So Panama would have been good, but those DJ's and their canned laughter significantly lowered their score.
Alrighty, this post was originally scheduled to go live on National Coming Out Day (10/11), but obviously we're about two months late (what else is new?). To honor (albeit belatedly) those who have been brave enough to come out out the closet, we're going to head over to Iceland, the only country with an openly LGBTQ head of state! Yay for Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir!!
go gettem, lady!
Pinky's ex-boyfriend stopped by there a year or two back. Our friends Mica and Colin went earlier this year, and Pinky's old roommate from Maryland went over with his horrible Rumpelstiltskin friend. You know, that half-French girl with the fake accent, distracting mole, clunky shoes, and unjustified air of superiority? We would not have wanted to be on that trip. Those two sucked.
this might be the only place in the world colder than Ellen's office!
Aaaaaaaanyway, Iceland was settled by the Vikings only about 1,000 years ago. They lived under the Norwegian and Danish crowns until the end of WWI. However, the independence process was well in motion before the war. Jared Diamond wrote a pretty interesting synopsis of their historical era in his book Collapse, which is worth a read if you've got the time.
oh my gawwwd!
Iceland is one of the most interesting cases of the recent economic crisis. They had built a pretty healthy economy based on fishing and farming, but in the mid-90's, they joined Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein in the European Free Trade Association, which allowed them to join the European market without EU membership. Iceland was then able to expand beyond their traditional industries without being politically tethered to Europe, and they spawned these wonder-boy banks that shot their GDP through the roof. Unfortunately, a lot of those loans were shady, and they sure had made a lot of them. These banks' debt was about 6 times the GDP of Iceland! Because their debt was so high, when the crisis hit, Iceland's central bank couldn't guarantee them, and the shit hit the fan. Without EU membership, there was no one set up to bail them out, and they had to go begging to the IMF and a handful of European countries. There was a ton of red tape and lots of strings attached, but they staved off complete collapse. Not to imply that their economy isn't fucked, just that they haven't needed to resort to cannibalism.
oh my gawd.
The government was essentially replaced under public pressure. A lot of banking executives and high government officials are facing criminal charges. Iceland has a huge debt shackled to its feet. But since Iceland's population is comparable to that of Toledo, OH, we're talking about a debt that comes out to $160,000 a person. This wouldn't be too scary for a developed nation, but that $160,000 is just from the crisis and does not include current sovereign debt. In comparison, the American bank bailout would have cost us each about $2,300, but the banks have already repaid the majority of their bailout.
ohhhhhhh my god.
This sucks because Iceland was a really cool case study with an interesting tax structure and a burgeoning service economy, but because of the work of just a handful of people, a thousand years of a conservative life style was shirked and they fucked over the entire country. The rest of the population has voted not to pay the debts back, because they had nothing to do with it. Of course, you can argue that they benefited from the GDP increase during the financial heydays and certainly from the prevention of national collapse, but they're still pissed, and the decision is theirs alone. Not ours. The credit markets will certainly make their opinion known.
OK, so today we're in the capital city of Reykjavík. We don't have a lot to say about the city other than it's name is one of Ellen's most favorite words to say. You're totally going to love this station! It's got some hard rock, straight up pop, Christmas music (for those of you who celebrate as such), Icelandic news, and general awesome-ness. Have fun in the great white north, y'all!
There is a big play button in the middle of the page that you cannot miss!
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