Update on Iceland from The New York Times (debt, borrow, sell)

[Woof]

November 9, 2008

Stunned Icelanders Struggle After Economy’s Fall

By SARAH LYALL
REYKJAVIK, Iceland — The collapse came so fast it seemed unreal, impossible. One woman here compared it to being hit by a train. Another said she felt as if she were watching it through a window. Another said, “It feels like you’ve been put in a prison, and you don’t know what you did wrong.”

This country, as modern and sophisticated as it is geographically isolated, still seems to be in shock. But if the events of last month — the failure of Iceland’s banks; the plummeting of its currency; the first wave of layoffs; the loss of reputation abroad — felt like a bad dream, Iceland has now awakened to find that it is all coming true.

It is not as if Reykjavik, where about two-thirds of the country’s 300,000 people live, is filled with bread lines or homeless shanties or looters smashing store windows. But this city, until recently the center of one of the world’s fastest economic booms, is now the unhappy site of one of its great crashes. It is impossible to meet anyone here who has not been profoundly affected by the financial crisis.

Overnight, people lost their savings. Prices are soaring. Once-crowded restaurants are almost empty. Banks are rationing foreign currency, and companies are finding it dauntingly difficult to do business abroad. Inflation is at 16 percent and rising. People have stopped traveling overseas. The local currency, the krona, was 65 to the dollar a year ago; now it is 130. Companies are slashing salaries, reducing workers’ hours and, in some instances, embarking on mass layoffs.

“No country has ever crashed as quickly and as badly in peacetime,” said Jon Danielsson, an economist with the London School of Economics........ (more at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/wo...nt&oref=slogin )

[Lincolnian]

Very unfortunate. A beautiful country and wonderful people. I hope they recover soon.

[trishguard]

I was told that they hate Americans.

[NJ Chutzpah]

they should recover soon

small population, energy independant, educated people

Fishing industry is still important

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by trishguard

I was told that they hate Americans.

Unless that's a recent thing, I was there a few years ago onboard ship, let me tell you many of them really really like americans

Tony

p.s. What is happening there, could easily happen here. What's our biggest industry (in dollars generated) financial products, our disease (wall st greed) has infected the world, all I can say is damn.

[evilnewbie]

Its too bad... everything has been exposed for the sham that it was... a country living on borrowed money was going to end up like that... there are plenty of Americans who live on borrowed money and they are the ones hurting the most... its the governments fault, not businesses... they allowed people to LIVE on BORROWED money, the Government CHANGED how people lived... in fact, Obama is trying to "save" this system... he wants to prop up prices so that people can still live on borrowed money... but then so was McCain... when will we get a president who will realize the sham that it is...

[lchoro]

If Obama's wants to change the system, then he has the wrong economic advisors in Rubin, Summers, and Geithner, especially the first two. They were the architects in the Clinton administration of the globalization scheme where we sell our toxic debt to the rest of the world.

[trishguard]

Originally Posted by Tony1790

Unless that's a recent thing, I was there a few years ago onboard ship, let me tell you many of them really really like americans

Tony

p.s. What is happening there, could easily happen here. What's our biggest industry (in dollars generated) financial products, our disease (wall st greed) has infected the world, all I can say is damn.

We didn't create greed or infect anyone with it.

And as for them hating us, that's something a friend told me. Said they would antagonize Americans while they were there. Maybe it's changed since that time.

[Woof]

Originally Posted by trishguard

I was told that they hate Americans.

I don't really know how to break this to you, trish ..... but there aren't too many people abroad who really like us. Our govt has formal allies, but we as a people are not loved.

If you're travelling through other countries anywhere in the world, it's best to pretend you're Canadian if possible. They like Canadians.

Of course that presents a problem when travelling through Canada .....

[sterlinggirl]

Originally Posted by trishguard

I was told that they hate Americans.

I've had to deal with quite a few of them over the years, and my impression has always been that they believe they are superior to Americans.

Looking at the television, it isn't hard to understand why....