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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.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home

Vortex wrote:

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.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home

Well, it'll be us soon.

Iceland has merely been an extreme illustration of what we've all been doing: borrowing non-existent wealth from the future.

Of course, imports include... oil. One doomer I met said, a year ago, that in 2 years we'd all be travelling by horse and cart. I thought, "Hmm, five years, maybe.. two years, no." Now I'm not so sure, although it might not be for the reasons he thought.

Ludwig wrote:<snip>

One doomer I met said, a year ago, that in 2 years we'd all be travelling by horse and cart. I thought, "Hmm, five years, maybe.. two years, no."

Hmmm... If not all the horses has been eaten by then....

Edit: They have horses on Iceland. Still.

Vortex wrote:

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.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home

But let's say that you can apply an effectively unlimited amount of energy and ideology/determination to food production. Now, where does that leave the Sovyet dream of growing tomatoes inside the Arctic Circle?

Energy wasn't a problem in the SU, and neither was manpower, or sheer area. They fell over on organisation. Erm, they still do.

Iceland, however, could probably organise geo-heated greenhouses if they had just a bit more time.

RenewableCandy wrote:Energy wasn't a problem in the SU, and neither was manpower, or sheer area. They fell over on organisation. Erm, they still do.

Iceland, however, could probably organise geo-heated greenhouses if they had just a bit more time.

You have some great ideas Candy!

It is wonder they haven't done this yet....... would solve a lot of their self sustainability and import problems.

RenewableCandy wrote:Energy wasn't a problem in the SU, and neither was manpower, or sheer area. They fell over on organisation. Erm, they still do.

Iceland, however, could probably organise geo-heated greenhouses if they had just a bit more time.

"A special characteristic of Icelandic agriculture is greenhouse production. Approximately 135 growers are engaged in this production method, utilizing a total area of about 180,000 square metres under glass.

Greenhouses have been built on sites in close proximity to geothermal energy and use either hot water or steam from boreholes to provide their heat source.

Most growers specialize either in vegetables or cut flowers or potted plants, with the major crops consisting of tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, roses, gerberas, lilies and various kinds of potted plants.

The main problem with growing under glass in Iceland is the long and dark winters, but by using artificial light some growers have started year-round production of certain crops, e.g. roses and cucumbers.

Icelandic growers cannot satisfy domestic demand in winter, during which time it is still necessary to import significant quantities of vegetables and flowers."

http://www.buvest.is/landbunadur/wgbi.n ... griculture

I imagine the greenhouse guys will be dumping the roses & potted plants and going all out on food crops now.

Its easy to forget how small Iceland is. Only 300 thousand people. Not so much a country, more of a large town spread out over a huge semi active volcano in the North Atlantic. The extent to which banking debt swamped the size of the real economy is truly mindboggling.

OOOOPs!

Ludwig wrote:Of course, imports include... oil. One doomer I met said, a year ago, that in 2 years we'd all be travelling by horse and cart. I thought, "Hmm, five years, maybe.. two years, no." Now I'm not so sure, although it might not be for the reasons he thought.

A bit alarmist to say the least , is he one of these dudes that is still livivng off his Y2K stash ha!

Ludwig wrote:Of course, imports include... oil. One doomer I met said, a year ago, that in 2 years we'd all be travelling by horse and cart. I thought, "Hmm, five years, maybe.. two years, no." Now I'm not so sure, although it might not be for the reasons he thought.

In 2 years I hope to be travelling mainly on foot, with a row of shops, bars and restaurants within easy distance of mi casa.

skeptik wrote:

Ludwig wrote:Of course, imports include... oil. One doomer I met said, a year ago, that in 2 years we'd all be travelling by horse and cart. I thought, "Hmm, five years, maybe.. two years, no." Now I'm not so sure, although it might not be for the reasons he thought.

In 2 years I hope to be travelling mainly on foot, with a row of shops, bars and restaurants within easy distance of mi casa.

By "restaurants", I assume you mean "soup kitchens"?

Sorry, I'm very doomerish right now.

Ludwig wrote: By "restaurants", I assume you mean "soup kitchens"?

Nah. Its rich wrinklies from Northern Europe, gangsters from all over, and oil sheiks that keep this place going. 2 years wont make a huge difference to that population. As happened in the previous downturn at the start of the 90's, the crappier restaurants will go under, and the best will survive. The wind down on the Costas is going to be longer term. The next generation of retirees from oop North wont be able to afford their dream villa on the Med.

I think this place will be quite different in ten years time. Back to basics. More labour intensive agriculture and light industry, far less tourism, retirees. 'Basketware' production of all types, from furniture to straw hats, used to be big in the town across the valley from me. Over the last ten years it's all shut down and the place has become an import distribution center for exactly the same stuff made in China. I can see that reversing.

The major short term impact is on the property developers and estate agents. That's already visible. Plasterers, plumbers, chippies etc from Spanish speaking South America (I had a great chat with a tiler from Peru while in a council office queue last year) are already packing up and heading home. Building materials manufacturers (elsewhere in Spain - apart from one huge limestone quarry, no industry here) are feeling the pinch. More bankruptcies and 'consolidation' to look forward to next year.

edit
Just occured to me that the quarry isn't blasting half as much as it was a year ago. Construction must be really falling off the edge of a cliff. Just hope they get the high speed train link finished before the money runs out. That would be handy.

No need to panic, at least not just yet according to this report
http://www.reuters.com/article/usDollar ... 1820081015

adam2 wrote:No need to panic, at least not just yet according to this report
http://www.reuters.com/article/usDollar ... 1820081015

Except of course, by the time the Krona is convertible again it will only be worth maybe a quarter to third of what it was a few months ago. Food in the shops maybe, but the cost will be murderous. If I was Icelandic I think I'd carry on panicking

A very twisted world this is. When the mainstream media finally bring their lazy a**es around to write about problems, it's in the form "no need to worry about <insert problem here>". No need to worry about house prices, loans, banks, jobs etc etc ad nauseum. The proud declarations of "no need to worry about" is equal to a clear warning signal in my ears. If I had lived on Iceland I would be jolted into EXTREME worry when they say that "there is no need to worry about the food supply". Food is pretty darn low on Maslow's ladder...

The "no need to worry" thing is only rivaled by the "this is the bottom" and "shares are really worth buying at these low levels", which the business press has been running here since early summer.