Iceland to appoint gay woman minister to PM post —Reuters

Not to be outdone by America's election of its first Hawaiian President, Iceland's new leftist ruling coalition is about to appoint Johanna Sigurdardottir as Iceland's first female prime minister as well as its first openly gay prime minister.

And if you think Obama's popular, consider this—

... polling company Capacent Gallup said Sigurdardottir was Iceland's most popular politician in November, with an approval rating of 73 percent.

She was the only minister to see her rating improve on the previous year's score.

Tags: news and politics Iceland gay politicians

As the economy boomed, making ____ one of the richest countries per capita in 2007, few questioned a system which appeared to bring so much prosperity. But after a debt crisis that led to the collapse of ____'s main commercial banks and is expected to plunge the country into a deep recession this year, many now question the cosy arrangement.

More than one answer may be acceptable.

Tags: news and politics banking finance economics pastimes

Forty percent of the world's wealth was destroyed in last five quarters. It is an almost incomprehensible number. —Stephen Schwarzman, chairman of the Blackstone Group, as quoted by Ben Hirschler and Jason Subler in "Confidence evaporates, currency row brews at Davos"

And this is an almost incomprehensible formulation of what has happened. As long as economists, politicians, business leaders persist in this delusory understanding of wealth and their societies accede to it there can be no real solution to real problems.

As for the destruction of wealth, the U.S. has done a pretty good job of it in Iraq and at home, followed perhaps by the Israelis in Lebanon and Gaza.

Related post
Word of the Day (1/10/05)

Tags: news and politics economics