Two Questions

It has been revealed that FL Group gave a 30 million kronur politcal contibution to Sjáfstæðisflokkurinn in December 2006. Here are two questions that really need to asked and answered-

1. Why did it take over 2 years for ANYONE to report that FL Group gave a 30 million kronur contribution to Sjáfstæðisflokkurinn? 

2. If Iceland were not in a kreppa (crisis) now and Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn were still in power would this donation EVER have be reported?

Answering these two simple questions will reveal alot about the corruption in businesses, politics, and especially the media.

GTB

 

30 milljóna styrkur

What Rasmussen Should Say

I apologize for allowing citizens freedom of speech and for not thinking it's a good idea to murder a human being for drawing a cartoon that I do not agree with.

 How could Turkey respond to that?

GTB

Segja Fogh biðjast afsökunar

Oh, the Irony of it All

PITTSBURGH COP KILLER FEARED OBAMA GUN BAN

Yes, that is the actual headline placed on the right wing rumor mill, the sludge, I mean the Drudge Report for Saturday, April 4 2009.  I guess it is all Obama's fault for the death of these three police officers.  If only Obama would have let him keep his guns. (Did I miss some gun ban legislation?) This tragedy could have been avoided if.........no, I'm not going to say it, you figure it out.

GTB

Is this Some Kind of Joke?

Well, it is just terrible to read that the Althing is going to have a long work day today . Some had to work until 2 in the morning and have to return at 11.  Stories like this almost break my heart. I mean we are only in the worst economic crisis to hit Iceland or anywhere else for that matter and the poor members of the Althing actually have to work. The over-worked members only got a month off for Christmas, and will probably only get a month off for the election. And you know how rough the campaign trail can be here in Iceland. All that coffee and kleinur. How do they do it? And when the election is over they will most likey have to put in maybe a month and a half of work before they all take summer vacation.  Why oh why would anyone want to do this job? I guess they are all just selfless servants of this great pile of shit they created.  I think I would vote for a monkey before I voted for any of them.  At least a monkey can be trained to do the right thing.

GTB

Langir vinnudagar á þingi

01.04.2009

All Christians should be socialists; if they are not then they don't understand Christianity. -GTB

Kreppa - Part 2

The Icelandic kronur is on the way down once again after seeing some improvement earlier this year. Gas and diesel prices have already gone up signaling the beginning of higher inflation.  This means higher food prices, higher mortgage payments and higher payments for companies and individuals with foreign currency loans.  That will bring more loan defaults and more bankruptcy.  The slide of the kronur was worsened by the lowering of the prime interest rate. Any savings seen now by the 1% decrease is about to be wiped out by the rise in inflation.  The Central Bank should no longer bow to political pressures and instead raise the prime rate to shore up the kronur.  The entire recovery in Iceland depends on a stronger kronur or the taking up of another currency.  Maybe the government will gain the political will to pursue another currency when every company is bankrupt and every house is owned by the housing fund. By then though it will be too late.

GTB

Krónan lækkar enn

Checked the Value of the Kronur Lately?

Gylfi Arnbjörnsson wants the Central bank to lower the prime interest rate.  He points to lower inflation as the reason to proceed with a bigger reduction in the rate. Unfortunately, the kronur is far from stable at this time and the high interest rates are exacty why the inflation rate is so low. Any greater change at this point could send the kronur down further, putting the many companies and individuals with foreign currency loans ever closer to bankruptcy.  Also most homeowners have inflation linked loans. They have seen the costs of ther loans reduced 5,1% due to the lowering of the inflation rate. The only reason to lower  rates would be to allow more credit into the system. Since the banks are basically bankrupt and are not yet fully recapitalized they don't have any money to lend anyway. So why lower the rate?  The savings seen by those with non-index linked loans is small compared to the savings seen by a stronger kronur and lower inflation rate.  Any lowering of the prime interest rate and Iceland could be headed back down the road it came from.

GTB

Trúir ekki öðru en stýrivextir lækki umtalsvert

Whole Foods- No Brains or Balls

I can do nothing but shake my head whenever I read bullshit like this coming from the land of hypocracy.   It kind of makes me want to shoot the fucking whales myself.  This Whole Foods crap is a  typical American response in dealing with the world.  The American way of life revolves so much around the God All Mighty Dollar that they think they can break the will of another country with what is nothing short of economic terrorism.  Reading all the blogs linked to this report, I am comforted that the actions taken by Whole Foods is only strenghtening the Icelanders' resolve.  And how fucking pussy-like was it to announce that Whole Foods will no longer promote Icelandic products.  Not "no longer sell" only "no longer promote".  Seems the management of Whole Foods lacks not only brains but also balls. Another typically American ploy- keep the 1% of the protesters happy with some bullshit propaganda that "looks" like they are tough while keeping the other 99% who actually buy Icelandic products and don't give a shit about whaling as long as the price is right, happy.  If the Americans stopped doing things based on money and did something, anything, based on principle, I think I would drop dead, right then and there, of shock.  Looks like I never have to worry about that happening anytime soon.

 

(Sorry about the expletives, but this fucking American hypocracy pisses me off. Now you know one reason why I don't live there anymore.)

 

GTB

 

 

Hætta að kynna íslenskar vörur

Chump Change

When you are already in debt to the tune of 11 trillion dollars, what's another couple of billion dollars anyway?

GTB

"There [is a measure] which if not taken we are undone...[It is] to cease borrowing money and to pay off the national debt. If this cannot be done without dismissing the army and putting the ships out of commission, haul them up high and dry and reduce the army to the lowest point at which it was ever established. There does not exist an engine so corruptive of the government and so demoralizing of the nation as a public debt. It will bring on us more ruin at home than all the enemies from abroad against whom this army and navy are to protect us." --Thomas Jefferson to Nathaniel Macon, 1821.

Mun meiri fjárlagahalli

Everything is Bigger in the US, Including the Debt

Obama is quite right when he says the US is not on the same path as Iceland.  When you get yourself into a hole the first thing you need to do is stop digging.  Iceland is in a hole, but it has also stopped digging. Not by choice, of course; Iceland actually had its shovels taken away. But at least the outcome is the same.  When one hits rock bottom one can always take comfort in the fact that the only way to go is up.  In the US they still have 536 people who can't seem to let go of the shovels and think the solution is to dig some more. 

 The US debt is now 11 trillion dollars.  To give an idea of how much that is- If the US paid the debt down 1 dollar a second it would take 348,808 years (yes, you read that right!) to pay off the debt.  The amount of the debt is staggering and yet they keep adding more to it.  The Social Security system is failing, the healthcare system is broke, the infrastruture is crumbling and the debt is just getting bigger. The US is definitely not headed the same way as Iceland. They are on a much worse course.

GTB

Obama: Ekki sömu leið og Ísland