I’ve been trying to get my head around the controversy surrounding the head of Commercial Workers’ Union who also sat on the board of Kaupthing. It raises so many questions. Apparently he approved of the bank letting their top managers off the hook by revoking their liabilities towards loans they had taken to buy shares in [...]

You know the old saying, that you may change religion, wifes and citizenship but you will never change your favorite football team. In a previous post someone likened the allegiance that Icelandic voters seem to have to their political parties to the one they have to their football teams. This is a common joke in Iceland, [...]

Obama talks about the power of democracy. Four years ago, you would hardly have found anyone who believed that regular voters could trump special interests manipulating the government. American voters had to face up to the fact that they had voted for the worst option possible in the last two elections. The voters themselves are responsible for [...]

We are taught that there are three branches of government in Iceland. The legislative one, Althingi where 63 members of parliament lay down the law. The executive one, a group of ministers, seven – nine in total, made up from members of parliament that belong to the majority and lead by the prime minister. The judiciary one, with [...]

On the up is anger. Going down is trust. Why? These are the latest news. Bankers are getting their massive loans wiped out. The oligarchs are buying up companies for small change, leaving debts in other companies that will be bankrupted. The government preaches togetherness and unity. In reality, it seems like the wealthiest are already playing each man [...]

The Independent Party has some interesting characters, including the member of parliament that was found guilty of embezzlement. One of its main idiological persons is a professor in political science at the University of Iceland, Hannes Holmsteinn Gissurarson. Hannes is a professor who has not seen plagarism to be beneath him, which he was accused of [...]

Regarding the bankers whose debts were supposedly wiped clean from the previous post, an email has been circulating in Iceland describing the situation. It talks about how the bankers have been protected while average people are being hit. Its ending is somewhat disturbing, given that hitherto Iceland has been a country where the wealthy and [...]

When Transparency International publishes its reports on corruption, Iceland usually comes across as one of the least corrupt places on earth. The trouble is how corruption is measured in these international reports. For example, they measure things like how many politicians have been found guilty in courts of law. Here it is no problem because the [...]

If you wanted to buy a home in Iceland in the last few years your options ranged between being shot or being hanged. Most people have had to take home loans with price indexation where the amount you borrow increases according to the corresponding inflation. So if inflation is 5%, you add that amount to your [...]

One month ago I ended up on the panel of Silfur Egils, Iceland’s premier political talk show, commenting on the economic situation facing young people in Iceland. The reason I had been called up was that a week before Glitnir bank was nationalized I had written in a comment on the host’s blog that young [...]