Tuesday 7 October 2008

Day of reckoning?

It's becoming almost impossible to keep with events at the moment. I phoned a colleague at around 9.15 this morning to tell him that RBS shares had been suspended. That turned out to be a false rumour but since then both RBS and HBOS shares have lost 40% of their value. This evening it's being reported that all British banks will be partly nationalised. Bank of America is down 19% at the moment but who knows what'll be the situation in ten minutes' time?

Meanwhile I read that Iceland has arranged for a 4 billion Euro loan from Russia.

But read this:

The government of Iceland is using the threat of a €4 bn loan from Russia in exchange for a 99-year lease on the airport at Keflavik - a former American air base - as leverage to obtain financial support from the West.
So perhaps it's not yet a done deal. I suppose one advantage of a Russian takeover of Keflavik would be a cut in the outrageous price of beer in the terminal. That's a joke by the way. More seriously, I recall reading a thriller in which WW3 starts with a Soviet "container ship" running aground on Iceland and out of it emerges troops and tanks who promptly defeat the Americans and take over the US anti-submarine base. Needless to say the good guys won in that case. Now? I haven't a clue, except to say that von Mises must be laughing in his grave.

1 comment:

David Farrer said...

Comments made on previous template:

David Farrer
James, 
 
I know. I meant that it wasn't appropriate to joke about Iceland falling to the Russians! I once had a beer at Keflavik and the next day had one in Wisconsin that was six times cheaper by volume.

14 October 2008, 14:12:22 GMT+01:00
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jameshigham
It's no joke. Alcohol prices are prohibitive.

9 October 2008, 19:59:27 GMT+01:00
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Scott
This reminds me of the scene in a Very British Coup where Harry Perkins writes his headline 
 
"Perkins saved by red gold" (or something similar). 
 
It's innovative anyway. Perhaps that's what the SNP have in mind in the long run for Faslane!

7 October 2008, 21:10:18 GMT+01:00