Hi Monica

As far my recollection of the Icelandic banking crisis, I went to Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932011_Icelandic_financial_crisis

Was there a bailout? That could be answered "yes" and "no". As usual, things are more complicated than the outside suggests. The wiki article gives the impression of a national banking industry gone totally rogue, which was OK when the economy was going well and most businesses could make their loan payments. Because of almost zero banking regluations, Iceland ended up being the most leveraged western country. The country fell because of this leverage, but one has to wonder about deals between international bankers.

And the country rebounded back quickly, which might be fodder for another analysis. That might be an important reason why constitutional reforms could not be finalized.

Positive things are happening despite inept governance---->like oil-rich Texas actually having a fair number of wind farms. I sometimes watch a TV reality series called "Lone Star Law" which is about Texas game wardens dealing with the public in nature settings. For a state that deplores big government, these wardens are government employees doing very important work. I figure it costs the Texas taxpayer $300,000 a year to park a warden in his pickup, plus play other warden toys. So there is a paradox. Progressive ideas are being moved forward even in an anti-progressive environments.

True it is that more people are wondering more about how well society is really working for them. But I am seeing things from a different perch, and my assessment is more on the negative side.

But as someone who has a viable solution for a new kind of democracy, I am puzzled about the lack of interest in that solution. It seems to me that we are still pinning our hopes on western democracy to somehow advance us. We average people need only sit on the sidelines, watching the politicians and experts battle things out. If we watch in the right way, the rights answers will be obvious to all. Right?

Or we could start another Occupy movement. As I watched the media interviews, Occupy could only say, "This way sucks." It had no alternative except to threaten the overly ambitious people who aspire for public service with Occupy's voting block.

I don't think western democracy is going to deliver the outcomes we really want. Maybe the world weather needs to take more downward turn before my ideas sound acceptable.

Part of that world weather could be the USA (and other democratic countries) becoming oligarchies. We may have to go down this path for a while to understand western democracy is no longer a useful model for us.