As Greece continues to fall deeper into the economic mire of austerity, unemployment, and reliance on the Troika for a financial bailout, one nation which chose to fight the banks after the 2008 credit crisis is beginning to lift itself out of depression just three years later.
On February 17th, Fitch ratings agency upgraded the sovereign nation of Iceland, and provided the former bankrupt country with a stable outlook going forward in the Euro Zone.
ICELAND RATINGS RAISED TO INVESTMENT GRADE BY FITCH
FITCH UPGRADES ICELAND TO 'BBB-'; STABLE OUTLOOK
FITCH DOES NOT EXPECT ICELAND TO SLIP BACK INTO RECESSION
FITCH SAYS ICELAND GOVERNMENT DEBT PEAKED AT 100% OF GDP IN '11 - Zerohedge
This recovery, and upgrades on Iceland's economy and sovereign credit, is the result of a people who did not cede to bank and political pressures to borrow more money to pay off debts incurred through the practices of foreign banks during the bubble years of the global economy. Instead, Iceland held the banks and banking officials liable for fraud and convicted many of them for financial crimes.
These actions in Iceland manifested a serious recession and hard times for their people over the past three years, but it allowed the system to flush out much of the debt and bad money that had created the false bubble of prosperity and growth. With many of those debts now gone, Iceland is able to create a solid economic foundation, and move forward into a stable economy.
Now with their own financial problems, the people of Greece should be looking to Iceland, and recognize the rewards of defaulting on their debt, and allowing the system to flush out the bad choices their leaders and banks made during the past decade. Current discussions in Greece are primarily directed at borrowing more money to pay off loans at the expense of the Greek citizens, but the nation is already in a dire depression with little chance of improvement going forward. Bailouts by the Troika are being contigent upon more austerity measures on the people of Greece, but with some segments of the economy already at 50% unemployment, there is little blood that can be squeezed from that turnip.
Greece has two choices going forward for the future of their country and future of their economy. They can go the route of nations like Argentina, which borrowed from the IMF and remained in recession for over a decade under the pressures of austerity and massive interest to the global bankers. Or, they can accept default as a viable option, and like Iceland, take their medicine for a few years to flush out the bad money, and once again start anew with a strong foundation for which to rebuild.
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