Letting its banks perish worked out for island nation
(NEWSER) - Don't look now, but Iceland's economy is growing. Tourism is up, the standard of living remains high, and unemployment is down to 7%. "For a country whose entire financial system collapsed, Iceland is doing remarkably well," the IMF's mission chief there tells the Washington Post . Why? In part because Iceland charted a unique course through the financial crisis: It let its big banks default and its currency collapse, and poured money into its economy and social safety net, raising taxes on the wealthy to do so. More»