News from the Frontlines

(Why writting myself when someone is doing it so well??!!)

Wow. I cannot express how surprised I am by some of the whoppers I’ve heard about Iceland these last few days. The foreign media has been calling morning, noon and night looking for a good story:

A. Children thrown out of their homes and forced into prostitution!
B. People eating their own feet out of desperate hunger!
C. Mass corporate decapitations—all the country’s bankers lose their heads!
D. The Russians have assumed control of the island and will be catapulting Icelandic babies towards America’s eastern seaboard in an effort to bring about the fall of capitalism!

Truth? The answer is: E. None of the above. To be honest, the situation here is rough. Allow me to explain—without all the exaggeration. A lot of people have lost their jobs already and it looks as though there will be many more layoffs to come. Many, many people have lost a lot in the stock market, including some older people who were really counting on that money to live off of.

Prices are rumored to be on the rise, so we’re all trying to tighten our belts. Foreign laborers are rushing out of the country (I’m told planes to Warsaw leave full and come back practically empty). Some Icelandic companies are having a hard time securing goods from abroad because suppliers won’t accept the króna. More than anything, there is great big, black cloud of uncertainty hovering over the entire nation. What will happen to my loan? Will I be able to find another job? Will they finish the Sagrada Família, er, uh, I mean the Concert Hall on the harbor?

For the most part, life carries on. So far, the government-installed managements at the three big banks have kept lines of credit fairly open to Icelandic business. There are moratoriums on loans in foreign currencies. And the papers report that Icelandic credit cards are working abroad and the Icelandic students abroad who had been locked out of their accounts have access again.

So is everything okay? No. In the coming weeks we are bound to see some more serious effects of this financial meltdown. Like what? Nobody knows. On the brighter side, I look forward to seeing Icelandic teenagers having to work blue-collar jobs like the rest of us did as teens (yours truly was a checkout boy at Whole Foods). I look forward to getting some of the country’s brightest minds out of the banking industry and into other parts of society. I look forward having a fully staffed playschool system. I look forward to seeing fewer Range Rovers and more SmartCars on the streets of Reykjavík. I look forward to tourists being able to afford life in Iceland.

What does this mean for you? Well, if you read this column and live abroad, there has never been a better time to visit the island. Your euros, dollars and yen will get you farther than ever before. Has the island exploded? No, but come and enjoy it before it does!

JM – jonas@icelandreivew.com