Usually I know enough to keep away from discussions in this folder, but some time ago I suggested to Alph that Iceland should join Canada, which he thought was a good idea.
Will the loonie soon be flying high in ... Iceland?
For months, Icelanders have been toying with the idea of ditching the tarnished krona, which has never fully recovered from the collapse of the financial system four years ago.
But one of the intriguing suggestions floating around the North Atlantic island is that instead of the adopting the euro — a natural fit given that Iceland has taken initial steps to join the European Union — it might cast a furtive eye to the Canadian loonie.
This is not as outlandish as it sounds. Canada's banking system is something Iceland's is not — sound — and the Canadian economy, with its mooring in much-desired natural resource wealth, is among the most stable and predictable in the advanced world.
Canada also does not have the massive overhang of sovereign debt that will trouble Europe or even the United States for years.
While still a long-shot, Iceland's national broadcaster, RUV, reports that Canada's ambassador to the country, Alan Bones, will tell a meeting of the Progressive Party on Saturday that if Icelanders want, they can have the loonie.
The ambassador will tell the opposition party, which has stirred up the idea of adopting the loonie, that authorities in Ottawa are willing to start talks if that is the will of the Icelandic people, according to RUV. ...
NATURALLY enough, Canadians are thrilled whenever foreigners single out their country for positive attention—especially when the praise raises it above the behemoth to the south. The idea that Iceland might want to ditch its battered krona in favour of the Canadian dollar, not the American version, scores high in this regard. It strokes the Canadian ego and bolsters the Conservative government’s line that the economy is one of the world’s strongest.
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
It's not as crazy as it may sound. Faced with currency problems of our own, I am in favour of Portugal leaving the euro but adopting, for a couple of years, the Brazilian real as its currency. We should start by converting all salaries and prices in reals, at a 20% discount, and then use the real as a means to avoid excessive devaluation..
Iceland would be wiser to skip past the loonie, and instead adopt the twoonie as its currency. Slightly inflationary, but the citizens would be twice as rich. It just makes sense, man!
epaminondas wrote:Iceland would be wiser to skip past the loonie, and instead adopt the twoonie as its currency. Slightly inflationary, but the citizens would be twice as rich. It just makes sense, man!
But if they went to Tim Hortons for coffee, they'd still only get a nickel back.
Be not too curious of Good and Evil;
Seek not to count the future waves of Time;
But be ye satisfied that you have light
Enough to take your step and find your foothold.
Iceland should simply establish a mint for the pressing of 1/100 troy oz. silver coinage with whatever term they wish.
I would prefer a square coinage called called Icecubes, but that is an aesthetic decision. Buying into a currency linked to the City of London seems loony indeed.
“Christ has no body now but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks among His people to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses His creation.”
