Onions and Whisky - McDonalds in Iceland

From the mailing list, again, about McDonalds closing down in Iceland:

On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 13:07, IH quoted a BBC news item:

Besides the economy, McDonald's blamed the
"unique operational complexity" of doing business
in an isolated nation with a population of just 300,000.

Bollocks.

The franchises are run by a firm called Lyst,
with owner Jon Gardar Ogmundsson saying the decision was "not taken lightly".

"Lyst" means "appetite" cognate with "lust". "Lust not taken lightly" - go Velvet Underground.

"It just makes no sense. For a kilo of onion,
imported from Germany, I'm paying the equivalent
of a bottle of good whisky," he added.

Ah, the nostalgia - reminds me of when I was there in 1985. Most goods marked with "units" - say "5" - whose money equivalent changed by the hour with the inflation. This morning, times 2 equals 10 koruna, this afternoon, times 2.5 equals 12.50.

A can of crushed tomatoes cost around 4 dollars.

Iceland's banks collapsed at the height of the

global credit crisis - wrecking the country's
economy and forcing it to rely on an $10bn (£6.1bn) international aid package.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/8327185.stm

Usual media lies about capitalist society, its economy, and our choices. No "forcing" about it at all. Iceland could have thrown those responsible into a geyser, or into the maw of a volcano, or just chained them up outside McDonalds for the duration. Instead the government patted them on the cheek, called them naughty boys, and put the people of Iceland into hock for the foreseeable future so the Reichenscheisse (rich shits) would feel no pain.

Same story in Latvia, Lithuania and the Ukraine. Oh, and in the US, the UK, Germany, France... ad nauseum.

C

--
Sie wissen das nicht, aber sie tun es.