Mon dieu!: Crazy shite in Iceland.....

from Bloomberg:



Icelandic Shoppers Splurge as Currency Woes Reduce Food Imports

By Chad Thomas

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- After a four-year spending spree, Icelanders are flooding the supermarkets one last time, stocking up on food as the collapse of the banking system threatens to cut the island off from imports.

``We have had crazy days for a week now,'' said Johannes Smari Oluffsson, manager of the Bonus discount grocery store in Reykjavik's main shopping center. ``Sales have doubled.''

Bonus, a nationwide chain, has stock at its warehouse for about two weeks. After that, the shelves will start emptying unless it can get access to foreign currency, the 22-year-old manager said, standing in a walk-in fridge filled with meat products, among the few goods on sale produced locally.

Iceland's foreign currency market has seized up after the three largest banks collapsed and the government abandoned an attempt to peg the exchange rate. Many banks won't trade the krona and suppliers from abroad are demanding payment in advance. The government has asked banks to prioritize foreign currency transactions for essentials such as food, drugs and oil.

The crisis is already hitting clothing retailers. A short walk from Bonus in the capital's Kringlan shopping center, Ragnhildur Anna Jonsdottir, 38, owner of the Next Plc clothing store, said she can't get any foreign currency to pay for incoming shipments and, even if she could, the exchange rate would be prohibitively high.

``We aren't getting new shipments in, as we normally do once a week,'' Jonsdottir said. ``This is the third week that we haven't had any shipments.'' ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aVFtDRGwcc50&refer=home

Can you say "canary in the coal mine?"

Exactly, begin to stock up now.

My wife thinks I'm crazy, but I'd feel better if we had enough to feed all four of us for about a month. The only things we're short on at the moment are canned or frozen veggies and booze. I'm hoping to address both this weekend. Fortunately none of us is taking prescription drugs, and our consumption of imported stuff is pretty minimal.

That said, I think Iceland's issue is largely that they're a net importer of everything, pretty much. If they can't borrow to pay for all those imports, they're screwed. I think what we'll be dealing with is spot shortages of fuel that could lead to both rationing and shortages of all kinds of other stuff: food's the worrisome one, but just about any consumer item that requires fuel for manufacture or delivery could be affected. So what to stock up on? Hamburger? Antibiotics? Toilet paper?

Thats the only use for money after all this

yourself. I am growing lettuce right now.

the time to jump on this was a few years ago, realistic sources of calories are things like nuts but a good tree takes time to establish

you expend more calories producing the lettuce than you take it, waste of time if you ask me if you're doing it to feed yourself, fine as a hobby

i grow greens too but i don't kid myself that they are a replacement for the grocery store

Look around you. I'm not seeing too many calorie deprived Americans. If calories were all that mattered, most people could live a few weeks off their stored fat.

Nutritious foods are the ones that people need to focus on (like nuts, and homegrown lettuce, too). Proteins are vital, and so are vitamins from from foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

in something more when my shed is built and my space is clearer.

I see them all along the side of the road.

'cause I'm not sure I can handle the temptation, if you know what I mean.:smoke:

... and as anyone who has ever done this kindergarten project knows, the vines are prolific.

Downthread someone mentioned nut trees for good calories. I know walnuts will grow here on the Central Coast (there used to be commercial groves), but they are very big trees and I have a small yard. I have to do some research on that.

My daughter runs a preschool that has half a dozen hens for the kiddies to interact with, and she's now overrun with fresh eggs. I just took a dozen to try them out.

We do have the advantage of better winter light and weather than you do in Alaska, I must say, so as long as we can use our gray water in another drought, we should all be able to water our veggies. What kind of plants are you able to grow indoors during your long winter?

Regarding micro-gardening, have you ever tried arugula? I got some in a 6-pack of miscellaneous herbs over a year ago and discovered that they grow like weeds and make huge amounts of seeds for the next crop. French sorrel turned out to be another leafy green I couldn't kill as long as I sheltered the pot from too much sun. It seems to be a perennial and I've had it for years. They both are a bit of an acquired taste but they are nice and dark green with good vitamins. The sharp taste mellows out with a bit of cooking.

I think the vitamins are what you are going for, not the calories. I think you are trying to avoid scurvy, right? Oh yeah.

