The Rise and Fall and Rise of Iceland

[haha]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/ma...ewanted=1&_r=1

This place would not be boring!

Ha

[ItDontMeanAThing]

NPR's Planet Money podcast has done several pieces on Iceland. All I can say is YIKES!

Current podcast available at Planet Money : NPR
Past ones on their RSS feed or iTunes. RSS is free, don't know 'nuthin about iTunes.

[deserat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/ma...ewanted=1&_r=1 This place would not be boring! Ha

Thanks for posting - very interesting. I love Iceland - we visited two years ago - one of our best vacations. The landscape is beautiful - the prices weren't too bad at that time - probably better now!

[chinaco]

Thanks. Interesting article...


Once they settle the issues they will have some debt overhang... but it will be manageable. They will become prosperous.

Iceland has some natural resources, but not enough to make the country extremely wealthy. They were going to sign sign some oil exploration leases before the melt down... if they follow through that might yield some GDP growth if oil is found. It seems that they rely heavily on the fishing industry.


If nothing else, you would think they could use their endless geothermal resources as low cost energy to convert energy (like water to hydrogen)... or other chemical conversion processes... and be in the middle of some sort of supply chain on a large industrial (but ecologically friendly) scale.

With a population of 319,000.... you would think their natural resources (although scant) would be enough to make everyone a big royalty check yearly.

[meierlde]

Actually there was a move to build an aluminum plant in Iceland. All the geothermal could be used to make electricity which is heavily used in making Al.

[chinaco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meierlde Actually there was a move to build an aluminum plant in Iceland. All the geothermal could be used to make electricity which is heavily used in making Al.

Since they have a small population, they could setup a special worker visa and get low cost help from other countries (but pay a fair wage), exploit the energy source, take a slice in taxes, and be the aluminum producer for the world. Obviously they would attract foreign investment to build the plants.

Another item that is energy intensive is the production of hydrogen.

Their GDP is $12.3B. They might be able to double their GDP fairly quickly.

[nun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinaco Another item that is energy intensive is the production of hydrogen.

Iceland is developing hydrogen as a car fuel, they hope to be able to greatly reduce their oil imports.

FYI I'm going their for a 3 week vacation soon.