Let banks fail: Iceland’s plan looks to be working

[unhappycamper]

http://business.financialpost.com/2014/01/27/let-banks-fail-icelands-plan-looks-to-be-working/

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Let banks fail: Iceland’s plan looks to be working
Bloomberg News | January 27, 2014 | Last Updated: Jan 29 12:50 PM ET

Iceland let its banks fail in 2008 because they proved too big to save.

Now, the island is finding crisis-management decisions made half a decade ago have put it on a trajectory that’s turned 2% unemployment into a realistic goal.

While the euro area grapples with record joblessness, led by more than 25% in Greece and Spain, only about 4% of Iceland’s labor force is without work. Prime Minister Sigmundur D. Gunnlaugsson says even that’s too high.

“Politicians always have something to worry about,” the 38-year-old said in an interview last week. “We’d like to see unemployment going from where it’s now — around 4% — to under 2%, which may sound strange to most other western countries, but Icelanders aren’t accustomed to unemployment.”

[Ilsa]

1. I hope they are not implying that

Allowing banks to fail here would have the same results. Apples and oranges, I would bet.