Quote of the day – no points for guessing who it’s about:
The main instigator [for abolishing the National Economic Institute* and Competition and Trade Authority] was the Prime Minister from 1991 to 2004, who later appointed himself Central Bank Director. He was discharged after the collapse. A short while later he became the editor of Morgunblaðið – which is equivalent to Richard Nixon being appointed the editor of the Washington Post in order to secure fair and objective reporting about the Watergate Affair.
* Davíð Oddsson disassembled the National Economic Institute in 2002 because he felt it was “too pessimistic” in its forecasts. Össur Skarphéðinsson, who then was head of the Social Democratic Alliance [and is currently Foreign Minister], called the move an “obvious act of revenge” because the Prime Minister simply did not like the information that the Institute was publishing. It is thought that the Icelandic collapse could have been much less severe had the National Economic Institute been allowed to survive.
Quote shamelessly filched from Fréttablaðið, which has it from an upcoming book about the causes and effects of the financial crisis in the Nordic countries. This particular quote is by Þorvaldur Gylfason.
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http://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate_accountability/powell_memo_lewis.html
This is a little something tricky dick layed out for future of Amerika and could be coming soon to you if you decide on playing with the imf
jo6pac
Everything is on schedule, please move along.
Davið Oddsson as editor of Morgunblaðið is bad enough but is the media situation in Iceland going to deteriorate further, as many staff members of RUV are about to be fired?
It is thought that the Icelandic collapse could have been much less severe had the National Economic Institute been allowed to survive.
Össur Skarphéðinsson became Minister in May 2007. Why didn’t he and the Social Democratic Alliance reverse the actions of Davíð Oddsson?
The Government (Ministry of Finance), the Central Bank and the Financial Supervisory Authority are the ones who could and should have prevented the collapse. The way the National Economic Institute was divided and merged with Statistics Iceland and the Ministry of Finance seems rational to me.
Still, Davíð Oddsson is of course the biggest culprit amongst all of Iceland’s politicians, bureaucrats and bankers.
The way the National Economic Institute was divided and merged with Statistics Iceland and the Ministry of Finance seems rational to me.
From the outside, yes. But the ministries were controlled by the IP, they had their officials in place there, and the Ministry of Finance was intricately tied up with the Central Bank – of which Oddsson became director two years later. I’m pretty sure it was a well thought-out strategy.
I’m not able to see how the National Economic Institute (even the perfect one) could prevent crooks from their “business”.
Perhaps I have learned a few things about Iceland, having guessed who it was.
Coincidentally or not, I just happened to be looking at pictures of the Blue Lagoon. It not entirely natural, it reminds me of all the natural resources your land enjoys, an abundance of natural hot springs surely one of the finer.
Even Mr. Oddsson is a natural feature, if perhaps not as treasured or useful. Should Iceland at last emerge from this even stronger in consequence, then perhaps even he had a useful part to play, if not by design or intent.
Interesting title for the article….
Speaking of Morgunblaðið, today in the US of A our Supreme Court fairly well eviscerated democracy. In short, corporations will now be allowed full leeway to influence politics as they like. Money, and money alone will count.
I don’t know if this can be viewed outside the US, but hopefully so as it doesn’t really put this situation too strongly. Freedom of the press is also mentioned, something that a person of means such as Mr. Oddsson might appreciate:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33485770#34985508
I hesitate in posting this here, as at the moment this is more of an internal US domestic matter. However we all are increasingly living in a global world and economy. That any of this can still be freely said or reported is of a concern to all.
There’s a bit of the consequences of greed in the Edda too, in Grotttasöngr. From Wiki:
“Gróttasöngr is the work song of two young slave girls bought in Sweden by the Danish King Frodi. The girls are brought to a magic grind stone to grind out wealth for the king and sing for his household.
The girls ask for rest from the grinding but are told to continue. Undaunted in their benevolence, the girls proceed to grind and sing, wishing wealth and happiness for the King. The King, however, is still not pleased and continues to order the girls to grind without interruption. ”
The king keeps demanding more and more, until the slave girls, who are actually giantesses, get fed up and change the tune of the song. They sing and grind into existence an army that defeats the greedy king and destroys his country.
It seems to me that certain patterns of behavior are so addictive that only drastic measures can stop the process from rolling on and on. And it seems also that these patterns are often those that are considered the worst sins in many religions, to be regulated always, in all circumstances and without mercy. The old norse mythology has quite a few insights into the darker recesses of human nature.
It is amusing to see how keen some people are to demand mercy and lenience on those who have extracted multitudes of millions by gaming the system and left the less gaming-inclined to pay the damages. The cultural meme of money is always right has its adherents, or should i say, addicts. And, of course, it always pays well to side with those who have the money. The problem is, as Gröttasongr poetically expresses, and history shows less poetically, that if greed is let run free, nobody is saved. Not even the rich and their apologists.
Even great financial burdens can be dealt with ease if the nation is united and sees the payment as justified. Finland had to pay very big war restitutions to Russia(well, Soviet) after the 2nd world war, and manged to do it because the nation thought it was the price of staying independent. Don’t think the mood is quite the same for icelanders paying the debts so that those who caused the trouble can continue as if nothing happened.