Why We Need Real Financial Regulation

Because people like this wreck national economies for sport.

The Financial Times reports on how a booze soaked get together of international hedge fund managers was organized by Bear Stearns laid the groundwork for a conspiracy to destroy the Icelandic currency and economy.

Of interest is that Iceland made itself vulnerable to this as a part of its aggressive transition from a resource extraction (fishing, once more than 1/6 of the economy) to a banking economy, and right now they have 8.7% inflation, and the central bank has set rates at 15%, so fishing may stage a comeback.

It should be noted that Iceland is actually in a pretty good position. It's banks are well capitalized, and it has been running budget surpluses for some time, though its current account deficit is large.

One wonders if JP Morgan might be left holding the bag on this.