Thursday, July 7, 2016

Ice Land - Warm Prospects




Iceland's football team at the 2016 Euro Games, was a surprise, not to say a sensation. Against all odds, it made it to the quarter finals after beating  England (2-1).

I am not a sports fan, and don't get too impressed by sport achievements, but  the case of Iceland  is worth studying as there were other surprises, not sports related, that have preceded the one at the Euro Games.

During the economic crisis of 2008-2009, this tiny nation living on an island with very harsh climatic and geological conditions - let its banks collapse instead of bailing them out, and put bankers and other finance people in jail!!  No prize was given to the banks and bankers , but punishment for their part in the economic collapse. The banks were nationalized and the banking system was taken over by the government.

Usually,in the event of an economic crisis, a country's banking system is saved at all costs (unfortunately, the banks use that knowledge to play high  risk financial games, which is quite frightening).

Iceland did the unusual, and it worked. Since 2011 she has recovered from the economic crisis, and is doing well with fishing and tourism as the main industries (The banking system, though, is still in the hands of the government) .

Anyway, considering its football team performances at the Euro Games, Iceland, a land of more volcanoes and glaciers  than people, is now on the "world map" and  cannot be ignored.



26 comments:

  1. Wow. I've heard about Iceland but never heard much about it except it sounds very cold. On another note, my oldest daughter has been asking me to visit Israel one day with her. Maybe that will become a reality next year. I'd love to know more about where you live, Dutta. Have a great Friday.

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  2. BOY! I wish the USA would do that. Everything is out of control here. I am
    getting to old to push a mower and I just had a man tell me it will be $75
    dollars to cut my yard one time. Not the Month but one time. They all want CASH.I am thinking of selling. Sick of bad roads stupid laws and no law to Contractors. In Maine you just put your hand on a ROCK and say I am a builder. NO zoning laws either. It's like TEXAS in 1930. PS- went to see a movie Lobsterman. I have never seen anything so bad, I mean it was unable to understand and just PORN. Iceland sounds good.
    Yvonne
    still recuperating from "LOBSTERMAN" not art, just awful..

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  3. Nןkki (Sarah),

    Iceland is a tiny country, rather isolated from the rest of Europe, so even europeans don't know much about it.
    I'm glad Israel, another small country, is on your agenda. Hope we'll indeed meet someday.

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  4. La Petite Gallery,

    Yes, I wished that too. The Fed bought the "toxic assets" as they call those mortgage files, and saved banks and bankers, at the expense of the tax payer. It was a very bad example to the world.
    Perhaps you should consider moving to an appartement as a house has greater expenses.

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  5. We are Icelandic fans, if only from the mystery novels written there.
    Hubby adores his sports, and creates a matrix if it is a complex tournament. (Well, I create it after he designs it!) It keeps him happy. We're cheering for our Canadian, Raonic, in the tennis!

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  6. Jennifer A. Jilks,

    Mystery novels? They must be good. Thanks for the info.
    What makes hubby happy, makes you happy. Good Luck to the canadian team in the tennis games!

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  7. For such a small country they did amazingly well in football. I enjoyed them. Great of iceland. I love that they punished the banks in iceland so it should be.
    Iceland deserves to be on the world map in my opinion.:)

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  8. Marja,

    I'm glad we see 'eye to eye' about Iceland. Yes, this tiny nation did well both in football, and in taking the neccessary steps to prevent a total collapse in 2008. It gave the world a good example.

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  9. Wow, the football team is doing great! I'm not a big fan of football on tv, but I loved watching my son play football and went to every one of his games. :) What a beautiful picture of Iceland.

    Have a lovely Sunday, Duta.

    ~Sheri

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  10. Red Rose Alley,

    What a loving mother you are, going to every football game to watch your son playing.
    The header picture of Iceland is indeed beautiful but it's taken from the Web.
    Have a wonderful weekend!

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  11. Iceland has always been a place I wanted to visit. I think that, from what you wrote, we can all learn a bit from them :)

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  12. Optimistic Exisentialist,

    Iceland is certainly worth a visit style 'Look and Learn' (we had once an educational program on TV with that name). Anyway, this tiny island is on my bucketlist.

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  13. Thank you so much for your visit and kind words. I would love to visit Iceland, it just looks beautiful. Have a wonderful week. Blessings, Martha

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  14. Martha's Favorites,

    You're welcome, and don't you worry about your SIL policeman. Things will calm down. As for Iceland, you would love to visit there, wouldn't you? Me too.

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  15. . I don't know much about the country but very impressed by their win! Thanks for educating me about Iceland

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  16. Kim@ stuff,

    Hi Kim,
    I'm glad and flattered you feel you've learnt something about Iceland from my post. Indeed, the icelandic team's win at the Euro Games did something good to us.

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  17. Iceland is one of my favourite Countries on our beautiful World.
    An island of Fire & Ice.

    The people are kind but can kick a*s (as they did with the bankers f.e.) if need be. It hurt me back then to see how hard it was for them to go through that crisis and its aftermath.

    The island Iceleand even has its own tumblr, btw... ^_^

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  18. Pink Panthress,

    Good to hear from you, Nokta. And I'm glad Iceland is one of your favorites as she's one of my favorite countries too, although, I've never been there. From what I know so far, the icelanders are a courageous little nation struggling and winning.

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  19. I read the previous comments and it seems that you've intrigued us all into wanting to visit. Sounds like a beautiful place and I definitely like the way they handled their banking system. Much better than the way it was and is being handled here!

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  20. Alicia,

    I like to read comments. I usually go back to a post on another blog to read people's comments. I learn a lot from them.
    Someone mentioned here icelandic mystery novels, That should be interesting. I might give it a try.
    Yes, I was rather disappointed by the USA's dealing with the economic crisis; it's called 'sweeping problems under the rug'.

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  21. Great post. One of my former students, now grown, took a job in Iceland. I lived in Alaska for almost two years, and have no desire to be that cold again.

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  22. Linda O'Connel,

    I can sure understand you; cold is not good for me.I have joint pain in winter. However, a 10-14 day trip to Iceland during summer could be wonderful.

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  23. yes! love this :) Iceland is super interesting, not even to mention the beautiful music they make.

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  24. Iceland has such an amazing landscape. Someday I'll get there. After I exhaust all the warm spots!

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  25. Krystal Village,

    I must admit I'm not familiar with their music. Thanks for mentioning it. I'll do a search on it.

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  26. Sharon Wagner,

    "After I exhaust all the warm spots" - that made me smile. The truth is people keep away from cold unless they are interested in winter sports. Iceland is indeed an amazing country, but with an icy climate.

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