Iceland has no McDonald’s and now no Fanta Lemon. They’ve also cancelled their Comedy Festival cos noone can afford to buy tickets.
With 300,000 people, they reckon they’ve got a sweeter deal from the IMF bail-out than Argentina. And they’ve got mineral resources and an educated workforce. Housing prices have deflated. The foreigners were the first to get sacked so they’ve all left. Iceland’s resources are being sold to foreign investors at cheapo prices. Utilities are being privatised.
While younger Icelanders are fleeing, older ones with houses and commitments are stuck. One blog post I read said each Icelander should be paying 80 per cent of their gross income to pay back foreigners who lost money in IceSave. The foreigners (Brits and Dutch) aren’t even getting ALL their money back.
“The UK will lend Iceland GBP 2.35 billion (USD 3.76 billion, EUR 2.68 billion) of that amount and the Netherlands EUR 1.2 billion (USD 1.68 billion). The loan is to be paid back over a period of 15 years and will be interest-only for the first seven, bloomberg.com reports.”
IMF update in the video — it says small economies should be more conservative and have regulated banks and not take big risks. Or else — no more Lemon Fanta! [I can’t even find Lemon Fanta in Sydney.]
Cotton Ward 