Surviving Iceland

As you may have guessed quite a while ago. But now things are really turning again, for the thirtieth time. I have been in such lack of words that I have even thought sometimes "why even bother starting a post", because I have started over 40 times to write a post and something new comes around, as I am writing and gathering something to post which really nulls my post .. But I guess that is the wrong type of thinking.

I have been sleeping quite a bit lately, possibly just because of lack of direction. I am the type of a person that has to know where I am going, how things are going, plan my weeks and months, not many months ahead but you know .. the usual family life where you plan to pay x bills and pay this and settle that and organize and arrange everything and to say the least it is difficult to plan anything at all not even knowing what tomorrow brings, and that means every single "tomorrow".

Now the Icesave dispute seems to be solved,  mostly. All that is left to do is for the parliament to say all right, the Icelandic nation is to pay all of the debts of the few men who caused thousands and even tens of thousands of people problems, hurt and agony. Perhaps even hundreds of thousands. I often think where their minds are .. And why they have not taken the properties of those sickening wealthy men and sold for the debts and evened things out just a bit. The icesave contract is by such conditions that there is nothing paid for a certain number of years, but collects interests which are of astronomical amounts, and when the paydate is there a huge amount is to be paid .. which I think is not going to work out. And in the contract .. oh yes the contract ... says that if the govt is unable to pay one paydate .. the dutch government is able to take over Icelandic assets .. with no words about what those assets are going to be ... I´ll let you guys wonder as well as I am .. and have been for the past days without any realistic result.

I feel like this is a trap, just yet another trap. I feel like the plan is to set Iceland on its knees entirely, no matter what it takes. I know Iceland as such has a lot to offer as a country for a nation and sources and all that, but is it really worth it. Perhaps in the eyes of those whom concern.

Perhaps i´m out of line, who knows. But the situation here is very depressing .. the worst of it is to think what next and how to get through it. I am very worried about the winter, and by worrying that only means that the summer is passing by very fast. I feel like April just ended, but the fact is that June is about to end. That means two more months of summer, and after that .. darkness takes over. All I hope for is unusual amounts of northern lights and stars. I guess that is all one can ask for, and plenty of food.

Thankfully my potatoes are growing, at least the potato grass is growing strong now and knowing that I will have that is a bit comforting but still .. what is around the corner?

Friends are leaving, dying, moving, losing everything they ever had and worked for, same with family. To have a good day with friends or family is a rare thing, and i´m not the only one who has been this tired.

Someone asked how my veggies are doing, unfortunately things are not going as well as I had hopes for, but perhaps that will turn around since its been raining quite a bit.

No matter what happens out here .. my plan is to stay. I am worried about everything around me and how to get by, and how things are going to change, and things are only going to get worse. Now the rumors say that if the govt does not get the bill about Icesave through at the parliament, it will mean the end of this government .. and you know, I think it is true. If the government is unable to get a large thing like this through it has no purpose. But the fact is that I think this is its only purpose.

Today it only seems as if a number of people, the wealthy ones just to make it clear, were walking in blindness and without care for their fellow Icelanders, and are now just walking away .. sending their wifes to expensive spa trips in their private jets, probably thinking oh those idiots, we got them, we got them good!

You know what .. yeah you did. And I bet one day you will feel rotten inside.

Those men have the ability of pumping huge amounts of money into the welfare associations that are privately run in Iceland to keep them running so they can get foods and other essentials, but what are they doing? As I said above .. sending their wifes on expensive spa trips on their private jets.

You know, one of these men bought a company for 1000 billion króna. The Icesave debt is not even that large .. am I the only one seeing a way to solve this? Yes .. he had a part of all of this bank mess.

 

I´m mumbling half asleep, probably would have edited a part of this out if I werent this tired, but i´m going to sleep now, again, and hopefully wake up refreshed enough to tend to the websites with full energy tomorrow.

