Who will be the next Iceland?

[eurosceptic]

Magazine "Foreign Policy" assesses five candidates, four european for the title of the next Iceland.
The UK depends heavily on financial services and took a very heavy blow. Latvia overindulged heavily in foreign debt and is now up to its neck.
Greece is trapped by the euro and unable to devalue its currency.
Ukraine's steel export trade has ground to a halt.
Nicaragua is heavily dependent on the price of coffee and emigrants sending money home from the USA. both of which have declined.

Foreign Policy: The List: The Next Iceland

Very pertinent the emphasis on the Euro being "now one of the primary obstacles to getting the country out from underneath its massive debt".

[TradCat]

Iceland has used devaluation to good effect and is now on the road to recovery. Membership of the euro is something we need to look on as a policy and not a principle. If the national interest is better served by leaving then we should do so. I don't think we are yet at the stage where it is a live issue but a few years of stagnation might change that.

[seabhcan]

How is it possible that Latvia and Ukraine have any problems at all. They are not in the euro and can devalue. Isnt that the solution to all economic problems?

[slx]

I think the UK has all the hallmarks of an iceland i.e. massive debt levels and a huge financial sector that's grossly over leveraged.

Eastern European states are just suffering from a major traditional slow down due to falling international demand and lack of access to credit. The UK's far more of an Iceland on an enormous scale.

[Simbo67]

The Ukraine is already going through a meltdown with closed and collapsing banks are they not?

[Truth.ie]

I must've missed the miracle of the Irish economic recovery. hurrah!
When was Nicaragua NOT in dire economic doo-doo?

[seabhcan]

I hear Zimbabwe is predicting a recovery in the 3rd quater of 2009.

[Middleaged]

I think the UK has all the hallmarks of an iceland i.e. massive debt levels and a huge financial sector that's grossly over leveraged.

Eastern European states are just suffering from a major traditional slow down due to falling international demand and lack of access to credit. The UK's far more of an Iceland on an enormous scale.

UK it is...............

but will the G7 allow that to happen?, I think not.

[Big Bobo]

How is it possible that Latvia and Ukraine have any problems at all. They are not in the euro and can devalue. Isnt that the solution to all economic problems?

How does Latvia any any problems at all? It is in the wonderful and glorious EU which solves all problems social and economic

[Defeated Romanticist]

I remember reading that and feeling a sense of relief that we were not mentioned.

But Britain going down the tubes could be just as bad for us. Imagine hundred of thousands of ecently unemployed Public sector employees from Norn Iron and members of their welfare industry dedending on us while good become even cheaper as stirling free-falls. And then all of the sudden we are alone in the world.