In the last ten years I have found myself becoming much more cynical. It might be a part of growing up from being a blue eyed college student to becoming a supposed grown up. It is easy to long for the days when the biggest worry was “will she pick up the phone”, when pondering [...]

I have fallen ill lately, either some autumn flu or an allergy reaction due to Icelandic news. It seems like Bjorgolfur Thor and Jon Asgeir Johannesson are going to be the two people who hold the reins in Icelandic business once the dust has settled. Their creditors including Landsbankinn and Arion seem to be competing [...]

Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge points out this video of Columbia University economist Fredric Mishkin who has changed the title of his 2006 pen-for-hire paper on Iceland’s economic state from Financial Stability in Iceland to Financial Instability in Iceland. Some time ago we penned a post, titled”Mishkin On Iceland: “Nothing Is F*#&ed Here Dude” which discussed [...]

The Icelandic government’s economic advisor Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson, on a leave from his post as CEO of Askar Capital Investment Bank and two years after his whitewash report on the Icelandic economy with Columbia professor Mishkin, with some interesting promises to the BBC on October 4, 2008. What happened next? The Independence Party’s voters elected [...]

We got an interesting lecture yesterday from Pall Asgeir Davidsson, who heads the Ethikos project within Reykjavik University. Ethikos’ mission is to heighten awareness of corporate social responsibility in Iceland so it is one of the most needed institutions today. Pall Asgeir’s lecture came the day after Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson, Independence Party MP, former investment [...]

Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson, MP for the Independence Party has revealed that he received a 2 million ISK payment for the report he did with Columbia professor Frederic Mishkin in 2006. The report was paid for by the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce and was used as the main counterweight by Icelandic businesses and politicians against foreign [...]

When Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson, Independence Party MP started his job as CEO at Askar Capital in 2006 he was granted a loan for 300 million ISK to purchase shares in the bank. The loan was put into a company, owned 100% by Tryggvi and the company will now go bankrupt when the loan is due [...]

“Definitely we would come to the rescue of a bank – definitely. “The banking system in Iceland is very large compared to the economy, but still we think we can maintain the problem because the balance sheet of the bank is very good.” “They have not been involved in sub-prime or buying housing debts from [...]

Some stuff you just cannot make up. Independent Party MP and former economic advisor to Geir Haarde’s government, Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson told Althingi that he’d just met one of the “viking raider” businessmen who’d critizised the government for not having called on any advisors in the IceSave. Tryggvi quoted the businessman as saying “at least [...]