A monument to be constructed by Alþingi on Dec 23
“The Poor Give The Rich Second Hand Domestic Appliances” is the title of an announced event, scheduled on December 23, the last business day before Christmas, locally known as Þorláksmessa. The event was announced on Facebook last Monday. —Thursday afternoon, over 800 people had RSVP’d.
The event is occasioned by utterances made by Vilhjálmur Bjarnason, member of Alþingi on behalf of the Independence Party, during recent discussions about next years State Treasury budget. Vilhjálmur said that lowering the VAT on domestic appliances would benefit those economically worse off, even as the VAT on food is raised, since the poor can then buy second-hand equipment which the country’s wealthier citizens must get rid of, as they make space for their new stuff:
After citing Vihjálmur’s reasoning, the announcement for the event, published on Facebook, reads as follows:
Even if the rich have more than enough money, that does not mean they have everything. I propose that we, the poor, show that we are also able to give, and that we donate our aged domestic appliances to the rich.
Who is not familiar with having an old tape recorder that doesn’t function quite like it used to, a mixer that has started to hiccup or that damned fridge that broke down and now only occupies space in the storage room.
On Þorláksmessa, let’s raise a handsome monument in front of Alþingi, to commemorate the time when the bold and the beautiful saw pity on grimy commoners and allowed them to buy their junk since they had lowered the fees on TVs and fridges.
The rich can then show up on Austurvöllur and take what they need from the monument, without renumeration of course.
Regards, a dirt poor geezer.
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