{"id":713,"date":"2008-11-09T06:15:44","date_gmt":"2008-11-09T14:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/?p=713"},"modified":"2008-11-09T06:16:31","modified_gmt":"2008-11-09T14:16:31","slug":"iceland-in-shock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/prophecy\/iceland-in-shock\/","title":{"rendered":"Iceland in Shock"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nNorthern Shore of Reykjav\u00edk, Iceland<\/em><\/p>\n

COGwriter<\/a><\/p>\n

About a month ago, I reported that Iceland was having severe economic problems and may need to decide to support the European Union (see Iceland Crumbling: EU its Hope?<\/a>).\u00a0 It economic woes made the news again yesterday:<\/p>\n

Stunned Icelanders struggle after economy’s\u00a0fall<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
International Herald Tribune<\/strong> – Nov 8, 2008<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
The collapse came so fast it seemed unreal, impossible. One woman here compared it to being hit by a train. Another said she felt as if she were watching it through a window. Another said, “It feels like you’ve been put in a prison, and you don’t know what you did\u00a0wrong.”<\/span><\/div>\n
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This country, as modern and sophisticated as it is geographically isolated, still seems to be in shock. But if the events of last month \u2014 the failure of Iceland’s banks; the plummeting of its currency; the first wave of layoffs; the loss of reputation abroad \u2014 felt like a bad dream, Iceland has now awakened to find that it is all coming\u00a0true.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is not as if Reykjavik, where about two-thirds of the country’s 300,000 people live, is filled with bread lines or homeless shanties or looters smashing store windows. But this city, until recently the center of one of the world’s fastest economic booms, is now the unhappy site of one of its great crashes. It is impossible to meet anyone here who has not been profoundly affected by the financial\u00a0crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Overnight, people lost their savings. Prices are soaring. Once-crowded restaurants are almost empty. Banks are rationing foreign currency, and companies are finding it dauntingly difficult to do business abroad. Inflation is at 16 percent and rising. People have stopped traveling overseas. The local currency, the krona, was 65 to the dollar a year ago; now it is 130. Companies are slashing salaries, reducing workers’ hours and, in some instances, embarking on mass\u00a0layoffs.<\/span><\/p>\n

“No country has ever crashed as quickly and as badly in peacetime,” said Jon Danielsson, an economist with the London School of\u00a0Economics…<\/span><\/p>\n

Until last spring, Iceland’s economy seemed white-hot. It had the fourth-highest gross domestic product per capita in the world. Unemployment hovered between 0 and 1 percent (while forecasts for next spring are as high as 10 percent). A 2007 United Nations report measuring life expectancy, real per-capita income and educational levels identified Iceland as the world’s best country in which to\u00a0live.<\/span><\/p>\n

Emboldened by the strong krona, once-frugal Icelanders took regular shopping weekends in Europe, bought fancy cars and built bigger houses paid for with low-interest loans in foreign\u00a0currencies…<\/span><\/p>\n

There was so much work, employers had to import workers from abroad. Nordfjord, the architect, worked so much overtime last year that she doubled her salary. She was featured on a Swedish radio program as an expert on Iceland’s extraordinary building\u00a0boom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two months ago, her company canceled all overtime. Two weeks ago, it acknowledged that work was slowing. But it promised that there would be enough to last through next\u00a0summer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next day, everyone was herded into a conference room and\u00a0fired. <\/span>http:\/\/www.iht.com\/articles\/2008\/11\/08\/europe\/09iceland.php<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If it gets bad enough, Iceland may decide to make a deal with the EU (see Iceland Crumbling: EU its Hope?<\/a>).\u00a0 For now it has not yet figured out what to do.<\/p>\n

The shock that the Icelandic residents are now feeling will pale in comparison to the shock Anglo-Americans will experience when the European Beast power fully forms and makes its first major military strike outside its own boundaries.<\/p>\n

Several articles of possibly related interest may include:<\/em><\/p>\n

Can the Great Tribulation Begin in 2009, 2010, or 2011?<\/a> Can the Great Tribulation begin today? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord?
\nEuropa, the Beast, and Revelation<\/a> Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? What is ahead for Europe?
\nAnglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel<\/a> Are the Americans, Canadians, British, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be devastated first?
\nThe Gospel of the Kingdom of God was the Emphasis of Jesus and the Early Church<\/a> Did you know that? Do you even know what the gospel of the kingdom is all about? True religion should be based upon the true gospel.
\nAre You Saved?<\/a> Do You Love Jesus? What is a True Christian? What is the Gospel? Evangelist Richard Ames answers those important questions.
\nGetting the Gospel Out is More than a Local Job<\/a> Discusses Biblical rationale for doing an international, and not just a local, work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Northern Shore of Reykjav\u00edk, Iceland COGwriter About a month ago, I reported that Iceland was having severe economic problems and may need to decide to support the European Union (see Iceland Crumbling: EU its Hope?).\u00a0 It economic woes made the news again yesterday: Stunned Icelanders struggle after economy’s\u00a0fall International Herald Tribune – Nov 8, 2008 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prophecy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t