Posts Tagged ‘Crackpot’

The Finance Minister Who Doesn’t Get It

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

“I think what is happening in Iceland proves that our own currency is very beneficial to our needs. You don’t have to go far back to see that the currency developments have increased the competitiveness of Icelandic businesses and industries”.

- Steingrimur J. Sigfusson, Finance Minister of Iceland two years after an economic collapse all but wiped out the Icelandic financial sector after years of “hot money” flowing into the country because of exorbitant interest rates imposed to battle inflation.

He is crediting the arsonist for bringing a bucket of water to the fire.

What he is really celebrating is Iceland moving one step closer to the developing world and  improving our “competitiveness” through a worthless currency. Never mind the comparative loss of wealth to citizens in the developed world.

A classic argument for not joining the EU and improving the livelyhood of Iceland’s citizens.

Related posts:

  1. Thanks A Bucket – But Stiglitz Wants IMF Out Of Iceland
  2. Finance minister wants to abolish price-indexation
  3. UK Crackpot: McDonald’s flight shows Iceland’s policy works

UK Crackpot: McDonald’s flight shows Iceland’s policy works

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
What the company actually said was that it can no longer compete with Icelandic fast-food joints that rely on local produce – and which make delicious beef samlokas, as I discovered at a stand in downtown Reykjavik in August.
McDonald’s imports its supplies from Germany. It is being undercut. Simple as that.
The weak krona is doing exactly what it should do. Iceland’s exports are recovering. Import substitution is going gangbusters.
The currency shock-absorber is performing its magic. If I hear one more person claim the crash in the Icelandic krona has been a disaster, I think I will punch them.

What the company actually said was that it can no longer compete with Icelandic fast-food joints that rely on local produce – and which make delicious beef samlokas, as I discovered at a stand in downtown Reykjavik in August.

McDonald’s imports its supplies from Germany. It is being undercut. Simple as that.

The weak krona is doing exactly what it should do. Iceland’s exports are recovering. Import substitution is going gangbusters.

The currency shock-absorber is performing its magic. If I hear one more person claim the crash in the Icelandic krona has been a disaster, I think I will punch them.

From crackpot’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard’s’ blog at the Telegraph

If I hear yet another well-off macro-oriented pseudo-economist with anti-Euro agendas talk about the ISK as magical without having had to try to create a life for himself in its laughable economy then I will not punch him but certainly pity his narrow-mindedness and question his agendas.

The ISK was a major cause of the problems in Iceland, not a magic solution. Don’t praise the arsonist for bringing a bucket of water to the fire.


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