Random News Stories

[Reginald Ret]

What me hopeless?

I'm very hopeful indead!

Who knew that the revolution would start with those radical Icelanders? It does, though. One Frosti Sigurjonsson, a lawmaker from the ruling Progress Party, issued a report today that suggests taking the power to create money away from commercial banks, and hand it to the central bank and, ultimately, Parliament.

Can't see commercial banks in the western world be too happy with this. They must be contemplating wiping the island nation off the map. If accepted in the Iceland parliament , the plan would change the game in a very radical way. It would be successful too, because there is no bigger scourge on our economies than commercial banks creating money and then securitizing and selling off the loans they just created the money (credit) with.

Everyone, with the possible exception of Paul Krugman, understands why this is a very sound idea. Agence France Presse reports:

Iceland Looks At Ending Boom And Bust With Radical Money Plan

Iceland's government is considering a revolutionary monetary proposal – removing the power of commercial banks to create money and handing it to the central bank. The proposal, which would be a turnaround in the history of modern finance, was part of a report written by a lawmaker from the ruling centrist Progress Party, Frosti Sigurjonsson, entitled "A better monetary system for Iceland".

"The findings will be an important contribution to the upcoming discussion, here and elsewhere, on money creation and monetary policy," Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson said. The report, commissioned by the premier, is aimed at putting an end to a monetary system in place through a slew of financial crises, including the latest one in 2008.

According to a study by four central bankers, the country has had "over 20 instances of financial crises of different types" since 1875, with "six serious multiple financial crisis episodes occurring every 15 years on average". Mr Sigurjonsson said the problem each time arose from ballooning credit during a strong economic cycle.

He argued the central bank was unable to contain the credit boom, allowing inflation to rise and sparking exaggerated risk-taking and speculation, the threat of bank collapse and costly state interventions. In Iceland, as in other modern market economies, the central bank controls the creation of banknotes and coins but not the creation of all money, which occurs as soon as a commercial bank offers a line of credit. The central bank can only try to influence the money supply with its monetary policy tools.

Under the so-called Sovereign Money proposal, the country's central bank would become the only creator of money. "Crucially, the power to create money is kept separate from the power to decide how that new money is used," Mr Sigurjonsson wrote in the proposal. "As with the state budget, the parliament will debate the government's proposal for allocation of new money," he wrote.

Banks would continue to manage accounts and payments, and would serve as intermediaries between savers and lenders. Mr Sigurjonsson, a businessman and economist, was one of the masterminds behind Iceland's household debt relief programme launched in May 2014 and aimed at helping the many Icelanders whose finances were strangled by inflation-indexed mortgages signed before the 2008 financial crisis.

http://www.theautomaticearth.com/2015/03/iceland-to-take-back-the-power-to-create-money/

Or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-SiYQ8s_6I

Or
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/nov/15/lessons-from-iceland-people-power

Or it is talked about a bit in blogs but not as far as I know the main paper, is there a reason for this?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/02/iceland-has-a-radical-plan-to-redefine-money/

At the moment I am not seeking to define, I just would like to see other peoples perspectives.

None of those links contained the word Banned and you yourself have not given any definition.
See? Hopeless.
So you want our responses to hearsay? alright.
I think Iceland is doing something very cool, I don't know enough details to comment further.
About how it was handled in the USA? I don't know and don't really care.

[Cain]

I'm not sure I even want to respond to this...

[jonb]

None of those links contained the word Banned and you yourself have not given any definition.
See? Hopeless.
So you want our responses to hearsay? alright.
I think Iceland is doing something very cool, I don't know enough details to comment further.
About how it was handled in the USA? I don't know and don't really care.

You have fulfilled to an extent one of my desires, I knew I was right to be hopeful thank you.

Everybody is dancing now!

[minuspace]

Fascinating, just not now.

[Demolition Squid]

Trolling now part of political mainstream.

I'm sure this isn't the first example but it made me laugh.

If you don't know Grant Shapps, he's the douchebag who ran an internet marketing company (charitably) under the alias 'Michael Green' before becoming an MP. He then denied ever being Michael Green, whilst still being Michael Green, threatened to sue one of his constituents who exposed him, and was finally caught in the lie a few months ago.

