobonomicon4000 said:

Well I will be staying here while everyone else flees to other countries they think are sooooo much better.

So Long! :bounce

I would actually like people to leave that aren't happy here. America would be a lot better place imo.

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The solution isn't to flee (at least it's not that bad yet), the solution is to fix the corruption from the bottom up. That involves getting everyone to care and do something about it... pretty hefty, but I do what I can and hopefully everyone who voted here does too...

uberrobonomicon4000 said:

Well I will be staying here while everyone else flees to other countries they think are sooooo much better.

So Long! :bounce

I would actually like people to leave that aren't happy here. America would be a lot better place imo.

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How do you figure?

'Sides, I'm not "fleeing", insofar as I'm not giving up my American citizenship (so long as it doesn't just drop all pretenses and just go fascist). But having done the research, Canada does look more like what America has been portrayed as in school, as do many other countries. After all, it has a smaller population, more forest, and the people there are actually polite.

Meow Mix said:

The solution isn't to flee (at least it's not that bad yet), the solution is to fix the corruption from the bottom up. That involves getting everyone to care and do something about it... pretty hefty, but I do what I can and hopefully everyone who voted here does too...

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With the kind of life I want to live, I can't do anything here.

But I hope to reach people in other, more subtle ways.

I voted "Yes" but I'm not sure I understand why bankers should be thrown in jail. Did they break the law? What exactly did they do that was illegal? Please don't jump on me for asking a stupid question, I'm trying to learn here. I want justice as much as anyone but I am also wary of scapegoating.

It would probably be considered professional negligence; that their failure to act in a responsible manner in terms of risk taking and by failing to recognise market weakness (given their expertise) that they have negligently engendered catastrophic outcomes on anyone in the societies that they operate.

Even were one to doubt the case for charges against them, it would however without doubt indicate that they were not capable of effectively excising sound judgement with relation to market behaviour and should therefore not be allowed to act within that capacity (i.e. not allowed to hold a job in a similar role or in the financial industry). And the operating licences of those company's should be suspended pending review if not outright cancelled.

Mr Spinkles said:

I voted "Yes" but I'm not sure I understand why bankers should be thrown in jail. Did they break the law? What exactly did they do that was illegal? Please don't jump on me for asking a stupid question, I'm trying to learn here. I want justice as much as anyone but I am also wary of scapegoating.

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Well its not only bankers also politicians they were charged by the "People" for corruption and "ripping them off" paying off the big corporations and big banks instead of the people during the crises.
For example did you know that America has over 14,000 Lobbyist that are paid by the special interest to lobby "Tax-reductions, Laws" and many more things? Companies don't even hire freelance Lobbyists anymore but Lobbyists firms, companies lobby huge special tax breaks into law for there own company.

Multinational companies and banks, including General Electric, Citigroup, and Ford Motor Co., with investment earnings from overseas accounts won tax breaks by lobbying collectively worth $11 billion — a return on their two-year lobbying investment of at least 8,200 percent, according to a Globe analysis of lobbying reports.

(Remember how Ford was bailout?)

Hollywood production companies received a $430 million tax benefit for filming within the United States. As a result, companies like Walt Disney Co., Viacom, Sony, and Time Warner — with the help of the Motion Picture Association of America, chaired by former Connecticut senator Christopher J. Dodd — realized a return on their lobbying investment of about 860 percent.

And i can quote many more

Yes. But nothing of the sort will happen.

Mr Spinkles said:

I voted "Yes" but I'm not sure I understand why bankers should be thrown in jail. Did they break the law? What exactly did they do that was illegal? Please don't jump on me for asking a stupid question, I'm trying to learn here. I want justice as much as anyone but I am also wary of scapegoating.

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As I understand it, some of the bankers represented very high risk investments as much safer than they actually were in order to sell them. Apparently, that's against the law, although I'm no expert on it.

Mr Spinkles said:

I voted "Yes" but I'm not sure I understand why bankers should be thrown in jail. Did they break the law? What exactly did they do that was illegal? Please don't jump on me for asking a stupid question, I'm trying to learn here. I want justice as much as anyone but I am also wary of scapegoating.

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Debt is usually rated by its security on returns. Meaning a bank will publicly state its confidence on the loan being payed off. In the last few years banks got the brilliant idea that they could relabel bad debt as good; this allows the bank to secure even more money since it can then sell the debt off to a third party. Debt is usually owned by more than one company to maximize profits and minimize losses.

In any other market this would be considered false advertisements at the very least. In reality, it's fraud.

When the money stops coming in, the entire system folds like a house of cards.

In the 1600s, they used to hang bankers for their crimes. Sometimes, even I miss the good old days.

Mr Spinkles said:

I voted "Yes" but I'm not sure I understand why bankers should be thrown in jail. Did they break the law? What exactly did they do that was illegal? Please don't jump on me for asking a stupid question, I'm trying to learn here. I want justice as much as anyone but I am also wary of scapegoating.

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Http://www.rollingstone.com/?rediru...ed-the-biggest-financial-scandal-yet-20130425

Basically, yes. They are breaking the law. Fraud, collusion, price fixing, insider trading, anti-trust, etc. They're doing it openly, but the government is afraid to prosecute anyone for it in the US.

Meanwhile, in Iceland:
Http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/mar/19/kaupthing-executives-indicted-for-market-rigging

My phone is crap with links and editing posts. Here, try this:

The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever | Politics News | Rolling Stone

Sunstone said:

In the 1600s, they used to hang bankers for their crimes. Sometimes, even I miss the good old days.

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Good old times.. :drool:

Haha. There's a hidden extra in the 1st season Metalocalypse DVD where Skwisgar explains that in Norway (or Sweden, I can't remember), leaders are elected by throwing stones at them. Whoever isn't dead is the new leader!

Somehow, methinks this wouldn't work anymore... actually... hmmm....