just in in-tray from pen pal his trip report
... as I've returned from 2 weeks in Iceland, I have a few observations.
xxxxx and I canvassed nearly all regions save the center (requiring the fording of sundry, some substantial, water bodies) and the relative-northeast fjords.
We spent only a day in the capitol Reykjavik, as we preferred out time elsewhere.
Approximately two-thirds of the 300k population resides in Reykjavik.
A primary interest of mine was post-2008-Iceland-finance-collapse observations on the Icelandic 'real' economy.
An imprecise variable to factor is the weighting of 'general economic slowdown' that has, and continues to, inject itself into all global economies.
Outside the capitol, there are no cities similarly sized.
Next large Akureyri in the north and Seydisfjordur to the east (with a ferry terminal) may be scaled by their ability to support one (and only one) reasonably-sized grocer.
As a matter of course, Carol and I attained a main-street-to-harbor-back-alley taste of the towns and hamlets that bead the perimeter, primary transport necklace for the Kentucky-sized island.
In the 'country' (meaning anywhere outside the capitol) I spoke to merchants and those in service.
After discounting general global conditions,
the comprehensive destruction of the Icelandic banking finance sector, as it occurred in 2008,
had no meaningful effect on on this demographic, in my view.
This 'country' third-of-the-population did share in the media coverage and associated uncertainty at crisis inception.
However, real-economy access to moneys and credits continued unabated in Iceland (as with our FDIC Friday after-market-close regional bank failures).
Reykjavik is, by all appearances, quite comfortable, thank you.
Limited mal-invested credit bubble residue certainly remains to be seen in the city - terminated apartment construction here and excess office space there.
Life continues apace in the real economy, without the government covering financiers' out-of-the-money betting slips.
When the casinos folded - when none were too big to fail - finance was merely another business sector, where failures were forced to die.
Unimpaired banking services for 'mundane' tasks (like servicing local business and mom and pop farms/guest houses) were up and running on Monday.
Iceland still owns some of the highest per capita 'statistics' - though the position is likely more tenuous, and fiscal stability is likely as distant as for the EU proper.
Iceland is dependent on imports for much that it consumes.
There is meager export potential.
There is tourism - but even during peak season the demand is not substantial.
There are fish to catch and process.
I had expected to see geothermal energy development - but that is clearly a bust, at this stage.
I infer that there are unique complexities bringing a field to production that's exacerbated by a high quotient of uncertainty concerning life cycle behavior.
From my perspective, the no-brainer for Iceland is wind power - and I was struck silent by its dearth.
My strongest memory of Iceland the unremitting ice wind.
I can't fathom why wind generators, of all scales, are not ubiquitous |