Needless to say, he has faced no disciplinary or legal action for his bullying threats and deceit, and will probably still take his seat again.

[Demolition Squid]

Pyramids confirmed as giant spaceships.

[Junkenstein]

Trolling now part of political mainstream.

I'm sure this isn't the first example but it made me laugh.

If you don't know Grant Shapps, he's the douchebag who ran an internet marketing company (charitably) under the alias 'Michael Green' before becoming an MP. He then denied ever being Michael Green, whilst still being Michael Green, threatened to sue one of his constituents who exposed him, and was finally caught in the lie a few months ago.

Needless to say, he has faced no disciplinary or legal action for his bullying threats and deceit, and will probably still take his seat again.

Calling it now, he's involved in the tickle conspiracy.

Seriously.

[Demolition Squid]

I'm not touching that bet.

[xXRon_Paul_42016Xxx(weed)]

http://www.unilad.co.uk/articles/mayor-sued-after-blowing-budget-on-giant-robot-statue/

A Turkish politician who has been the Mayor of Ankara since 1994 is currently being sued after unveiling a 20-foot-tall metal robot in the city.

Taxpayers hit the roof when Mayor Melih Gökçek pulled the sheet off his Transformer-like masterpiece, saying it is an enormous waste of their money – and rightly so, as he blew a pretty big budget on it.

The off-the-wall mayor is now being sued by the Turkish Union of Engineers and Architects' Chambers, who have described the robot as a 'monstrosity'.

n 49853 1

After the public backlash, Gökçek simply replied 'Respect the robot', which surprisingly only made things worse.

[Eater of Clowns]

MORE OF THIS SORT OF THING

[Cain]

The worrying thing is, with the way Turkish politics work, he's a strong contender for next PM.

Sure, he's pissed off his Ankara voters, but that will just make the rural, religious hicks love him even more.

[minuspace]

It's the centry of armymen progress, right?

http://www.unilad.co.uk/articles/mayor-sued-after-blowing-budget-on-giant-robot-statue/

A Turkish politician who has been the Mayor of Ankara since 1994 is currently being sued after unveiling a 20-foot-tall metal robot in the city.

Taxpayers hit the roof when Mayor Melih Gökçek pulled the sheet off his Transformer-like masterpiece, saying it is an enormous waste of their money – and rightly so, as he blew a pretty big budget on it.

The off-the-wall mayor is now being sued by the Turkish Union of Engineers and Architects' Chambers, who have described the robot as a 'monstrosity'.

n 49853 1

After the public backlash, Gökçek simply replied 'Respect the robot', which surprisingly only made things worse.

[minuspace]

Aye means really, me Medz, Ye 'hurn's got nutn' do wit it

It's not like actually seeing Ararat at the Angelica or anything, right: Transformers are always more than meets the eye.

[Ed., anyone catch last night's daily show, something about the correspondent's dinner court-jester... Totally unrelated, I think it's time for me to rest a little and sort out these impersonators ;]

[Demolition Squid]

Ukip Also Homophobic As Well As Insane.

The manifesto says: "We will not repeal the legislation, as it would be grossly unfair and unethical to 'un-marry' loving couples or restrict further marriages, but we will not require churches to marry same-sex couples. We will also extend the legal concept of 'reasonable accommodation' to give protection in law to those expressing a religious conscience in the workplace on this issue."

So basically, gay couples could be denied service at bakeries (as has happened and been overruled) or potentially just hounded/harassed by prejudiced workers because 'my religion says it is okay'.

There's zero chance of this going into law but I am now genuinely angry. I wanted to vote UKIP to unseat my local MP, now I'm going to have to vote Labour or Lib Dem purely to cut down the majority and hope UKIP don't get in and the Conservatives still get the message that she's costing them votes.

(I want her out largely because of her stance on gay issues too - the only times she's gone against the party line in 20 years have been to try and stop gay marriage/equal rights legislation)

[Cain]

Remember though, UKIP is "libertarian".  It loves freedom. Gays however, are European and not British, and so they don't deserve freedom.