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 ...... 

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written by Jo in Seattle, May 19, 2009
It is the banks that own the governments. The banks want nothing better than to keep us in debt forever. They don't care if we ever repay the principal on a loan. They can make much more money on the interest payments. We become an income stream for them. When we are in debt like this then we are slaves. So yes, we are owned by either banks or governments. smilies/angry.gif
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written by JaSin, May 19, 2009
Good Morning Anja,
Isn't it a wonderful day! I was reading your post and I was wondering if YOU do realize that this blog IS your job. You created it. It is yours, not government property. THEY can never own you.
I do realize that this is going to be a tough period for everyone that is having their wealth re-distributed against their will. I have known that this was coming for about the last thirty years. (I am 65) I have had a long time to make myself mentally prepared. This helps a lot. We will not die...our lives will go on. Things will be different economically, but good friends, family, and good times are all entirely possible. You will be OK. Keep on blogging, as it helps everyone to keep things in proportion. Eventually people will realize the value in your blog, and will donate.

Thank you, JaSin
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written by Jon, May 20, 2009
It looks like Iceland's socioeconomic structure is becoming communist, that is "based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general". What a change in 6 months.

"Is it possible to actually finish paying a housing loan before you die?"
Well, mortgage life insurance pays off loans when you die. But that insurance will obviously be more expensive for 60 year loans!

"So should I consider myself being a government property?"
Or perhaps a government employee on long-term gardening leave...
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weird
written by Alexander E., May 21, 2009
Just a question about commenting. I understand they are moderated. And I understand it might have time to do that.
But how can I know if my comments was trashed (for whatever reason) or lost in the system?
As I posted my comments on May 19 and there is a post dated May 20 - something happened. But what? I think it's important for the blog to have some feedback from readers... Or not?

Alexander

PS. I also used "Contact me" form TWICE - without any reaction. smilies/sad.gif
Anya
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written by Anya, May 21, 2009
Alexander - I am not sure about that comment you said you posted, but I did on the other hand look at the contact me form and I made a typo on the e-mail so its my bad !! I apologize greatly!
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how longer term loans could in theory help renters
written by GregInMichigan, May 21, 2009
>> 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.

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I think the overall effect of a policy to make housing loans longer would be to lower monthly payments. In theory those who had or owned a long term loan like 40 years could refinance it to 60 and get a lower monthly payment. That would allow their monthly expenses to go down and in a competitive economy if they happen to be renting the property they would hopefully be able to charge less for rent. So in theory if there is a competitive renting environment a longer term refinance would be a winning situation for renters as well. This of course will only work for those who are renting property and can take advantage of longer repayment periods.
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You are alive! :-)
written by Alexander-E, May 21, 2009
No problem, Anya.

And it's good that we found out an error in e-mail now. smilies/wink.gif
I'm sending my e-mail again (as I saved the text) - by "regular" e-mail.

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