Iceland Feels the Chill

How would you like to have your retirement invested in an index fund tracking Iceland's benchmark stock index (OMX ICEX 15)? After a three-day halt to trading, the index re-opened back up today down 77% from its most recent closing price. The reason? The keepers of the exchange took the prices of all the banks in the index down to zero after they were nationalized by the government. You can complain all you want about the US government's anti-capitalistic actions over the last two days, but if you want to see what a real nationalization looks like, check out Iceland.