Recession Diary part 5
"In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: Not necessarily to Win, but mainly to keep from Losing Completely." - Hunter S Thompson
The protests are slowly becoming more intense and vocal. This week the police made their first mistake. They arrested one of the more active protesters. Mostly I would say that the police have been very careful to stand on the sidelines. I don't really think they want to face up to a large scale riot. Things could quickly spin out of control if that ever happens. So I think the police deserve some credit. Still not quite.
The story behind this arrest is that this person has been active in the Icelandic dark green environmental movement. So during one of those protests, he was arrested and fined. He refused to pay the fine, which means that he is supposed to sit in jail for a certain number of days. Now Icelandic jails are hardly large. Somewhat to small for the criminal element in Iceland, so we've actually done a deal with other countries to export foreigners who commit crimes here. Anyway due to our prisons being filled to capacity, this person was first put behind bars for a few days and then released and told that he'd have to sit out his fine at later date. According to Icelandic law, any person who is supposed to be in jail, is to be given 3 weeks notice before they are put behind bars. In effect the police is not supposed to be able to pick you up for something like this and put you behind bars on a moments notice. A few weeks ago someone, apparently this person, raised a flag on top of the Icelandic parliament building. Not the Icelandic flag, but the symbol of an Icelandic "low price" store. The symbolism was potent, but this could hardly be called a serious crime. So when this person was arrested when he was part of a group of political science students visiting the parliament building, it was widely seen as a warning to other protesters. Well yesterday, following the peaceful protests I participated in, several hundred people went to the police station to demand the release of this person. Almost broke down the door of the police station and were then pushed back by club and gas wielding police. Following a stand off for a couple of hours the person was released. According to the police after someone paid his fine. You can read the BBC version of events.
More and more shit is floating up to the surface. This week we've been treated to news of my bank failing to follow it's own rules. Lent out billions of kronur. Worth considerably more back then. To allow an investment company that appears to have little if any holdings. To invest in one of the companies that owned the bank. The only guarantee the bank had in getting its money back was the shares it lent the money to buy. For me and most others, we'd be asked to put up 70% of the value of the stock we intended to buy in some sort of securities. This is actually more amazing than the credit default swap monster I've been reading about. Not only had the bank no guarantee that it would get it's money back, but the only security was in the stock it lent the buyer. The stock was in a holding company which now is effectively bankrupt. Now why would any bank do this? Apparently this means that the bank appears to have more money. It's kind of like Enron. The bank will look to be increasing its holdings. By issuing worthless loans. In it's accounting it shows that it's owed money, but in actual fact it's holding worthless paper. The company that had it's shares bought will appear to the market like there's interest in its stock. It might even use this tactic to prop up failing shares. Short term everyone seems to gain. Apparently the fact that both sides were owned by the same group of people, had absolutely nothing to do with this.
The protests are slowly becoming more intense and vocal. This week the police made their first mistake. They arrested one of the more active protesters. Mostly I would say that the police have been very careful to stand on the sidelines. I don't really think they want to face up to a large scale riot. Things could quickly spin out of control if that ever happens. So I think the police deserve some credit. Still not quite.
The story behind this arrest is that this person has been active in the Icelandic dark green environmental movement. So during one of those protests, he was arrested and fined. He refused to pay the fine, which means that he is supposed to sit in jail for a certain number of days. Now Icelandic jails are hardly large. Somewhat to small for the criminal element in Iceland, so we've actually done a deal with other countries to export foreigners who commit crimes here. Anyway due to our prisons being filled to capacity, this person was first put behind bars for a few days and then released and told that he'd have to sit out his fine at later date. According to Icelandic law, any person who is supposed to be in jail, is to be given 3 weeks notice before they are put behind bars. In effect the police is not supposed to be able to pick you up for something like this and put you behind bars on a moments notice. A few weeks ago someone, apparently this person, raised a flag on top of the Icelandic parliament building. Not the Icelandic flag, but the symbol of an Icelandic "low price" store. The symbolism was potent, but this could hardly be called a serious crime. So when this person was arrested when he was part of a group of political science students visiting the parliament building, it was widely seen as a warning to other protesters. Well yesterday, following the peaceful protests I participated in, several hundred people went to the police station to demand the release of this person. Almost broke down the door of the police station and were then pushed back by club and gas wielding police. Following a stand off for a couple of hours the person was released. According to the police after someone paid his fine. You can read the BBC version of events.
More and more shit is floating up to the surface. This week we've been treated to news of my bank failing to follow it's own rules. Lent out billions of kronur. Worth considerably more back then. To allow an investment company that appears to have little if any holdings. To invest in one of the companies that owned the bank. The only guarantee the bank had in getting its money back was the shares it lent the money to buy. For me and most others, we'd be asked to put up 70% of the value of the stock we intended to buy in some sort of securities. This is actually more amazing than the credit default swap monster I've been reading about. Not only had the bank no guarantee that it would get it's money back, but the only security was in the stock it lent the buyer. The stock was in a holding company which now is effectively bankrupt. Now why would any bank do this? Apparently this means that the bank appears to have more money. It's kind of like Enron. The bank will look to be increasing its holdings. By issuing worthless loans. In it's accounting it shows that it's owed money, but in actual fact it's holding worthless paper. The company that had it's shares bought will appear to the market like there's interest in its stock. It might even use this tactic to prop up failing shares. Short term everyone seems to gain. Apparently the fact that both sides were owned by the same group of people, had absolutely nothing to do with this.
Ummæli