12.02.2009

Bear always in mind that a nation ceases to be republican only when the will of the majority ceases to be the law." --Thomas Jefferson

Freedom of Choice

Speaking purely politically, it was a brilliant move by Einar K. to give a five year whale quota on the way out the door.  He must of had inside information that someone from VG would be taking over his ministry.  How does making use of a sustainable resource falls outside the VG platform can't be explained but what a predicament Steingrimur is in now that he has chosen to review that quota.  Does he do the will of his party and core supporters (17%), a minority in the government and population respectively, and change the quota and possibly end whaling? Or does he live up to all that democracy, will of the people (67%) stuff he is always ranting about and leave the quota as is? Unless he can come up with some solution equally satifying to both sides it will be a lose/lose situation for Steingrimur and he would have done best to let Einar's decision stand for 80 days and let the next government with majority deal with it.  But too late!

The real winners in all of this are,of course, Framsóknarflokkurinn.  They have shown really good judgement in supporting the minority government but holding on to the trump card "NO" vote.  How many parties get the chance to vote Yes or NO.  The Icelandic system has alway been the majority makes the laws and always votes "yes" together and the opposition votes "no" together.  No matter what. It is as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow. With Framsóknarflokkurinn giving only support they have added a twist to the normally predictable system and are giving the voters the impression( even if it is only an impression)) that they alone are the defenders of democracy and won't allow any law to be passed that the people don't agree with.  Sigmundur Davið may have done  a "one up" on Einar K. and Steingrimur.

GTB

36 þingmenn vilja hvalveiðar

11.02.2009

Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin. Bankers own the earth; take it away from them but leave them with the power to create credit; and, with a flick of a pen, they will create enough money to buy it back again. Take this power away from them and all great fortunes like mine will disappear, and they ought to disappear, for then this world would be a happier and better world to live in. But if you want to be slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let the bankers control money and control credit.
-Sir Josiah Stamp, Director, Bank of England, c1940.

A Small Prediction

The Independence Party's meeting is looking more and more like it wll be a repeat of the Progressive Party's meeting.  Someone younger and less from the mainstream is most likely to be the chairperson while one of  the prominent females of the party wants only to be the vice chairperson.  If people remember that this is the "two trips to the Olympics with husband-in-tow all expenses paid plus dagpeningar" former Minister of Education then I predict she will end up just like Sif, a loser.

GTB

Þorgerður Katrín ekki í formannskjör

Everyone Is Happy

After giving it much thought, I have finally come up with a solution to the Davið Oddsson/Central Bank issue.  I think that all involved will be equally pleased and disappointed at exactly the same time meaning it either absolute genius or complete stupidity.  I favor the former myself.The solution is so simple I am totally surprised that no one in the Althing has thought of it first. (Not really).  The solution is to NOT fire Davið.  That's right. DO NOT FIRE HIM.  Perfect!  Yes Johanna, when you amend the bill on the Central Bank don't give the government the power to remove the chairman.  Just change his job description- Demote him! Simple!  And insert a new position into the Central Bank with a new name, maybe President or Czar or something along that line and give that new position the chairman's old power.  What to do with the chairman, you ask?  Assign him tasks that he can perform to help the new President (or Czar) of the Central Bank's job easier.  For example, changing the toner in the copier, or making coffee in the morning . Very critical work in Iceland I have learned.( Not joking)  OR , even better, he can assure that everyone has a seat for meetings in the conference room - then he can still be called the Chair Man!

 And everyone is happy.  The Independence party is happy because Davið stays in the Central Bank (and out of politics).  The new government is happy because Davið is no longer in charge and they didn’t have to do something that seemed political and fire him. The people are also happy because he is no longer in charge or in politics. And finally Davið is happy because he can say that he never resigned and they couldn’t fire him.  He gets his same pay as before and why not; he is doing basically the same job as he did before – not much at all.

10.02.2009

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office. - H.L. Mencken

Even More Reasons

In a comment to a previous blog, Baldur said:

Tell me one reason why Davíð should resign?  Why is his responesebility more than Jóhannas for exsample?? Wasnt she a part of the government wich ruled when everything collapsed?  People in Iceland need someone to blame for all the mess they are in.  Fact is that most people have them self to blame for the shit they are in.

In response to his comments I quickly posted (amended here) five really good reasons:

1. He is a politician.  I have already explained why having a politician as the head of a central bank is a bad idea.

2. He is not qualified to do the job.  Central banks don't lend themselves well to on the job training.

3. Taking a 75% share in Glitnir(later anulled by the nationalization of the bank), essentually making private debt sovereign debt.

4. The pegging of the kronur ( My personal favorite).  It will go down in the economic books as the shortest in history (one day) and probably the dumbest. This, by the way, helps the "not qualified " argument.

5. For implying on national television (Kastljós) that Iceland would not cover the debts of the banks.  This one alone is grounds for dismissal in any normal circumstance.  Could you imagine the financial and political fallout in the US if Bernacke had said something to that effect?

Add to that the governments request, the peoples demands, and some well respected economists views http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=azSpFJ5UHFA0  and that pretty much sums up why he should resign.   I have never blamed Davið or anyone else for the mess that Iceland is in. I am stating that he should resign based on affiliation, education and work performance. Non-biased objective reasoning.  Something most politicians and their party members have never heard of.

GTB

Christensen: Neyðarlegt að Davíð segi ekki af sér

09.02.2009

It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong. -- Thomas Sowell

Shame

Shame - n. 1 distress or humiliation caused by consciousness of one's guilt, dishonour or folly. 2 capacity for feeling this  3  state of discrace or discredit 4 a person or thing that brings discrace etc. b thing that is wrong or regrettable - from the Oxford Dictionary of Current English

Since Davið Oddsson doesn't know the meaning of this word it is posted here for him and perhaps other Icelandic politicians.

After the terrible terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India in November 2008, several Indian ministers resigned their posts.  Why did these ministers resign? Did they cause the attacks? Did they kill all those people? Are they solely responsible for the failures in the securtiy services of India? The answer to all these questions is obviously "no" and yet they did resign;  they felt quilty because maybe they should have forseen the event, and discraced because the security system failed to live up to the standard that they would have expected.  In short they felt shame.  

One needs to understand what shame is and be capable of feeling its effect to have the courage required to resign.  And for that, one needs to have a conscience.   Do you need that defined for you too, Davið?

 GTB

 

Davíð segir ekki af sér

08.02.2009

What this country needs is more unemployed politicians. -- Edward Langley