Bloomberg is reporting that all of Iceland's McDonald's will close at the end of the month due to the collapse of the country's currency. In order to remain open, the restaurants would have had to start charging the equivalent of $6.36 for a Big Mac. According to the Economist's Big Mac Index, the world's most expensive Big Macs are currently located in Switzerland and Norway — where they cost about $5.75.
From Bloomberg:
The island's currency collapsed last year following the failure of Iceland's biggest banks. Offshore, the krona slumped as much as 80 percent against the euro, while capital restrictions this year have failed to prevent an 8.1 percent decline, making the krona the second-worst performer of the 26 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
"Our competitors all use domestic meat and lettuce and so on, while we are flying in these materials, which is extremely expensive," Ogmundsson said.
Iceland is currently relying on "$2.1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to stay afloat after its three biggest banks collapsed having racked up debt more than 10 times the size of the economy. " Whoopsies! Oh well, we suppose they can always go back to eating "slowter," a traditional Icelandic dish which Marketplace Money informed us is growing in popularity due to its inexpensive ingredients: intestines and blood and fat of sheep.
McDonald's Closes in Iceland After Krona Collapse [Bloomberg]
(Photo:MortonFox)
@banmojo: you're shittin me right. That was sarcasm right? right? I mean right? You were being sarcastic weren't you? Please say yes so I can sleep tonight.
]]>btw. its not "slowter" it's "slátur", and it's awesome beyond belief, as it is with most Icelandic foods
]]>@ThinkerTDM: That is absolutely what I look for in a tourist destination. You can keep your family-friendly Disney nonsense to yourself. Bring me corruptible young women with too much alcohol in their systems, please.
]]>... This was several years ago, before I stopped eating McDonalds (unless the only alternative is BK), so it may have gone down.
]]>@LeChiffre: That sounds kind of good, actually. When I was a kid, I used to eat [en.wikipedia.org] a lot without even knowing what it was.
]]>But it's a beautiful place. Great hiking and camping. We're already planning to go back.
]]>The fact remains, that Satellite IS qualified as broadband, IS under $100 a month, and IS available everywhere in the U.S. If you want to continue to nitpick small issues with it in comparison to other broadband providers, that is your right. But trying to pretend that it "shouldn't count" as broadband just because it isn't fun to play online video games with it is just ridiculous.
]]>i have no idea how to tell if that's worse or better
]]>@banmojo: I think my IQ FELL a couple points after reading that.
]]>@Radi0logy: Wait a minute- Satellite? Affordable? Accessible? What are you on? I want some too! I want to move to Japan at the first opportunity- 100M connections for what I pay for a 5M one in the US. Youtube at blazing speeds, song downloads only taking seconds, etc.
]]>@GMFish: its freaking true tho. I just flew out of LAX about a month ago and a buger at burger king was like $9 for the meal.
]]>Satellite also tends to have pretty vicious transfer caps. A plan that costs $60/month for a 1Mb/128Kb connection with high latency that makes any number of modern web services unusable combined with a 200MB/day transfer cap, should in no way be considered "broadband".
]]>That said, we never had a bad meal (as the commenter above pointed out) and I would go back in a heartbeat. But this time around, I would steel myself for the prices ahead of time and budget at least twice what I would to go other places.
]]>Our two burgers, fries and sodas cost about $45.
Iceland imports everything but sheep, pumice, and seafood. And there are huge restrictions and tariffs on imported food. It's truly amazing that their existence is so totally dependent on imports - after the first day we stopped figuring out the value of everything in dollars as it was too depressing.
]]>Satellite internet is dial-up internet with faster downloads, NOT broadband internet.
]]>Therein lies the problem. You want to rule out broadband Internet access that is affordable and accessible for every American, simply on the basis of its deficiency of being unable to provide you with a a decent game of Counterstrike. Sorry, that is not the yardstick by which Broadband is measured, don't redefine words to suit your argument.
]]>@dfens42: If you go, please spend a day at the Blue Lagoon spa. Especially if you go in the winter. Truly breathtaking beauty.
]]>Now you made me want a hot dog. Dammit.
]]>Well, at the time (1907) it really wasn't all that big of a deal. The Statute of Westminster wasn't passed until 1931. Prior to that, Dominions were still VERY directly under the thumb of the Brits, not the way they are now (Which is to say that the Queen retains the right to veto legislation, although I believe Canada is somewhat of an exception).
But I could be way off on all that...
]]>@LeoSolaris: A co-worker here at my job had a chance to eat tiny sauteed jellyfish. He passed and his friend who was with him ate them and loved it.
]]>@MostlyHarmless: Ohhhh that sounds very tasty. I love new foods too.
]]>@FooSchnickens - Forklift Dirver Extraordinaire: Or some slowter.
]]>You suck!
]]>Yet McDonald's remains popular.
]]>@Radi0logy: Sorry, but I can't consider anything with high latency broadband. Your claim that broadband is available to "every single square inch of U. S. soil" is laugable if you rule out satellite. I'd also be willing to bet there are some inches of soil in the Alaskan north that aren't even covered by satellite.
]]>Much of the rural part state is still running on old copper phone lines from the 30's and 40's.