I want to send you out there who have been reading for a while all my best, and sorry that I have not been updating as many times as I have wanted to, but it is difficult to say goodbye to people who stand close, and things often turn out to be mentally exhausting in this situation. But Iam working on getting my head straight on again .. 

 I will see you again after this .. morning ... sleep. It is 4am here now. 

I´m sorry for the silence. I had to let you know that i´m still here, just barely alive and will post again in just a bit and tell you everything

 

and out .. oh my .. and not even going to finish this sentence. I am sorry for the "lag" of posts, for some reason I seem to have extremely bad luck around this computer, and now the keyboard buttons are popping off after I type a bit. Can anyone imagine how frustrating it is to focus on something and you have to type, and type fast, and the buttons keep popping and/or shooting off?? .. I do not wish this on anyone.

But ... I have got a few to stick on, and been working back in time translating .. and translating the very first news articles of this morning and i´m ........ ?????


"the problems are much greater than anyone expected" .. from the prime minister? Okay, i´m breathing right now, but if she is actually saying NOW, a few months earlier than I expected, that were basically .. in .. you know what, i´m ... going for a walk. Post later.

.. I have been trying to post here a few times, having problems as usually, either too many things going on in my personal life, computer acting up, my own fault of messing up my posts and so forth. I guess I am pretty distracted these days. As I had said before the taxes have been raised quite a bit and so for those who understand the value of the dollar here is a small example:

Minimum wages in Iceland are now just over 1.000 dollars
A gallon of gas is close to 6 dollars.

Just a small example .. not that I even have 1.000 dollars a month in income .. I am really not sure where this will end, if it ever will. I am expecting that quite a large number of people are going to leave Iceland as soon as they get the opportunity, and I do not blame them. It is on the other hand not an option for me .. Some days I do dream of going somewhere far far far .. far away. But it will not be any easier for me there than it is here. Unfortunately the govt has not done anything to encourage education, or tried to make it easier for people to get further education. This seems so unrealistic, just over a year ago I had plans, plans to make myself a future and be a part of Iceland´s future, but today it only seems like I will not afford to even breathe. I am so extremely thankful for that I am where I am today, even though life could be much easier.

I slept for almost 28 hours not too long ago, with only minor pauses. I think my mind was overloaded with worries and it is difficult to go from a life where people go on about their business and continue to construct a life, talking with friends about future plans and hopes, to comfort everyone, and try to tell people it will be fine, no matter what. As long as we have health and a thinking mind, we will be okay. But that is just not a fact, in fact, under this amount of pressure stress and problems the health ends up in the bin. The mental state contributes to deteriorated health, and so forth. And now it only seems as there is no way out.

Food prices have raised by such amounts that it is hard to imagine what to eat through the week, and it was difficult before. This is really bad .. very bad. I am the type of a person that would do anything to help others, and so it hurts me to not being able to. I have been asked for food and money, I have nothing to spare. I have given away what I had, but only to leave me in even worse situation. But this is nowhere close to being over yet. As they said on the news this tax raise was only to cover one fortieth of what has to be done to cover up the deficit. If things get forty times worse than they are ............ 

I know things can get worse for a long time, and can always be worse than they are but this is just absurd. This is literally surreal.

I can not afford to go to the store, I can not afford to eat 2 times a day, I hardly ever turn on a light, I do not do anything that could eventually cost me money and frankly, I wish I could figure out a way to not get my clothes dirty. Thankfully the hot water here is geothermal, not heated, so there is no electric bill for taking a shower. I wonder what more measures I could take to reduce the cost of living, except quit eating.

I am really not looking forward to much anymore, I was looking forward for the summer and seeing what it would bring but as it seems .. it will only bring more problems that are impossible to solve. I am thankful for the pure water from the tap, which is my favorite drink, and I am thankful for that the grass is getting greener and the birds seem to be having a great season. 

But .. this is impossible to get my mind around.

I know I know .. I knew this was coming but believe me, I wish I would have had more time to plan my life. I have had a few months but this all came around way too fast, and gave me no chance of being ready. So I do hope that you out there are aware of what can happen. Not saying that it will .. but it can.

