Being an Icelander

“It is shit being an Icelander these days!”

- A young Icelandic woman

Disappointment & lack of trust but balls chained

In my relatively short time in the universe I have banked with four banks. SPRON, Landsbankinn and Kaupthing in Iceland and Citizens & Northern Bank in Pennsylvania.

The money my grandparents gave me as a gift when I was baptised disappeared in SPRON because the government of Iceland could not curb inflation in the early eighties. 

I will pay the student loans I got at Landsbankinn early in this decade a couple of times over because the government of Iceland could not curb inflation.

The home loan I got at Kaupthing has grown by 16% in two years because the government of Iceland could not curb inflation. It will have doubled within a decade. 

I did not have any trouble banking at Citizen’s & Northern. No money disappeared there and no debts grew exponentially.

I went to the bank today and withdrew part of my pension. In the current economic situation I don’t trust Icelandic banks, an Icelandic government or an Icelandic currency to keep my money safe for when I grow older.  

If a girlfriend had put me through such a disappointing relationship as the Icelandic banks and society have, I would have broken up with her a long time ago. 

But in this relationship my balls are safely chained to the floor.

Iceland still asking for loan-Russia official

Iceland is still asking Russia for a loan of up to $500 million and Moscow has asked for more information before making its decision, a Russian Finance Ministry official said on Thursday.

From Forbes

Icelandic terrorists

 

By Paul Nathan

I’m behind Iceland 101% – or at least the vast majority of decent hardworking citizens that form the bedrock of the country – and it sickens me to see the growing exodus of people.

Having fashioned the nation out of adversity, this modern day calamity is not the usual Act of God, but more like many acts of Godliness – dishonesty and greed – brought upon the people by a minority of criminals, who have succeeded in ‘terrorising’ their own people.

Gordon Brown should never have inherited the top job in the UK, and should never have deployed anti-terrorism legislation against a nation of farmers, fishermen, and more recently bankers, but he did so out of necessity.

No one thought for a moment there was an Icelandic version Al Qaeda plotting away, but the reality was that it was done out of expediency.  It would have taken too long to pass a mandate through the British parliament, in order to stop the massive outflows of currency. 

Anyone reading any media anywhere knows, a small bunch of criminals were operating the Robin Hood principle in reverse.  Cleaning out as many organisations of their assets, equity and savings, and shipping them abroad as fast as they could before the ultimate collapse.

Rather than moaning about the United States & Britain, and marching on the British Parliament to proclaim the obvious, it’s about time Icelanders confronted their own demons and focussed on the core issue.  The acute problem was caused by a few rogue Icelanders.

Naturally, its hurtful to be labelled a terrorist, but all the charities, councils, and hospitals who have lost everything, would happily be called anything, if it could bring back years of their work, prevent a horrible future, and stave off bankruptcy and consequential deaths.

So who are the real terrorists?

The intellectual terrorists who inhabit the Independence Party, were given jobs at birth, and have no remorse for the emotional and financial carnage they’ve caused?

The financial terrorists who have drained their country dry, as well as many others, and still have the temerity to address the nation, proclaiming their innocence?

The great tragedy is that apart from all the tangible destruction, there are much greater reverberations, such as all the damage in confidence and trust to a hitherto impeccable reputation, and the incalculable damage to the very fragile fabric of society.

Iceland needs to focus on dealing with the domestic terrorism confronting it every day.