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Jim Letourneau's Blog

Retired Life

Investing, Technology, Travel, Geology, Music, Golf. I think that covers it.

Iceland's Financial Implosion

The April edition of Vanity Fair was replete with financial topics including the Madoff scandal, hedge funds and my favorite - an in depth cultural review of Iceland's financial implosion.

Walking into the P.M.’s minute headquarters, I expect to be stopped and searched, or at least asked for photo identification. Instead I find a single policeman sitting behind a reception desk, feet up on the table, reading a newspaper. He glances up, bored. “I’m here to see the prime minister,” I say for the first time in my life. He’s unimpressed. Anyone here can see the prime minister. Half a dozen people will tell me that one of the reasons Icelanders thought they would be taken seriously as global financiers is that all Icelanders feel important. One reason they all feel important is that they all can go see the prime minister anytime they like.

From Wall Street on the Tundra - Vanity Fair