> For more than the past two years there has been daily top-flight coverage of
> the unfolding crisis on Yves Smith's "Naked Capitalism" blog.
And this on Iceland, although I wish it had more detail on the politics of the situation:
<http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/11/iceland’s-new-bank-disaster.html>
"The IMF entered the picture in November 2008, advising the government to reconstruct the banking system in a way that “includes measures to ensure fair valuation of assets [and] maximize asset recovery.” The government created three “good” new banks from the ruins of its failed banks, transferring loans from the old to the new banks at a discount of up to 70 percent to reflect their fair value, based on independent third party valuation.
The vultures became owners of two out of three new Icelandic banks. On IMF advice the government negotiated an agreement so loose as to give them a hunting license on Icelandic households and businesses. The new banks acted much as U.S. collection agencies do when they buy bad credit-card debts, bank loans or unpaid bills from retailers at 30% of face value and then hound the debtors to squeeze out as much as they can, by hook or by crook."