It has been a while since I got any good news, that is real good news. I started thinking the day before yesterday (the day I fell asleep and did frankly not want to get up again) that there is so little that one person can do. I am stressed about all of the coming tax bills that I will have to pay, damn .. Cursed. I know some of you think "well you do not really need a car". Sure, no one really NEEDS a car .. but how to get around if not by car? And i´m not talking about just myself in this context. I know you think public transportation and so forth.

But the fact is, that where I live .. there is no public transportation. And there is no store or service in walking distance. But no .. I do not use a car anymore. Its a harsh life. But in a few days the fact will be that I will be completely isolated where I am. Because not many around me have a car, and the few I know that have a car, are going to park their cars. So .. has anyone figured out how to e-mail food? (Bad joke ..)

I wish I could really describe how I feel, but i´m not the best person for that job. I feel really .. empty or crushed. I do want to believe that things will get better, I do want things to change, I do want Iceland to make it, but the gut feeling is .. that this will be like walking through fire and ice, with an empty stomach and a ton on the shoulders.

I read this interesting article not too long ago, about how many young people have left Iceland, and how many have actually taken their lives. It is really difficult to accept the fact that there are people out there that just do not see any way out .. other than that. I always wish for the best and hope for even better things, but when reading this as well as trying to manage my own day, it really never feels like anything will be "right". Even I doubt that I am doing the right things around my life, but I keep telling myself that i´m doing good. I know i´m not the only one who thinks that.

Sometimes I start thinking .. why does the public have to pay for the debts of the wealthy .. Why am I in debt for what they did, while they just walk away from the mess? Is that fair? Is that really how things work? If I manage to create 1.000 billion króna debt somewhere, will I so be able to just walk away and continue what I do? Why is it possible to do this. How is it possible .. Is it because the wealthy who were able to start this snowball were smart enough to get trough the system and actually use the public as the responsible individuals for these investments? Is that the case?

Hmm .. if they can do it, how could the Icelandic nation get them to be responsible .. Should we all take one giant loan and write it on them? That would indeed be impossible but the thought is great.
I do know that this is NOT all just the wealthy Icelanders fault, many others participated in all of this and contributed to this giant bubble ..

I also know that I am not the only person around that feels like the government is doing everything wrong right now.
Everything they are doing is a step in the wrong direction. I guess it may be because of pressure from the IMF, and possibly other directions as well. Someone said a joke today ..

"What does the former unfit government have in common with the current unfit government? The popular front party!"

Aint that the truth ..

Whoa .. I was writing this long post on here and closed the window by accident, just following that I felt this hard hit and everything shook for a few seconds .. I was talking to a friend that lives at least 250 km away from me and she felt it too .. whoa .. But i´m about to re-write the post I lost ..

Yep .. swine flu has arrived...

I´m hoping it will be okay. 

 

Article

There is very little on the news other than arguments between the politicians about matters that could wait a little longer. Accidents, people dying from accidents, the spring type of news motorcycle accidents .. The actual news about the need seem to have been shushed. The little band aid seems to be helping a few individuals out there, but the ones who are still sinking or literally being hung by the problems at hand are not being heard.

I myself am getting pretty tired, in general I think. Every day that I think things are going to be just "ok" .. are not. Do you guys remember the free media / national television "fight" a few months ago? Where one of the television stations shut down for a few days because they were sure they would just not make it against the national television with their huge financial support every year from the government WITH advertisements? So he government slapped an added tax (Nef skattur) on every citizen in Iceland and instead they were going to take the national television of the advertising market so the free media would have a chance to survive. But that worked so well that the national television was pretty much just put right on the advertising market again. But the .. damn tax is still there.

