I don’t often post links exclusively, but I feel compelled to post this one. It’s probably the best comprehensive exposé I have read on this country’s current situation to date and captures uncannily well both the prevailing mood and the character of the Icelandic nation.
Letter from Iceland - from the Financial Times.
IT’S DAMP AND MILD
A calm, fresh, misty evening that reminds me of England. Temps right now 4°C [39F], sunrise this morning 10.04, sunset 4.21 pm.
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Very perceptive. He may be a foreign journalist, but he has lived in Iceland for five years and must have a good grasp of what’s going on. As a matter of interest, have you ever met him?
Very interesting link. BTW, Iceland is covered in the Irish Times editorial today
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/1118/1226700695965.html
Fascinating and frightening.
Andrew - no, actually, I don’t know him. Iceland is small, but not THAT small.
From the FT article: “Iceland is the only country in the world that indexes its loans in addition to charging interest. This means that when Icelanders borrow IKr1,000 from the bank and inflation increases by 5 per cent, the bank increases their debt to IKr1,050 at the end of the year.”
Good God! That is a HORRIBLE system! What a rip-off. Now in times of high inflation, people who have loans can’t enjoy the benefit of having them dwindle away. That, to put it crudely, s*cks!
How long has that been a practice in Iceland?