Interesting video about Iceland's love affair with Costco

Bill.in.PA · 2019-12-02T01:18:46.993Z

Costco recently opened a store in Iceland, and its prices were well below the competition with massive crowds of eager customers. A consensus from many Icelanders is that Costco’s success and low prices confirmed suspicions of widespread price fixing and collusion going back decades. For background see:

Quartz – 30 May 17

Iceland’s first Costco is so popular that one-fifth of the population has...

Come for the multi-pack toilet paper. Stay for the consumer outrage.

The video shows a darkly amusing take on bitter criticism of the lack of competition that existed before Costco’s arrival:

Caution: Video may be offensive to Icelandic price-fixers.

Bill.in.PA · 2019-12-02T01:55:17.584Z

For context, consider that Iceland has sent more bankers to prison than the US or UK:

HuffPost – 5 Jan 16

Iceland Has Jailed 29 Bankers. Why Can't the UK and US Do the Same?

Just before Christmas, the former CEO of Iceland's Glitnir bank and two other senior bankers were sentenced to jail terms of up to five years for market manipulation and breach of fiduciary duties.

Do you think there is a connection between their aggressive prosecution of bankers for crimes related to the banking collapse and their love for Costco?

CanadianJudo · 2019-12-02T01:59:12.686Z

Its a novelty thing, I doubt this will change anything in the daily lives of the majority of the population.

markdido · 2019-12-02T03:47:12.240Z

CanadianJudo:

Its a novelty thing, I doubt this will change anything in the daily lives of the majority of the population.

Considering the high cost of everything and the confiscatory income tax rate, I’m sure the people
are taking advantage ot Costco to save a little money.

tradingeconomics.com

Iceland Personal Income Tax Rate - 2023 Data - 2024 Forecast - 1995-2022...

The Personal Income Tax Rate in Iceland stands at 46.25 percent. Personal Income Tax Rate in Iceland averaged 44.80 percent from 1995 until 2023, reaching an all time high of 46.90 percent in 1996 and a record low of 35.70 percent in 2007. This page...

Eagle-Keeper · 2019-12-02T03:51:43.799Z

Do they pay property taxes as well?

markdido · 2019-12-02T05:48:17.651Z

Eagle-Keeper:

Do they pay property taxes as well?

Yep.
46.3% Income tax + VAT+ Property Taxes

CanadianJudo · 2019-12-02T06:42:44.334Z

Iceland isn’t a poor country they have one of the highest standard of living.

their social program are insanely well manged.

markdido · 2019-12-02T06:44:33.226Z

CanadianJudo:

Iceland isn’t a poor country they have one of the highest standard of living.

their social program are insanely well manged.

And well financed by the masses.

CanadianJudo · 2019-12-02T06:54:26.814Z

and they are rewarded for it the massive success of their manufacturing industry alone has paid for it, they have an unemployment rate of 2%, their national debt has decreased for 6 years in a row, GDP growth of over 3%.

Iceland is diamond.

countries like Iceland, Norway, etc are examples of well manged government spending can do.

watching Iceland bounce back after the 2008 banking crisis has been magical and its mostly due to how smart their government was with investing.

WolfyT · 2019-12-02T09:06:19.505Z

This isn’t a new story really, Costco’s been there for a while as this 2017 story shows:

The Reykjavik Grapevine – 7 Sep 17

From Iceland — The Costco Craze

How the retail giant is impacting the economy.

I’m not convinced it’s good for Iceland, as local mom and pop stores go out of business and money flows out of their economy to some anonymous corporate HQ. Maybe they can have a local gig economy soon…

When walmart opened up in Germany, they couldn’t compete but it was mostly because workers there have real union protection under law and don’t have to put up with WMT’s union busting nonsense it has done all over the world, mostly by closing entire stores on a false premise once it whiffed a hint of unionizing in the air. WMT packed up it’s bags from that and went home. And yet Germany still is home to many discount retailers.

If Iceland was smart, it would fight against it’s local economy getting wrecked by Costco and its ilk, the exchange of a few cheap doo-dads and roast chickens ain’t worth it.

Bill.in.PA · 2019-12-03T23:02:07.840Z

Costco’s wages actually exceed those of unionized workers in Iceland:

The Reykjavik Grapevine – 14 Jun 17

From Iceland — Costco’s Wages Go Beyond What Icelandic Unions Demand

Maybe our unions need to work harder?

A reason why Costco is wildly popular in Iceland is that its low prices exposed the corruption and inefficiency of the distribution system that existed in Iceland while paying its workers very well.

markdido · 2019-12-04T23:29:36.755Z

CanadianJudo:

Iceland isn’t a poor country they have one of the highest standard of living.

their social program are insanely well manged.

Shouldn’t be that hard when you have a single culture, mostly caucasian country whose entire population is the equivalent of Aurora CO.