The Collapse of Iceland’s Economy
John Havener November 9th, 2008
This week the NY Times published a riveting article on the sudden- and for Icelanders- stunning collapse of this small country’s economy. Earlier this year their economy seemed to be booming…last year a UN report rated Iceland the best place in the world to live…but now the little country is reeling from the total collapse of its banking industry which brought down the economy, all in one month, this October! Some practical fallout reported by the NY Times: Iceland’s currency, the Krona, now worth 1/2 of what it was worth earlier in the year, 16%+ inflation and rising, massive layoffs, some investments worthless, difficulties importing product and raw materials because of foreign exchange cricis, foreign workers leaving the country in droves because of the devalued Krona…all this in a month…long term fallout???
All this happened in one month and the suddenness of it all caught most in Iceland by surprise…shock and anger have to be dealt with by many as they try to move on with their lives. I have a twofold challenge: look up to the Lord as never before as your Source and demonstrate the reality of this by living more and more by faith and action upon His financial principles and promises. Consider one example: “Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. ” Prov28:27
My second challenge is to pray about translating some of your assets now into things you and others would need if things really got tough- like the collapse of the US economy. Using Iceland as a possible forecast of what could happen: the things you need could cost twice as much as now, if you could get them at all (most of our stuff is made in _____!)