Posts Tagged ‘bankruptcy’
greenland has no green… »
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
gregwake > Flickr
… and Iceland has no ice. Or money.
Iceland, in all its “we’re so hot we can run day-to-day on geothermal pipes” ways, is bankrupt. This, like the extinction of the panda, is long overdue. If any country deserves financial ruin, it’s Iceland.
Why, you ask, do I so loathe the Icelan-dicks (zing!)? Read this and this and come back. (The staff is off enjoying the fact we don’t live on a continental rift so you have time; no rush.)
All set?
So (for those lazy tools that didn’t read) basically…
- They adopted the American model of greed and imaginary money.
- They don’t realize we can’t even keep ourselves afloat with vast resources.
- They still believe in elves.
Neoconservatives have been forcing pure capitalism on people for decades (Chile, Russia, Iraq, etc) so I can forgive them the attempt at vacuous wealth. Believing there are tiny people disrupting construction projects, though, is a new level of idiot.
Iceland could have used their energy savings, invested in technology or education and lead the world in the new enviro-conscious age. Instead they’re one of the most noteworthy of the recession-related failures.
For a country where more than half the residents can’t deny small, pointy-eared people live in rocks, it’s no surprise they’d think they could manifest financial security by shear will. What’s our excuse?
close of a film, as metaphor »
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
Remember Thelma & Louise? It was a crappy movie about middle aged women in a car on a road trip or something. Ladies, it’s where Mr. Pitt got his big break (took his shirt off). The rest (those that like watchable movies), he got his start in Kalifornia.
The auto industry is headed for a similar end* (though more entertaining). There are two sides to the coin. They could be bailed out (Louise). If they finally come up with a sustainable business model by March (unlikely), they’ll get more money from the tax payers. That on top of the two loans they’d already have.
Or they don’t (Thelma) and immediately file for bankruptcy. Doing so lawfully destroys labor contracts and sends a million or so folk into the street. Everyone lines up in bread lines and, globally, photographers stop using color snaps (because B&W so totally captures the moment).
I’m for Thelma driving. (Mostly, it strengthens my cinematic metaphor.) I’m all for cutting the fat. The companies made terrible decisions and have held back progress in industrial and environmental concerns. Also, I’m convinced I’ll never be paid for photographs unless I have some Depression-esque snaps in the portfolio.
If we let them fail (as they’ve been trying to do for decades) many will lose their jobs. In a real push for energy reform, millions of jobs will be created. Seems those assembly line folk could make wind turbines as easily as V8s for the latest shitty SUV.
Maybe I’m over simplifying but when faced with an inevitable film-exaggerated explosion upon landing, does it really matter who’s driving? (That some of you think that makes sense exemplifies why I’m not nationally famous… yet.)
* if you haven’t seen (because you enjoy quality film or just weren’t old enough) they ride off a cliff with Thelma behind the wheel. Watch your I Love the 90s for more.