So I got the message yesterday that I will have to pay 30.000 in August only for this tax, in addition to the taxes my former employer who had to let me go when everything collapsed did NOT pay .. how on earth am I supposed to come up with all this extra money? I feel like banging my head against a wall, this is a fight I will not even win one round of as it seems. I´m sorry but 30.000 króna is quite a lot when you do not have money to pay for anything let alone have enough food per day, and people wonder why i´m stressed out about the tax raises that are about to come around as well. I think I have sold everything that I can from what I own, clothes and so forth, but unfortunately for me I do not have a clothing tree where I can step outside and pick some clothes to sell.

I was feeling optimistic a few days ago, and now I feel like I just jinxed the whole thing by letting myself feel like something might be working out. My back is absolutely killing me, still i´m trying to do what I can ..  Yep, its a wonderful life. So .. I have pretty much nothing much to say right now except that I feel like I am walking backwards in stead of forward, and as they said .. this is only the beginning and we´ll probably see a second collapse, and the króna has not collapsed all the way, and the government thinks that the EU is going to come in and make it all better while everything is burning up and people are getting these awesome new expenses to support the national television which I never watch by the way. Frustrating ............................................................................. and there is absolutely NOTHING I can do.

I wrote a seriously long post earlier, but as I hit "save" the computer flashed me with the very famous blue screen. So .. after a couple of hours of wanting to throw the computer out in the yard, and getting over the loss .. it is time to try again.

I have been thinking for the past few weeks or even more about how much is in fact government owned in Iceland today. Almost everything is in fact.
To begin with:

Houses have mortgages from banks and/or housing financing fund.
Banks & Housing financing fund are owned by the government.
Car loans were issued by banks or financing companies.
Banks & most of the financing companies are owned by the government.
Large companies, construction and other industry have been taken over by the government one by one since last fall or banks, basically the same.
Smaller companies as well.

I´m basically waiting for the grocery stores to be taken over by the banks.

Farmers have loans in their banks, those banks are well .. like the others, owned by the government. The fisheries have loans from the banks as well.
Quite the number of properties has been repossessed by financial companies and banks lately, and now they are stuck with large numbers of vehicles and own a number of houses which they can not sell since the market is frozen to the core. Makes one wonder what is the point for the banks to repossess anyways? It makes sense to me to make new loan contracts instead of terminating the default ones and taking over the houses. In my mind it makes perfect sense that 20.000 króna payments are better than none at all and end up not being able to sell the house. But i´m not a bank.

All of this was bound to happen really, and I would like to blame it on a number of people. Mostly .. the company owners who went overboard in investments and greed. The seven sins.
It is pretty bad how things have evolved. I know the media is pretty silent about how things really are out here and focus on the politics and other major events but the people are still not being heard and I fear that the voices are fading from lack of hope. There are a number of people around me who are just losing everything and it is painful to watch people who have been careful and wise in their actions and doings just watch everything they created from hard work end up being nothing at all. I know that there are people out there who just went crazy in the "bubble" and are now hurting from it. I am proud to say that I am not one of the over spending bubble persons. But I still feel sorry for them, it must be pretty tough when the bubble burst in their face. No one deserves a shocker like this, but this is what it is.

I am not familiar with bank operations overseas but I have never been very fond of the bank system here. To take a loan just 1-200.000 you would have to get a co-signer that owns a house. And it could not be a highly leveraged house either, it was pretty difficult to be qualified as a co-signer. The banks had to be sure that they had a house as collateral for all the money they set out. So no wonder everyone is in deep **** now. For every one house that end up in payment default, it brings in another two house owners into the mess. Yep, if a person was to buy a house and finance the purchase with a mortgage, you needed to bring two separate house owners to co-sign and so give the bank the right to seize the properties if needed. So one house goes, takes two with it (3), those two take other two each (7) those two each (15) and so forth. Makes no sense to me but I can clearly see why that makes sense for the banks.

