Once poster child of crisis, Iceland recovers

[xchrom]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/30/uk-iceland-economy-idUKBRE83T0OL20120430

(Reuters) - In this small Icelandic village, sailors are making double their pre-crisis pay, haddock sales to places like Boston and Brussels are booming and unemployment is almost zero - signs of this island's surprisingly rapid rise from the ashes of banking ruin.

While much of Europe wallows in recession, the economy of this volcanic island in the mid Atlantic is growing at a clip that has surprised many people, thanks to a currency fall - in which the crown lost almost half its value to the euro - an export and tourism boom as well as growing consumer confidence.

"This is probably one of our best years," said Arnthor Einarsson, a fisherman readying his boat for his next catch as seagulls circle huge piles of fishing nets on a rocky peninsula about one hour south of the capital Reykjavik.

Only a few years ago, a banking boom in which the sector's assets grew to 10 times the country's GDP lured many of Iceland's 320,000 population from traditional industries into the world of finance. Fisherman got into banking and sailors speculated on booming real estate.

[Nye Bevan]

1. Staying out of the Euro was key.

Unlike Greece and Italy, Iceland controlled its own currency.

[woo me with science]

2. DU Rec. nt

[Warren Stupidity]

3. Iceland recovers after refusal to knuckle under to Globalist Bankster Thugocracy.

The other thing that happened is that the sensible socialist women of Iceland kicked the idiot neolib men out of office and put things right. Gotta love Iceland.

[Cirque du So-What]

6. I was thinking along those lines as well

as soon as I saw the headline. Makes quite a case for putting good women in charge IMO.

[Vidar]

4. Bravo Iceland!

[Egalitarian Thug]

5. K&R for a modicum of sanity. While Iceland's solution was/is painful and

far from perfect, they did accomplish two essential steps , neither of which is being pursued by us. They put their banks on notice that they would not walk away from this catastrophe, and they reestablished the sovereignty of their currency and sanity in their government.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Iceland prosecuted bankers. No possible connection. nt