Iceland seems to be getting beaten up pretty good this past week or so. It's a shame, because we visited this summer, and it's a nice place.

Before we went, I was aware that not all was well.

James Surowiecki wrote in April:

Iceland’s current woes teach a useful lesson about the interconnectedness of global markets: trouble can come from anywhere.

But Icelanders can be forgiven for wondering if they’ve really been any more reckless than many other countries—most obviously the U.S., which relies heavily on foreign capital to fund home buying and profligate consumption, and whose banking system is rife with reckless lending. And that’s the second lesson of Iceland’s plight: even in a flat world, there are different rules for different players.

It sounds like my English relatives who had icesave accounts will probably be taken care of by the UK government, who now seem to be bullying Iceland.

I wonder if anyone else looks at the European countries struggling to coordinate and cooperate at this time and thinks "hey, this reminds me of a lot of the problems with federalism in the u.s."...

also:
it strikes me that in today's celebrity-obsessed culture, now the masses have figured out how to spectacularly lose money through the archetypical "bad investments" made by so many "behind the music" features...

still waiting:
for politician posturing about
"how "average americans" spend money better than the goverment can", to stop.

I know: not likely. but I keep thinking things like this whenever I pass that Gray's Papaya sign:photo by JLMcvay Flickr
How about "work" or "think" instead of believe? I'm really not excited about another faith-based presidency.