Several local authorities in Iceland have needed to make “special arrangements” in order to be able to pay their employees, RUV.is reports. Local councillors in eastern Iceland say their finances are under extreme pressure.
Many local councils gave promises at the beginning of the year that they would do whatever it takes to stand by their welfare obligations to their local communities.
According to Olafur Hr. Sigurdsson, the mayor of Seydisfjordur, neither the old nor the new central governments have paid the situation of local authorities enough attention.
so they are bankrupt?
No, they are not bankrupt yet, just “under extreme pressure.” What ever that means? Seems to be a warning signal to the national government that they are headed that way however.
Sounds like they are for me :-(
And I’m not surprised. But I don’t think this is only Icelandic phenomena these days. I’m sure almost all towns all over Europe are running out of money now. Why should not they?
just they are Alexander but not like here, and remember is just 300.000 people with kids and old citizens…
ALEXANDER,
IT WAS ONCE A BLIND MAN THAT FELT BETTER ABOUT HIMSELF WHEN HE FOUND OUT HIS NEIGHBOR WAS DEAF. BUT I DON´T SEE HOW THAT COULD HELP HIM TO SEE…
THE ICELANDIC KRÓNA IS MONOPOLY MONEY AND THERE IS MOUNTAINS OF IT IN OUR BANKS. AS EVERYTHING IS RUINED, AND BANKS ARE OWNED BY THE ESTATE, AND AS THE KRONA IS ONLY VALID IN ICELAND AS CURRENCY AND ABROAD HAS LESS VALUE THAN THAN THE PAPER OR AN USED CLINEX.. THEY COULD JUST GIVE MONEY TO THOSE TOWNS AND THEN JUST LET THEM PAY PEOPLE WITH IT.
THEN PEOPLE WOULD USE THE MONEY TO PAY HOUSES AND ALL… AND EVERYONE COULD BE EMPLOYED.
I THINK THAT BANKS NEED TO FORGIVE PEOPLES AND COMPANIES DEBTS TOTALLY.
WE ARE THE NATION, THE NATION OWNS THE BANKS= WE OWN THE BANKS,
THE NATION FORGIVES THE DEBTS ACQUIRED BEFORE THE KREPPA. AND LETS START AGAIN…
WE ARE THE BANNNNNKS WE ARE THE CHILDREN…. !!!
ALEXANDER, THIS COUNTRY IS IN BANKRUPTCY AND LIVING ON FOREIGN AID, AND THEN YOU GO AND COMPARE IT WITH NATIONS THAT HAVE INCREDIBLE SUMS OF MONEY AND GOBERMENTS THAT ARE ROCK SOLID, EVEN WHEN THE ECONOMIC SITUATION OF BANKS AND COMPANIES IS NOT THE BEST.
ICELAND IS RUINED FROM HEAD TO TOES, THE GOBERMENT, THE BANKS, THE COMPANY, THE PEOPLE… THERE IS NOTHING LIKE THAT IN THE WHOLE WORLD… WELL, MAYBE ZIMBAWE??
GET READY TO PAY 10.000 ISK FOR A KG OF POTATOES SOON… BECAUSE WE HAVE POTATOES RIGHT??
CHEERS!!
Well what can you spect from Alexander? Like my father jused to say, to people like him: dumb people like to hang arround dummber people so they dont feel so dumb. And in fact thats the aproche the media and the goberment are takeing lately, look arrownd the news and you will see, they are trying to “show” how bad it is also for some other countries, whan in fact it is not the same haveing aconomic difficulties and haveing an aconomy TOTALLY collapsed. yesterday I saw a head line in MBL.IS “mexico gets help from IMF” and then the article says Poland is next… when in fact as I read in other sources mexico got a line of credit, called FLC (flexible line of credit) which is offered to countries that can pay and with no conditions and the country doesnt neseraelly will use the LINE of CREDIT, it is not a loan for a broken country, in fact this should be a shame for iceland because a country gets offered a FLC by the IMF while Iceland is submited to alot of conditions and economic plans developed by IMF, and we dont even get the second payment of the loan. But they are trying to make peolpe feal alittle better about themselfes, by the way have you noticed that the media has stoped useing the term IMF since Hudson and perkins spoke here in Iceland, now they use the Icelandic name AGS. Is media controlled by the goberment?
LOOK, THERE IS ACTUALLY A LOT OF SIMILARITIES BETWEEN ICELAND AND COUNTRIES LIKE CUBA OR NORTH KOREA. SPECIALLY THE WAY MEDIA AND INFORMATION IS ALTERED.
FOR EXAMPLE, IN COUNTRIES LIKE SPAIN, WHERE THERE IS A MUCH ACTUALIZED DEMOCRACY, THERE IS COMPLETE FREEDOM OF SPEECH, THERE ARE DIFFERENT TVS AND NEWSPAPERS, EACH ONE TELLING THEIR OPINION… IN ICELAND IT SEEMS TO BE NOT LIKE THAT.
MANY PEOPLE WORKING IN THE MEDIA HAVE BEEN FIRED BECAUSE OF THEIR POLITICAL IDEAS!! IN ICELAND YES!!
NEWSPAPERS ( DV, ETC…) HAVE BEEN MOLESTED TO TRY TO MAKE THEM NOT BE ABLE TO TELL THE TRUTH!!!
THIS NATION IS A CRAP OF CORRUPTION, RESTRICTIONS, LACK OF HUMAN SENSE, LACK OF DEMOCRACY, ETC…
VIÐ ERUM Á NIÐURLEIÐINI !!
WITH THIS SOCIAL SCHEMA I DON´T THINK ICELAND IS EVEN CLOSE TO EUROPEAN STANDARDS
WELCOME TO THE III WORLD!!
How about some “good news” from Prime Minister Johanna?
A few days ago she said that the entire foreign debt of the government would be 1100 billion ISK at the end of 2009, much of that in ISK.
Assets on the other hand were 580 billion in companies and 355 milljarðar in various money. So debts are only 150 billion over assets. Looks good, no?
Well, that 580 billion is in companies that are most likely bankrupt, so that makes those assets worthless. The Icesave money is not included. The calculation assumes that the new bank – old bank distinction (with 50% of assumed debts written off) holds up, which it won’t if the IMF and EU apply pressure. So probably government debt will go back to 2000 billion as various people guessed back in November. And then there is the 3000 or so private debt of various kinds owed by individuals and companies, much of it in foreign currency.
Fish money just goes to pay off creditors, and agriculture too, since both sectors are deep in debt. The energy sector is in trouble too. So where is the money going to come from to pay off all these debts?
I AM LOOKING THROUGH THE WINDOW AND MY ICELANDIC NEIGHBORS ARE PACKING EVERYTHING THEY CAN TAKE WITH THEM. THEY ARE LEAVING THE COUNTRY. THE HAVE LOST THEIR HOME, THEIR JOBS, EVERYTHING…
“WE HAVE LOST EVERYTHING, WE ARE NOW GOING TO MOVE ABROAD TO GIVE OUR CHILDREN A CHANCE FOR A BETTER FUTURE, THERE IS NO REASON FOR US TO BE HERE”, THEY SAY…
SO GO FIGURE HOW BAD IT IS THE SITUATION IN ICELAND…