]]>They probably sell beef hamburgers in India (being facetious).
]]>I can't imagine that McD's ever did all that well in Iceland even before the collapse.
]]>Eh, I'm kind of OK with it.
]]>This is a crime-- one that happened here as well, we were just big enough to weather the storm (so far).
Someone needs to just shut down the intl finance pipeline. Its all bull and all designed to rake billions or trillions off the top of the world's economies.
By that, I mean derivatives, etc. No one in the U.S. should be allowed to buy a derivative based on the price of grain in Tokyo.
]]>Well, satellite "broadband" happens to suck particularly hard, and is in many ways worse than dial-up.
]]>It's also the friend of the morally deviant. Not that I'd personally know anything about that...
]]>Off-topic rant (as if your's was on-topic), but I really have an issue with the whole "broadband penetration" thing. Broadband is available on every single square inch of U.S. soil... just because some people are too cheap to pay for it, does that mean our broadband penetration isn't good enough? This really bugs me. Maybe we haven't turned socialist and given free high-speed to all the homeless shelters, but its available. If you want it, its there.
]]>I took my girlfriend to the most expensive restaurant in town last night.
Where was that?
The airport food-court.
]]>or terminal 6 at LAX
]]>@marsneedsrabbits: I'm glad the worst food experience I've had today was getting a bowl of broccoli and cheese soup from a deli and finding out while I was eating it that there were clams in it, and that it was actually like new england clam chowder with broccoli pieces. Good thing I'm not a vegetarian.
]]>I live in Flint Michigan, we've had plenty of McDonalds close in the last 10 years. Heck, even our dollar stores are closing.
]]>And yet they still have better internet with more broadband penetration than the U.S.
]]>@tbax929 is rooting for a Phillies repeat: So the only criteria for an amazing country is to have young people with disposable income drink until they puke?
]]>Slowter is the least of it. Icelandic cuisine must've been developed on a bet.
There is an Icelandic dish, hákarl, which Anthony Bourdain called "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing" he has ever eaten
Gordon Ramsey couldn't keep it down.
And Andrew Zimmern called the smell horrific.
The description of how it is prepared is enough to turn one's stomach. Don't say you weren't warned.
]]>@MostlyHarmless: Stupid thing still won't let me log in! I'll try again later.
]]>@Optimizer: Wait, so Iceland doesn't raie Iceburg lettuce?
]]>@Trai_Dep: and LMGTFY is the friend to those same intellectually curious peoples' snarky officemates!
Or snide annonymous forum commenters...
]]>Heres one variant of it: [anubhavati.wordpress.com]
Comfort food does not get much better than that.
]]>@pecan 3.14159265: Unfortunately I haven't eaten my lunch yet either... It might be a while now.
]]>Find better, more relevant and more timely examples, the news media is deeply flawed, it shouldn't be too hard. Also realize that 90% of what we think is news in this country isn't, there is a place for what amounts to gossip but it should stop masquerading as useful information.
]]>@Applekid: In all fairness to McDonald's I will note that I don't think Iceland raises cattle for beef, so they'd have to probably go with lamb burgers (sounds good to me). I also don't think they grow much lettuce there. More often that not, you'll find they use cucumbers in lieu of lettuce on sandwiches.
]]>But having just been in August I didn't notice things were especially cheap anyway and everybody seemed more than happy to shell out about $10-12 for coffee and pastry or a couple of pylsa. Hell, the only place we found serving "traditional" food charged a good $45 for a serving of thorramatur.
]]>You hit your head on the nail with that.
]]>@Applekid: Yes, McDonald's requirements for consistency are part of the problem.
I wonder what kind of bonuses the Icelandic bank CEO's got for running the country into the ground.
]]>Well, now, here's your problem.
]]>How can you beat a bacon wrapped hotdog?
If you ever find yourself in Reykjavik make sure to hit up the Hlollar Batar downtown. Good fast food.
]]>See also World Bank.
]]>The currency system fails and they bash a "symbol of American colonialism"? Enjoy your sheep gut
]]>@dfens42: Sure you can visit, but Americans won't be able to eat anywhere since all the McDonald's are closing.
]]>Meh. Good riddance. I'll take an Icelandic mixed meat hot dog over a Mickey D's burger any day of the week. It's curious, though, that $6.36 for a burger in Iceland would give anyone there or visiting there much pause: stuff -- food in particular -- *is* expensive in that neck of the woods. Whatdya want? You're in the middle of the ocean.
]]>Mmm. That Royale w/cheese looks like a tasty burger.
]]>Anyways, I feel bad for those people; their woman are hot.
]]>It's a shame what's happening in Iceland. It's an amazing country with an awesome nightlife.
]]>But on the bright side, now is an excellent time to visit Iceland because they are one of the few currencies doing worse than the dollar! Only a 2 hour flight from the East Coast. I've actually been wanting to go and play midnight golf...
]]>i usually have a strong stomach and i just came back from lunch.
i am feeling pretty nauseated at the definition of slowter.
]]>@drdom: A disembowled sheep figurine?
]]>The combination of that photo and the definition of slowtar has just made me lose my appetite. Just a little. Uggh.
]]>