
Þetta er ansi harðorð grein á vef Times í London.
En margt athyglisvert sem í henni sem sagt er um vina- og klíkusamfélagið á Íslandi:
This interplay between government ministers and central bankers is at the heart of every national economic crisis. From the Baltic to the Balkans, this relationship has become tangled, the institutional boundaries blurred by cronyism. That is why sorting out what is happening in Iceland is so important.
—
But Thatcherism may not work in a small open community, easily buffeted. It certainly does not work if the control mechanisms are eroded, if one puts friends and economically incompetent political loyalists in key positions; if one forgets to ban insider trading.
—
So far most ideas thrown into the debate pop like soap bubbles when subjected to closer scrutiny. More women in power (since the crisis is held to be the work of men in suits)? But female executives experienced enough to take over the reins have often been part of the crooked system too.
A generational turnover? But the best and the brightest are emigrating – how is one supposed to convince them that their future is on the island? Join the euro? And then what?
The revolution has different names – the Household Revolution, the Saucepan Revolution, the Fleece Revolution – choose your brand.
But if it is to have lasting effect it has to work from within the system – much as the Polish Solidarity movement built up a lasting civil society before contesting elections.
Solidarity got rid of a one-party state. Oddson’s conservatives, the increasingly absurdly named Independent party, have been running Iceland for decades as it were just that, a one-party state. That is what has to change.
The lesson for the rest of the world? Think twice before appointing close school buddies as your central bank governor and prime minister.