RS3:
A New Mom And The President of Iceland
Our
country has suffered a lot when it comes to the economy and our ongoing
financial crisis. However the United
States is not the only country who has financially suffered, Iceland has
too. The small country that lies in the
middle of the United States and Europe in the Atlantic Ocean entered its own
financial crisis in 2008.
In
early 2008 Iceland’s economy was flourishing.
In fact they had so much money that the prices of things started to go
down. The people of Iceland were living
in a bubble that seemed like nothing can go wrong in. However, that all changed later on in the
year. Once Landsbanki, a bank who
offered savings accounts with high interest rates to people overseas, failed
the entire Icelandic economy fell.
Once
the bank failed, the Icelandic government took over the bank. The Icelandic government paid back its
citizens who invested money in the bank, but when it came to the foreigners
they were not paid back. An agreement
was made for the Icelandic government to pay the British and Dutch investors
back. This sent much outrage throughout
the country, many people protested outside of the President's house by lighting
bright red flares. However when the bill
was sent to the President to be signed, he vetoed the bill. This sent the decision down to the Icelandic
citizens. The citizens had to vote yes
to pass the bill which said they had to pay the British and Dutch people back,
or vote no so they would not have to pay the British and Dutch back.
The
choices that these people had to make had huge impacts on Iceland. If the majority voted yes, then the Icelandic
government would be able to keep a good reputation, and the economy would be
able to prosper. If they said no, then
the Icelandic government would look like dead beats and no one would want to
make exchanges with the government. In
fact, one woman, Heiða Dóra Jónsdóttir, had such trouble in making her decision
that NPR set up several interviews with her and other Icelandic people to give
her some help in making the decision.
The opinions between the people being interviewed were split. Some said that the Icelandic government had
to pay back the British and Dutch people so they could maintain peace with
their neighbors, and the others said that we didn’t owe those countries
anything after the things they did to the people of Iceland in the past. Those who said no to passing the bill said
that they reason they didn’t feel sorry is because the foreigners were paid
back by their own country, and that Iceland had a debt to the other countries,
not the people. It was this sense of
confusion that kept people up in the air on what to do in the polls.
When
voting day finally came around, NPR went to the polls and followed Heiða to see
what she had to say after she voted.
Heiða ended up voting no, and so did the majority of Icelandic citizens. In fact 60% of citizens were not in favor of
passing the bill. Therefore, the
decision had to be left in the hands of the international courts. After the trial, the court favored with
Iceland and said that they did not have to pay Britain or Holland back. Although the Icelandic people were happy with
this decision and said there were no negative effects, I think that this was
the wrong decision. In a time where
government thinks war solves all problems, I think that Iceland should have
paid Britain and Holland to prevent any future turmoil. Even though things may seem alright for now,
Britain and Holland may decide that they do not want anything to do with
Iceland and cause more problems for them in the future. Personally, I think the best decision would
have been to pay back their debts and keep the peace with their neighboring
countries.
Not
many people know where Iceland is, nor do they hear much news publicity on the
country. That is why people found it so
shocking when they heard that this country was in a very large economic downfall. After the fall of the Landsbanki bank, things
in Iceland took a turn for the worse.
Iceland owed Britain and Holland a lot of money after their citizens
invested money in overseas savings accounts.
The Icelandic government left the decision on whether to pay the
countries back or not in the hands of its citizens after the President vetoed a
bill that would have had Iceland pay back the British and Dutch
governments. In 2011, the citizens voted
that they did not want to pay the countries back, and the case went to the
international court. The court then
decided that Iceland was not forced to pay back the other countries. Although things worked out for Iceland in the
end, things could have gotten even worse.
Luckily for them, the economy of Iceland was able to bounce back, and
they were able to maintain peace with their neighboring countries.
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