Comments on: Iceland, debt and Laxness, the Nobel Prize Winner

By: ann

ann — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:44:08 +0000

Eleanor,

You don’t give us a link to your blog…

Ann

By: José M. Sousa

José M. Sousa — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:38:08 +0000

In page 150, the book relates CO2 buildup with earthquakes. Other than “glacial earthquakes” I don’t

think there’s any relation.
Congratulations for your book, I am looking forward for it to be translated into portuguese soon!

By: Eleanor

Eleanor — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:04:19 +0000

I just

used your quote from Laxness at my blog. I was trying to find out about the sheep bubble mentioned in today’s Guardian article on Iceland and got

to your blog, which looks very interesting. I suppose I ought read some more Laxness. He writes wonderfully about hard times.

By: José M. Sousa

José M. Sousa — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:52:55 +0000

Thank you! That’s what I thought.

By: ann

ann — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:05:53 +0000

Jose,

Thank you for this comment. You are the first to draw my attention to this error. It should read: “In the US

215 million Americans hold more than $1 trillion in credit card debt.”…For more on this visit the US Consumers Union page, below.

Ann

Pettifor

https://secure.consumersunion.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1979

By: José M. Sousa

José M. Sousa — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:18:11 +0000

In your book ‘The Coming First World Debt Crisis’ you refer in page 8 that 215 million adult americans

hold more than a trillion (10^12?)credit cards. That´s more than 4650 credit cards per person on average! Is this really correct? Seems so mad to

me that it´s difficult to grasp!

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:38:14 +0000

I know it is not cool for a partner to respond… but Independent People is a great novel!

Laxness is indeed a great name for a

novelist describing banking practices in a classic credit bubble….. a little earlier in the novel, he draws a very contemporary picture:

“Those who were in debt were given opportunities of incurring greater debts, while upon those who owed nothing, but who might be likely to

require a loan for extensions, the banks smiled with an incredibly seductive sweetness.”

Plus ça change…

For those who visit

Iceland (likely to be pretty cheap for a time…) it is worth making a visit to his late 1940s somewhat modernist house which is now a museum about

him, a few kilometers outside Reykjavik.

By: Brian Barker

Brian Barker — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:05:57 +0000

The fact that a French-man won the Nobel Prize for Literature will certainly annoy the anglophiles. After all,

everyone now accepts that English is the international language.

I apologise for the satire, but speak as a native English speaker. Then, if

English is unacceptable, on grounds of linguistic imperialism, what about Esperanto?
Yes Esperanto was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for

Literature, in the name of Icelandic poet Baldur Ragnarrson.

This is true. Esperanto does have its own original literature. Please check

http://www.esperanto.net