August 14, 2009

Is Iceland´s debtor´s prison different from Argentina´s?

Sir Jóhanna Sigurdadóttir’s “Iceland are angry but will make sacrifices” August 14, writes about the problem of trying to make good “hundreds of thousands of UK and Dutch savers” who lost their money when attracted by high interest rates they place their money in a private bank in Iceland. 

I can’t help to think about the hundreds of thousands of probably much less sophisticated small Italian savers that lost their savings in Argentina… and I wonder are there some standards for responsible behaviour? 

There is no debtor´s prison for individuals but is there a debtor´s prison for countries even when given home for jail? Would the world be better off with some global standards that apply to all countries? 

And what about all those who lost their money because they followed the advice of the credit rating agencies, those appointed as the official risk sentries by the financial regulator in Basel?