Iceland

“Remember when the Icelandics did the unthinkable and, unlike Ireland, told bank creditors to take a hike? They also imposed capital controls and allowed the value of their currency to fall – the Icelandic krona has lost almost half of its value against the euro over the past five years.

The ‘experts’ queued up to assure us that these latter-day Vikings would be severely punished for their impertinence. While no one forecast that a hole would open up in the North Atlantic and swallow Iceland whole, some of the predictions came pretty darned close.”

Berlusconi on Facebook

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is in the news again, but for his economic policies, not his romantic escapades. The Italian economy, third largest in Europe, is starting to tank. The P.M.’s allies are jumping ship, urging him to quit. “That Silvio Berlusconi is about to resign is clear. It is a question of hours, some say of minutes,” wrote one long-time friend. The Prime Minister issued a denial:  “Le voci di mie dimissioni sono destituite di fondamento” (“The rumors of my resignation are groundless “).

Silvio Berlusconi, third richest man in Italy, controls the country’s commercial television stations and newspapers and magazines. As PM, he controls RAI, the Italian government broadcasting network. So how did Mr. Berlusconi make his defiant announcement?

On Facebook.

Related:

“Quick Primer On Chances Of Italy Destroying The World Economy,” Seeking Alpha

“Politicans and Business Close Ranks Against Berlusconi,” Fiona Ehlers, Spiegel Online

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Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-bvb

Image (“Berlusconi on Facebook, after François Gabriel Lepaulle”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Happy 2011

It’s 2011; lower your expectations. Happy New Year.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Town Lays Off Police Dog

There will be ten fewer feet on the beat in Jeanette Pennsylvania. The small Westmoreland County town just laid off three police officers and a drug-sniffing police dog. The police department also lost three meter maids and a secretary.

 

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The Recession is Over

The National Bureau of Economic Research has declared the recession over. The Business Cycle Dating Committee has determined that it offically ended in June 2009.

Let the feasting begin. Who’s got the food stamps?

  

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Wall Street and the Economy

From Robert Reich:

“The stock market has as much to do with the real economy as the weather has to do with geology. Day by day there’s no relationship at all. Over time, weather and geology interact but the results aren’t evident for many years. The biggest impact of the weather is on people’s moods, as are the daily ups and downs of the market.

The real economy is jobs and paychecks, what people buy and what they sell. And the real economy — even viewed from a worldwide perspective — is as precarious as ever, perhaps more so.”

 

More here.

Have a happy Labor Day.

 

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Icelandic Exodus

More people left Iceland in 2009 than in any year since 1887. Some of those who remain line up in charity food lines. A country can expect this after its economy becomes “zombulated” by unregulated financial institutions and a right-wing, laissez-faire government.  In the words of current Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, “the ideology of an unregulated free market utterly failed.”

More:

No Recession on Wall Street

Bonuses for employees of Wall Street financial firms were up at least 17 percent in 2009. You remember 2009 — TARP, unemployment, foreclosures and all that (so tiresome).

More:

Market Watch: “Wall St. bonuses climbed 17% to $20.3 billion in 2009.”

New York Times DealBook: “The Big Money’s Back in Town.”