# Iceland's going under... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 3, 2008, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298 "2008-10-03T12:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/21 "2008-10-03T19:56:11Z")
> [@WormTheRed](#): > > Now founding the Icelandic Viking Coalition! Payment in mead and hussies. Anyone in? Now that is a platform I can relate to. I’m in. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/22 "2008-10-03T20:00:38Z")
Dang. And I have a couple billion ISK, too. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/23 "2008-10-03T20:28:16Z")
Well, things might be going to hell in a handbasket come monday. But the responses here have completely made me smile 🙂 And I guess we could pillage some hunks for you warrior-maidens as well. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/24 "2008-10-03T21:36:45Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > What the hey? Your entire country is about to go prang because the banks overextended themselves? Oh maaaan. > > Can you pre-load your CC? Even better, does your regular banking card work as a debit card outside Iceland? (Mine, Canadian, did in Sweden…) > > Heck, Alberta has 85 billion dollars in the bank. They could probably make you an offer. But then you’d have to live with Canada’s equivalent of Texas. Although, with what you said in the other thread about Icelanders liking their SUVs, that might actually work. Alberta is NOTHING like Texas! You can go almost an entire day in Alberta without seeing someone wearing a cowboy hat. And we have tornadoes, not hurricanes! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/25 "2008-10-03T21:41:34Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > \ > Heck, Alberta has 85 billion dollars in the bank. They could probably make you an offer. But then you’d have to live with Canada’s equivalent of Texas. Although, with what you said in the other thread about Icelanders liking their SUVs, that might actually work. I’d rather have [Turks and Caicos](http://www.canadiancontent.net/commtr/turks-caicos-move-join-canada_676.html) if it’s all the same (no offense, **Wormie** ). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/26 "2008-10-03T21:48:16Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > I’d rather have [Turks and Caicos](http://www.canadiancontent.net/commtr/turks-caicos-move-join-canada_676.html) if it’s all the same (no offense, **Wormie** ). Why can’t we have both? The cross-cultural pollination would be …interesting. _And thus the Canadian Empire is born…_ ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/27 "2008-10-03T23:28:20Z")
Hey, I’m founding the IVC\* here and you Canadians are working out a purchase of Iceland? No, no, no… I’m setting up conqueror mode here - it’s the Icelandic Empire that will rise from the ashes of burning banks. And on a more serious note. Now we have rumors going of one of the big banks not opening their offices on monday. I hope it ain’t mine. \*See one of my previous posts in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/28 "2008-10-04T00:02:36Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > If worst comes to worst, can’t you folks just go back to Viking? I don’t know, I’ve never Viked. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/29 "2008-10-04T00:53:17Z")
I sent some [Euryale ferox](http://www.victoria-adventure.org/victoria/euryale_gallery.html) to a fellow in Iceland several years ago. He was water gardening in a pool heated or rather warmed, since the tropical lily grew, by a hot spring. The water iris frozen shortly above the surface. How’s that for digression? I wonder if I still have his address. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/30 "2008-10-04T01:01:25Z")
Sorry to hear this about Iceland. I was there ages ago. loved it and it was a vibrant economy - actually quite pricey for this poor American. Now if you guys had been smart, you would have had a few Icelandic lobbyists cuddling up to Bush over the past few years and he would have thrown you a few billion in our recent bailout. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/31 "2008-10-04T11:50:26Z")
> [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](#): > > Alberta is NOTHING like Texas! You can go almost an entire day in Alberta without seeing someone wearing a cowboy hat. And we have tornadoes, not hurricanes! 😃 What day was that? I’ve seen guys in their cowboy hats in the sauna in Alberta! ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/32 "2008-10-04T12:03:07Z")
> [@WormTheRed](#): > > The only currencies that have dropped more than the ISK are the Zimbabwean Dollar and the Azerbadjani Somethingorother. Actually, the Manat has strengthened against the dollar by around 15% in the last year. It makes imported beer beer a lot more expensive here. Maybe you’re thinking of the Uzbek Yaktoken. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/33 "2008-10-04T18:13:15Z")
I met a few ladies from there in the past, beautiful and inteligent- bummer that the husbands were sharp as well. They had cousins however :):). What’s a few more billion for bailout! ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/34 "2008-10-04T18:41:00Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Actually, the Manat has strengthened against the dollar by around 15% in the last year. It makes imported beer beer a lot more expensive here. Maybe you’re thinking of the Uzbek Yaktoken. I probably am. It just said in the paper that the ISK was the 3 worst performing currency this year. the Zimbabwe Dollar and some -Stan country’s money. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/35 "2008-10-04T18:42:53Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Sorry to hear this about Iceland. I was there ages ago. loved it and it was a vibrant economy - actually quite pricey for this poor American. > > Now if you guys had been smart, you would have had a few Icelandic lobbyists cuddling up to Bush over the past few years and he would have thrown you a few billion in our recent bailout. Well, you know. We tried to get on the deal the Nordic Central Banks did with the US. Couldn’t get in on it ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/36 "2008-10-04T22:55:15Z")
And get Denmark to bail you out? ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/37 "2008-10-04T23:54:38Z")
1. Pull some of those old dragon ships out of mothballs. 2. Tell everyone that they are really unmanned drone gliders, built to defend your enormous untapped oil reserves. 3. Invite the UN to send inspectors to verify that you possess no NBCV (Nuclear/Biological/Chemical/Vikingal) weaponry.\* 4. That should be it, really. The USA will roll in and solve all your problems. Americans are a deeply generous people, and will happily dive trillions of dollars into debt on your behalf. You just have to know how to ask. \*If you actually do have any of these, by all means get rid of them _tout suite_. Remember, America helps those who help themselves. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/38 "2008-10-05T12:48:41Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > And get Denmark to bail you out? Cause the Faroese only have self-rule from Denmark. We declared independence in 1945. ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/39 "2008-10-07T09:26:52Z")
But wait! You’re being bailed out by … [the Russkies](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=azotRtS9KH8M&refer=home), of all people. Interesting times, to say the least. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298/40 "2008-10-07T09:35:00Z")
Interesting times indeed. Just yesterday we got “martial law” in the financial sector, giving the FCC\* pretty much unlimited powers to handle the Financial Sector. So far, one bank-board ousted and replaced by FCC lackeys and more to come. I found this [article](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3147866/Financial-crisis-Icelands-dreams-go-up-in-smoke.html)in the Daily Telegraph, which gives quite a good picture of the situation up until today. Btw - nobody hiring? Anywhere? I´m up for pretty much anything? \*The Icelandic Financial Control Commission. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icelands-going-under/466298.md?page=3)