The Icelandic government has promised the IMF that it will not write off the debts of householders struggling to keep up with their mortgage repayments. Protesters have been stepping up pressure on the government to do more to help householders out of trouble – which was a key election promise.
The promise was made in the most recent notice of intent to IMF head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn from Iceland’s Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Minister of Commerce and the Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland.
Instead, the government proposes streamlining its existing provisions to help householders and to make them easier to understand and more accessible to all who need them. The notice of intent explains that writing off household debt would simply be too expensive for the state to bear.
The IMF apparently welcomes the fact that the ban on the auctioning off of repossessed houses ends at the end of this month.
Sorry jojo, Jesus isn’t coming to save the world from the banksters. Many nations have fallen into tyranny and ruin while the sheeple stupidly awaited the fulfillment of a crackpot “rapture” theory that was hatched in the early 19th century.
Iceland’s government has committed HIGH TREASON in the most correct legal sense! The government has sided with a hostile foreign power against its own Icelandic citizens. The IMF is a hostile foreign power just as much as a traditional nation-state government. Financial fraud and predation is every bit a weapon of war as infantry and missiles.
Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES is the social and civil fabric to be torn asunder to satisfy the predatory machinations of finance capital! Absolutely not! People must be allowed to stay in their primary residences at ALL COSTS. People and civilization trumps financial paper all day long! The IMF’s credit rating agencies have no right to cast judgment upon Iceland and to the physical detriment of its citizens.
Iceland should declare a unilateral DEBT MORATORIUM. Mortgage payments should whatever can be afforded using Means Testing. And those payments must be applied directly to the principle! Iceland should declare Force Majeure and declare, for the sake of civilization, that ALL interest be wiped off the books and ALL debt payments be applied to the principle.
Finally, it’s time for Reykjavík to put on some testicles and allow universal arming of the Icelandic population in the same manner as Switzerland. Arm and train Icelanders to combat foreign mercenaries and British SIS special forces sent to carry out acts of terrorism.
From the article,
“The IMF apparently welcomes the fact that the ban on the auctioning off of repossessed houses ends at the end of this month”.
If the properties are auctioned off at lower than the loan value, would that not be interesting? would it have not have a snowball dramatic effect on the values in the books of the Banks.
In order to prevent the house price dropping through the Bank book value – would the Banks themselves not have to buy back the auctioned property?
” for partisan ness and minority government that we have had since April 2009 ”
to make it more clear before Brumley or other does jump up — want to save you time there Brumley..
In April 2009 election Social Demicrats did get 29.8% of national vote. Left Greens won 21.7% and together they do make a slim majority in parliment of 51,5% — slim — but it is a majority.
The first ( and likely last ) time that left green party has been trusted so much by voters.
10% of Independece Party support did go to him temporarily because of his anti EU stance ( in the main ) at that election.
So in fact because Left Greens ( led by traitor of his voters Steingrímur J ) is not united — more so even than three factions of Social Democrats — we do effectively have minority government still.
Steingrímur J is doing right thing in following IMF review — but lets face it he has little room to go on different path from that — but he has gone against his principles with bedding down with Social Democrats. And his voters will punish him for that.
Steingrímur still claims he is against EU member ship ! But he sold his soul to be in the government seats for the first and only time before he gets old and he gets contempt of old Marxist ministers in Social Demicrats because of it.
You can see the stress of keeping his party together on his face now. In some way I feel sorry for him but he has made this bed with the Social Demicrats and must lie in it.
His speech in opening of parliment was back to the old Fist shaking guy that most voter do know him as. And dislike. Will that mean he now realizes that he made mistake seeking power at any cost ?
“IMF is not the problem although governors should stop pretending every nation has equal vote — they do listen to ones that bankroll them – the bigest countries.”
You mean the biggest contributors. Maybe people should stop kidding themselves than the IMF is a charity who has a duty to give money to bankrupt counties with no expectation to get the money back.
Of course the IMF is providing a loan to countries so incompetent that they cannot be trusted to run their own finances and of course the IMF can set conditions. Lending countries have a choice – they don’t have to borrow from the IMF.
Iceland and the bankruptcy again; only one way: EU!
http://www.euronews.net/2010/10/05/thousands-demonstrate-outside-iceland-s-parliament/
” This reflects the enormous and unaffordable fiscal cost, the need to reserve an operating and stable banking system, and the detrimental impact this would have on Iceland’s payment culture. We will continue to focus attention on the distressed borrowers who fortunately remain a minority of total borrowers. ”
This is very true as vast majority of Icelanders have tightened their belts and have been paying off they loans — even those that do have car loans in the foreign currencies.
The one with placards at protest yesterday saying ” IMF is the problem ” ” ESB+ will be the problem ” got it half right.
IMF is not the problem although governors should stop pretending every nation has equal vote — they do listen to ones that bankroll them – the bigest countries.
EU has already been problem in that member states have put their pressure over so called IceSave issue and EU commission did nothing to see justice done — even this year when the problems of branches and EU directive on deposit insurance not being state guaranteed no longer are sensitive to EU banking area as it was during country runs of late 2008.
The current Red-Green governments time is almost up. But it will not be replaced by one with different policy to IMF. But definately toward EU.
Maybe a national government of all parties as many of our other constituional aspects hav been tried since 2008 so why not this — because now is not time for partisan ness and minority government that we have had since April 2009 pushing its pet projects and EU application wanted even then at HEIGHt of EU joining popularity — by less than 30% of voters — is just against the will of most people of Iceland.
We need consensus of parliment that represents all even if room for movment is little as any will have to follow IMF program.
+In Icelandic the EU is called the ESB — Evrópusambandið.
just give your life to jesus christ becourse the end time is at hand… no write off for individual household debt but there is aboundaunt write off of debt for the culprit who stole times million what all the household owe all together….. well am happy becouse the lord is my shepard and i shall not want, his always there to take me through and by his grace i,ll survive
10. We remain committed to a targeted, voluntary approach to debt restructuring. Moreover, we are determined to see the work through to a conclusion as soon as possible and in particular to ensure that the frameworks we have designed for household and corporate debt restructuring function efficiently and productively. While we remain committed to simplifying the process, we have ruled out an across-the board debt write down (e.g., for borrowers not affected by the Supreme Court ruling on foreign exchange indexed loans). This reflects the enormous and unaffordable fiscal cost, the need to reserve an operating and stable banking system, and the detrimental impact this would have on Iceland’s payment culture. We will continue to focus attention on the distressed borrowers who fortunately remain a minority of total borrowers.
http://www.imf.org/external/np/loi/2010/isl/091310.pdf