Dear Editor,

Here is what listening to the failed economic policies of the trickle-down pie-in-the-sky rhetoric of one per cent has gotten us. The U.S.A., Canada, and most European economies are in crisis, and working-and middle-classes are fighting for their financial lives, barely able to keep heads above water.

The power elite convinced the majority that the only way to stave off global catastrophe was to bail out Wall Street, and not only let them keep all the money they stole, but reward themselves even further with public funds while forcing tens of millions out of their homes, losing millions of jobs, and managing to wipe out 40 per cent of ordinary Americans' assets.

It seems Iceland had a novel idea. They charged the prime minister and all the CEOs of the big banks with more than 200 criminal offences, and put them in jail. And instead of punishing the homeowners who suffered from these criminal actions, they forgave any debt over 110 per cent of the value of a home mortgage debt.

You are probably thinking, "How stupid can they be? You can't do that and get away with it."

Not only has it worked, but after the total economic collapse in Iceland in 2008, 2009 was a disaster, with a 6.7-per-cent decrease in growth - but in a very short time, in 2010, they had a 2.9-percent increase, and 2011 showed a 2.4-per-cent increase.

Would it work here? The truth is, they had a much higher debt per capita than the U.S. or Greece.

The final inevitable argument, as always when someone else has a system or idea different than the U.S.A., is that it is just an anomaly.

But as long as we continue rewarding criminals and hanging on to failed, tired, old economic theories and the bought-and-paid-for politicians that perpetuate those failed polices, we are doomed to relive the inevitable booms and crashes, and the middle class and workers of the world will pay the price.

Fitch Ratings had this to say about Iceland: "Unorthodox crisis policy response has succeeded.

Wayne Clark, Maple Ridge