Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

For Icelanders, shock and anger over a dizzying fall (Future of USSA)
IHT ^ | 11/09/08 | Sarah Lyall

Posted on 11/10/2008 7:01:30 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster

For Icelanders, shock and anger over a dizzying fall

By Sarah Lyall

Sunday, November 9, 2008

REYKJAVIK: 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."

Iceland, 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 banks; the plummeting of currency; the first wave of layoffs; the loss of reputation abroad - felt like a bad dream, the country has now awakened to find that it is all 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 shanties for the homeless 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 at 65 to the dollar a year ago; now it is at 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 for the London School of Economics.

(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aftermath; bho2008; collapse; finance; globaleconomy; iceland; ussa
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-84 next last
This will happen to U.S. There would be regional differences. Some parts would fare better than the rest. However, good part of U.S.A. may end up like Iceland now.
1 posted on 11/10/2008 7:01:30 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: PAR35; TigerLikesRooster; bamahead; AndyJackson; Thane_Banquo; nicksaunt; MadLibDisease; ...

Ping!


2 posted on 11/10/2008 7:01:58 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster (kim jong-il, chia head, ppogri, In Grim Reaper we trust)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

I feel so sorry for the Icelanders, they are good people. They could apply for statehood, then we could bail them out...........


3 posted on 11/10/2008 7:06:15 AM PST by Red Badger (Hey! Look on the bright side! At least Joe Biden is out of the Senate!..........)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster
There would be regional differences.

I am grateful that my family lives in a moderate climate which is able to produce food year round. We might go broke but we will not go hungry, nor will we freeze to death.

4 posted on 11/10/2008 7:08:13 AM PST by Zevonismymuse
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

At least we have a climate that will allow us to grow our own food. The Icelanders have to rely on outside food and have no money to buy it.


5 posted on 11/10/2008 7:08:48 AM PST by autumnraine (Churchill: " we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall never surrender")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

Atlas Shrugged. Stupid economic and political policies can be pursued for quite a long time, with the expectation that someone will always rescue the people who create the problems. But when the day comes that no one wants to, or no one can save the situation, then it all goes to smash.


6 posted on 11/10/2008 7:10:45 AM PST by ClearCase_guy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: autumnraine

Before they became hot shot bankers they were decent fishermen.


7 posted on 11/10/2008 7:11:14 AM PST by palmer (Some third party malcontents don't like Palin because she is a true conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Unbelievable. I, too, feel so very sorry for them.


8 posted on 11/10/2008 7:11:23 AM PST by GOP_Lady
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster
This will happen to U.S. There would be regional differences. Some parts would fare better than the rest. However, good part of U.S.A. may end up like Iceland now.

The article says they are predicting a 10% unemployment rate next spring in Iceland. We will be slightly lower than that. The current situation we are in is correctable by the free market, whereas in Iceland, it is not correctable so quickly.

Our future economy at this point in time depends more on Obama's economic plans than the bursting of the credit bubble. More bail outs, tax hikes, payouts to individuals, energy policies (gas at $4 and cap & trade policies) and socialized medicine will hurt far more than any bursting of any bubble. This could drive us to a situation that is far worse than is in Iceland over the next 2 to 3 years.

9 posted on 11/10/2008 7:11:41 AM PST by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: autumnraine

You said — “The Icelanders have to rely on outside food and have no money to buy it.”

Which is why the Vikings pulled out of Iceland, a long while back... LOL...


10 posted on 11/10/2008 7:11:53 AM PST by Star Traveler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: autumnraine

I hope they like fish!


11 posted on 11/10/2008 7:12:20 AM PST by villagerjoel ("Tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive." CS Lewis)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: autumnraine

I’ve met only one Icelander in my lifetime, a former girlfriend of a friend of mine. She was very beautiful. But she was so naive it was astounding................


12 posted on 11/10/2008 7:12:33 AM PST by Red Badger (Hey! Look on the bright side! At least Joe Biden is out of the Senate!..........)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

Many residents of Reykjavik lost their savings overnight. Above, a woman waiting for the main branch of Landsbankinn Bank to open in Reykjavik. (Bob Strong/Reuters)

13 posted on 11/10/2008 7:12:55 AM PST by GOP_Lady
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

Our situation to a large part was caused by two people, Barney Frank and Criss Cox neither of which has been held responsible.


14 posted on 11/10/2008 7:14:21 AM PST by ontap (Just another backstabbing conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: palmer

They ride funny little horses.


15 posted on 11/10/2008 7:15:06 AM PST by Cuttnhorse
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: GOP_Lady

There’s only 300k people in their whole country. We have about that many in the Panhandle of Florida, west of Panama City. If it become necessary we could support them with all kinds of food aid.................


16 posted on 11/10/2008 7:15:42 AM PST by Red Badger (Hey! Look on the bright side! At least Joe Biden is out of the Senate!..........)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: mlocher
Our future economy at this point in time depends more on Obama's economic plans than the bursting of the credit bubble. More bail outs, tax hikes, payouts to individuals, energy policies (gas at $4 and cap & trade policies) and socialized medicine will hurt far more than any bursting of any bubble. This could drive us to a situation that is far worse than is in Iceland over the next 2 to 3 years.

I'd say you've called it about right. It's what I expect to happen.

17 posted on 11/10/2008 7:16:20 AM PST by Rider on the Rain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
She was very beautiful. But she was so naive it was astounding

Posts like that are no good without phone numbers.

18 posted on 11/10/2008 7:17:26 AM PST by palmer (Some third party malcontents don't like Palin because she is a true conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: palmer

This was 20 years ago.......


19 posted on 11/10/2008 7:20:33 AM PST by Red Badger (Hey! Look on the bright side! At least Joe Biden is out of the Senate!..........)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

So, are you saying that she is no longer beautiful, or she is no longer naive?


20 posted on 11/10/2008 7:27:45 AM PST by gridlock (Don't blame me... I voted for Palin!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-84 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson