Icelanders Take to the Streets

Technocrat

Icelanders Take to the Streets

zogger

Mon Nov 24 12:42:00 -0800 2008

Jobs.

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Apparently, the missteps of the Icelandic government and largest banks have riled the citizenry there to the point they had a mass protest in their capital city Reykjavik and demanded a new government and some serious banking reform.

On the balcony of the Althing building, where the president appears for inauguration and on Iceland's national day, a man hung a banner reading: "Iceland for Sale - $2.100.000.000," the amount of the loan Iceland is getting from the International Monetary Fund. ed.z.: Just thought a nice follow up was in order.

Icelanders Take to the Streets

President4242

Mon Nov 24 14:12:12 -0800 2008
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Historically, how the heck did Iceland survive? Has it always been this dependent upon imports, or is this more of the mess the WTO has made of things?

And which is it, $100 billion, or $2.1 trillion? The article was short on such details.

Icelanders Take to the Streets

Charles E Hill

Mon Nov 24 14:29:38 -0800 2008
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And which is it, $100 billion, or $2.1 trillion?

Neither. You miscounted dot separators.

The International Monetary Fund approved a two-year standby arrangement for Iceland in which the country will receive a $2.1 billion loan. Additional loans totaling as much as $3 billion have been secured from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden. The Faroe Islands will lend Iceland $50 million. The IMF will provide $827 million of its loan immediately with the rest in eight installments of $155 million each. Iceland will repay the loan during 2012 through 2015.

Iceland has historically been a major fishing, whaling and shipping center. I don't think they'd ever had much of an industrial base and have relied on imports and trade for consumer goods.