Its not that easy really but when putting up a raw image it is pretty much what it is. It is from what it looks like anyways, pretty impossible to get out of this.
The major rescue plans for the homes are basically so that the people who have homes are able to make changes to their loan contracts and make them longer by some years. The longest loan contract available for houses in Iceland was 40 years, and if I understood the changes to that it is up to 60 years now. Is it possible to actually finish paying a housing loan before you die? Does not look that way to me anyways. But the government forgot something .. what about those who do not own a house, do not have a job, and no option of cheaper housing who are also battling the swinging currency. There is nothing being done in fact, and belief it or not the loan contract changes are not available for anyone who wants it. Freezing the loan is impossible unless the payments are up to date, changes are also impossible if the payments are not up to date, BUT .. the government has approved that the families that lose their homes are now allowed to rent their old houses for 12 months after the house has been auctioned off. 

I´m not even remotely hoping for that the government just saves us all, I am aware that it is impossible, but discussions about options for home owners AND the persons that do not own the houses themselves would be appropriate. Food prices have been raising, both mildly and enormously. Utilities have raised in large steps. Rent is not going down anywhere that I have noticed. Domestic foods are about to raise again since feed will be raised by 4-6% this week. Imported things have raised quite a bit .. no .. not quite a bit, things have raised incredibly. 

I have been trying to keep a positive mind towards everything, but at the same time thinking how on earth am I supposed to get this to make sense, and make ends meet.
It is in my opinion pretty obvious that everything will end up being owned by the government. So should I consider myself being a government property? I think I might pretty soon, the government pretty much owns everything I can see as is, and will come to own the rest soon from the looks of it. I am really not able to say where I will be in 6 weeks, let alone 4 .. even 2 weeks from now. Obviously that causes stress and god knows what, but I am sure that the only way to get further away from sanity is to worry. Difficult task, but a task I do every single day. I have to remind myself that worries and stress only causes more problems, so I am focusing on keeping my mind set on the good things around me. Like this website for instance, I can write down everything I am thinking about, my worries and what I am doing, the news site - I can hope for donations and positive news. And it actually gives me a purpose in life. I can not imagine where my sanity would be if I would wake up every morning wondering what I should do that day. I guess I would be living in a fog. Instead i´m trying to take matters into my own hands and make the best of it, keep busy, try to do a good job and help as many as I possibly can. 

I have to say that life would be much better if I had a job, have a place to be at a certain time, finished at a certain time, get a paycheck for one would be a certain security which is seriously underestimated. Some days I put enormous effort into forgetting how uncertain everything is, and how difficult things are. But the days that I am not successful in that are pretty aweful. I do cross my fingers and hope for the best, I start every day by telling myself that this day will be a good day, and when I go to sleep ... the last thing I try to think about is that the day that has passed was good.  Even though everything is basically owned by the government ...... 

I have to say I was a bit surprised, but still I´m very happy about the results. Yohanna did a great job, and deserved this. I am very happy that Iceland did not get 1st place, then we would be going through the second financial crash here in Iceland, there is no way Iceland would be able to have the Eurovision competition here in Iceland .. But I spent last night with the family watched Eurovision and had a very relaxing and nice night. I do think that the whole thing around this competition has become less exciting, it sort of feels like everyone is in a major hurry to just get it done. But this made a nice night, and getting the best place for Iceland - second - was just great as well. I read somewhere that people feel like Yohanna is singing about the financial crisis in Iceland "Is it true - Is it you", and to tell you the truth, when I first saw this song on the TV before the competition and seeing the big ship behind her there, I giggled. It sort of looks like she is singing about the "Útrásarvíkingar" as we call them, the vikings who went abroad to take over the world .. Icesave etc.

I do not remember the weather here in Iceland in May being this good before. A little wind but thats all good, the wind is even warm! This is quite the difference from the "normal" weather. Usually in May we have rain, even a little snow once in a while, and strong winds. Its windy out sure, but not bad at all. I am extremely behind on the news because I decided when I woke up to get out of the house and cheer myself up and went to the local swimming pool and enjoyed the sun. And to say the least, it did exactly what I wished for. A kiss from the sun makes everything better. For a while at least. But since I let myself out of the house early then I have to get to the news.

I added a feature here with links that I intend to collect interesting links that can provide interesting information, and the first link is the Icelandic meteorological office.