Island of Recovery
In European Crisis, Iceland Emerges as an Island of Recovery
Three and a half years after Iceland collapsed in a heap, Dadi Palsson’s fish-processing plant has the air of a surprising economic recovery.
Mr. Palsson arrived at 4 a.m. on a recent workday. Twelve tons of cod were coming in. Soon, his workers would bone, slice and pack the fish for loading onto towering container ships headed abroad.
Three years after a spectacular financial collapse, Iceland is coming back, largely on the strength of its strong exports. Video and reporting by Charles Forelle from the island of Vestmannaeyjar.
In 2008, Iceland was the first casualty of the financial crisis that has since primed the euro zone for another economic disaster: Greece is edging toward a cataclysmic exit from the euro, Spain is racked by a teetering banking system, and German politicians are squabbling over how to hold it all together.
But Iceland is growing. Unemployment has eased. Emigration has slowed.
Iceland has a significant advantage over stressed euro-zone countries—a currency that could be devalued. That has turned its trade deficit into a surplus and smoothed its recovery.
Wall Street Journal - updated May 21, 2012, 8:50 p.m. ET
Hübsche Blaupause für den Gesundungsprozess einer Volkswirtschaft, sobald man erkennt dass Politik und Banken nicht Teil der Lösung, sondern das ursächliche Problem sind!