William Black for Central Bank Chairman!

One of the things that can be frustrating about interviewing Icelandic politicians or other officials is that they can, and often do, guard their words very closely. Can't say I necessarily blame them. It's a small country, and you never know who you might anger, or what door you might permanently shut, by saying the wrong thing. You ask a question, and you can see them trying to carefully construct their response. Of course that's a boon in many ways. You want someone to be sure that they mean what they say, and to speak with certainty. On the other hand, this also leads to requests to pre-read an interview, where they then attempt to redact this or that. And of course, there's my own selfish motivation of wanting, just once, for someone to be outspoken, speak plainly, and say what's exactly on their minds. It happens, don't get me wrong, but only once in a blue moon.

That's why it was a pleasure to interview William Black. In case you don't know the guy's background, he's essentially been an economic pit bull in the US for many years now. When everyone else was tossing around the "too big to fail" meme, and Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme hedge fund overshadowed the everyday wrongdoings elsewhere in the country, Black was one of few people willing to call a spade a spade and say that the banks involved in the economic collapse were themselves a Ponzi scheme.

This guy had absolutely no qualms with telling me that accountability for Iceland's economic collapse begins with the political parties that created the environment for it. As you can see in the interview, he's sharp, insightful and candid. He has no problems speaking his mind, and has both the education and the experience to back it up.

I believe - and I don't think I'm being hyperbolic here - that William Black should be awarded Icelandic citizenship and immediately hired as chairman of the Central Bank. Yes, he's already pretty busy with that teaching gig, and no, he doesn't speak nor understand Icelandic. But these are trifling details that could be worked around.

I'm not asking for the moon here. And who would possibly object? Surely parliament can make it happen.