Hekate

I'm not really planning for the end of the world, though--I'm just doing what I can to prepare for short-term economic chaos that might include some spot food shortages and/or hyperinflation in food or energy. If things are going to be terrible long term, there's really not a lot one can do to prepare, short of buying gold bullion and arming oneself to the teeth.

Except the canary got stepped on and killed.

The "good" news for the U.S. is that unless we're unable to purchase fuel, we shouldn't run into anything worse than spot disruptions. But that's a big "unless."

especially during winter months would be scary as hell. Not a lot of options.

seems some money was stashed in Iceland and then moved

and the UK illegally froze Iceland money and then the law said to unfreez it

then Iceland froze UK's money

just a few of the money things going on in Iceland

The UK and Iceland are duking it out with each other. I think this could be the starting point for a new world currency.

by using Terrorist laws ! What else?

The Brits will never be forgiven by the average person here in Iceland , NEVER!
When we were hurting they attacked us with this Terrorist law and froze our last bank that was standing.
Thereby ruining our chances of the slightest recovery.
Then they are in the media non-stop declaring us bankrupt, NOT TRUE!
THey declared that we said we wouldnt pay , NOT TRUE.

Someone who causes an army-less peaceful nation harm intentionally like that now that´s a terrorist if there ever was one.

Now Brown is backtracking as he realised that he in effect put 50.000 jobs in jeopardy in Britain with his act., and might have reduced his own chances of getting money back.

Now we have some rich Brit over here trying to buy the biggest assets for 10-15 % of its value.

Im reminded of the time Icelandic fishermen risked their lifes getting fish to the British when they were in need.
Im reminded of British Sailors being rescued by Icelandic Emergency response teams.

SHAME on you Britain, everlasting SHAME!

Who needs enemies with friends like that ?

I ask you ...

Would the UK have used Terrorist laws against Germany ??? You think ??

Im highly suspicious of someone who attacks the underdog like that and then declares him self as the one who going to lead the whole of Europe in the rescue mission.

Im a peace loving person , but Im Angry.

Can you post some links about how Britain used their terror laws in this case?

I'm running off to work right now, but I'll check back in later.

Here are some links.

Guardian
Frozen Out

There are a lot of articles about the UK perspective no doubt, but they are one sided and apparently designed to damage the country even more.

Iceland is even co-founders of NATO, I dont get it ???

Im angry , everyone´s angry ...... I don´t like that feeling at all.

Again , way to go and step on the canary in the coalmine.

As I understand it now (and I'm not claiming to be completely informed as it seems a pretty complicated situation) it seems that when the Icelandic banking system went blooey, the government stepped in and nationalized and froze all assets.

Since Iceland has pursued being a European banking giant, many other nations had a lot of their assets frozen and it appeared (at least temporarily) that is was an "all your assets are belong to us" kind of thing. I think that really panicked a lot of ordinary people who immediately looked to their home government to "do something".

So Brown came out blustering and bullying, which was not right. And the use of anti-terrorism laws to retaliate against Iceland is insulting. I completely agree with you on that point.

But I think what Iceland has got to understand is that fairly or unfairly, a lot of people who lost their money (or were frightened by the prospect) are going to be angry at Iceland. That's just human nature. Over here in America we're going through the same sort of anger (if you've been reading this board much at all). The difference is that here it is more class-based rather than national in character.

With your situation it feels personal, and in a way it is. You only have 300,000 of you to take the anger of millions.

Over here, we acknowledge the anger, but are able to see that most of it is directed at our government & CEOs, not the average American.

and welcome to DU!

Which was destined to happen at some point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjglR2KYz5o

:wow:

:hi:

I think i'd rather put a power drill to my head than listen to more than two minutes of that song.

With the long dark winter setting in, don't even want to think about the possibilities.

We are used to the harsh conditions here, we´ll survive but NOT thanks to terrorist Brown The Clown.

Will all the bars close?

If you've got that, everything else is fixable. Hopefully.

solution. Globalization is dead unless the rich countries stop their greed.

D'accord.

... otherwise we'll have a planet of 6 billion serfs and a handful of greedy corporatists at the top, supported by the military. Complete dystopia, in other words.

I hope some good will come out of this disaster.

Hekate

Is Iceland the fashion plate of Europe?

I'd be more worried about no new shipments of commodities like food. Or heating fuel. I'm sure everyone except the high-fashion party crowd will do just fine with their old, out-of-date-rags for a while.

... is really scary shit.

My condolences to the Icelanders--I hope this doesn't go on too long.

Hekate