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onepence
Joined: 04 Nov 2008
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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 11:36 am Post subject: Stunned Icelanders Struggle |
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REYKJAVIK, Iceland � The collapse came so fast it seemed unreal,
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/world/europe/09iceland.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
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.
The loss goes beyond the personal, shattering a proud country�s sense of itself. |
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onepence
Joined: 04 Nov 2008
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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 11:43 am Post subject: |
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Mounting protests in Iceland, police pushed aside.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-142910
A protest took place today outside the Icelandic parliament building. Motorcyclists protested in a very symbolic manner, reving their engines in tandem churning their tires till the parliament building seemed to go "up in smoke".
Afterwards a lone protestor managed to make his way to the roof of parliament and raise the B�nus flag, B�nus is Iceland's staple grocery store whos owners have been highly controversial in the past. The act was testament to what seems to be happening in the halls of power. Iceland needs help but its not for sale. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:04 pm Post subject: |
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I wonder if it will make a cheap vacation... find a young blonde woman anxious to get out, eh. |
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onepence
Joined: 04 Nov 2008
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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:06 pm Post subject: |
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mindmetoo wrote: |
I wonder if it will make a cheap vacation... find a young blonde woman anxious to get out, eh. |
yes ...
we hear russian submarineers are drooling at the mouth |
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Bigfeet

Joined: 29 May 2008 Location: Grrrrr.....
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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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The more they have to import, the more pain they will be in.
"Anthony Restivo, an American who worked this fall for a potato farm in eastern Iceland and was heading home, said all of the farm�s foreign workers abruptly left last month because their salaries had fallen so much. One man arrived from Poland, he said, then realized how little the krona was worth and went home the next day."
I wonder if this will happen in SK? |
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Return Jones

Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Location: I will see you in far-off places
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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 7:58 pm Post subject: |
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Bigfeet wrote: |
The more they have to import, the more pain they will be in.
"Anthony Restivo, an American who worked this fall for a potato farm in eastern Iceland and was heading home, said all of the farm�s foreign workers abruptly left last month because their salaries had fallen so much. One man arrived from Poland, he said, then realized how little the krona was worth and went home the next day."
I wonder if this will happen in SK? |
I don't know anybody working on a potato farm...
Actually, I've been wanting to visit Iceland for years. This currency crash finally brings their domestic consumer prices into line with the rest of the world. "Oh you mean a can of coke doesn't cost $6 in your country?!" |
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Mix1
Joined: 08 May 2007
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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 7:58 pm Post subject: |
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mindmetoo wrote: |
I wonder if it will make a cheap vacation... find a young blonde woman anxious to get out, eh. |
The women there are beautiful! |
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onepence
Joined: 04 Nov 2008
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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 7:23 am Post subject: |
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Bigfeet wrote: |
...
I wonder if this will happen in SK?
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"It would be difficult to exaggerate the psychological and social impact of the anticipated replacement of the jumble of existing monetary systems--for many, the ultimate fortress of nationalist pride--by a single world currency operating largely through electronic impulses." |
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