I first got to Iceland just shy of seven weeks ago and stayed for two weeks. It was one of the weathiest countries I visited and earlier this year had won an award for being the 'happiest' place on the planet. Since leaving the currency has corrected 55% as of yesterday and the their government stepped in today and fixed the currency to the Euro. The locals I met there were all worried about their economy, but who would have thought the severity of it, especially in such a short time. Now they hang on the precipe of becoming the first national bankruptcy. (Read Article) It's amazing that in some of these small countries that the banks become larger than the countires.
I spent a month in Russia before Europe. It seemed more prosperous than I expected despite the fact in small cities people still walk down the street to fill buckets with water at a common well and getting heated water in the same towns is just non-existent in the summer. That said, the big cities have done well due to oil money and commodities (and a stolen car or two). Still, they're stock market is down some 60% over the last year, 19% for the day. People there are crying out for a second bail out (read).
The appreciation of all these currencies made my trip a lot more expensive than it would be now, just a couple of months later. Now if I could just get my neck to cooperate, I'd go back, because it's all on sale right now! Crazy times for crazy people!!
Now, when I rode into Europe (Poland) in the beginning of July, I began to realize how bifurcated the European Union is. As someone in told me in Norway, we are not part of the EU, we are part of the EEC, that's different. And despite the wide use of the Euro, I had to get separate currency for an aweful lot of countries. Hmm, shattered my image. Now they have a huge financial crisis and seem less equipped to deal with it than the US with all of it's problems. Since I arrived in my first Euro country this summer the currency has lost 16% of it's value against the Dollar. This shows how fickle the investment community and human nature can be. A year ago when the Euro was going strong everyone was talking about how it will displace the dollar and every one wanted to own it. Today, as I watched the news, commentators were discussing if it would even survive this crisis. I thought it was scary in the US, but Europe scares me more.
I spent a month in Russia before Europe. It seemed more prosperous than I expected despite the fact in small cities people still walk down the street to fill buckets with water at a common well and getting heated water in the same towns is just non-existent in the summer. That said, the big cities have done well due to oil money and commodities (and a stolen car or two). Still, they're stock market is down some 60% over the last year, 19% for the day. People there are crying out for a second bail out (read).
The appreciation of all these currencies made my trip a lot more expensive than it would be now, just a couple of months later. Now if I could just get my neck to cooperate, I'd go back, because it's all on sale right now! Crazy times for crazy people!!
