The last ten days have been a lesson in who to trust. No one realized how serious the problem was. I was one of tens of thousands of Icelanders who really thought that the banks were strong and well run companies.

I owned shares in all three of the large banks, Glitnir, Landsbanki and Kaupthing. Time after time, shareholders and the public had been assured that the banks would hold through the financial storm.

No one foresaw what was coming, when the wells of liquidity dried up. However, there were unhealthy signs that should have warned us and there were people who had stood up and said that we had gone too far and bitten off more than we could chew.

These voices were simply dismissed and even frowned upon. Everything was healthy. Everybody was profiting. Just look at us, we are filthy rich!

The normal people of Iceland now ask: How could this happen? I bet many people ask the same questions in most parts of the Western world in these grim times.

How can it happen that we allowed the banks to grow completely out of proportion with the size and productivity of the economy? Why did we not stop this?

Most of us knew about the extravagant and gluttonous behavior of the people who surfed on the top of this wave. People who simply behaved like idiots, took out ridiculously-high wages and separated themselves from the rest of society—as if they were an elitist class.

The foundation of Icelandic society is the will to keep all citizens well and prosperous. Equality means a lot to normal people in this country and it has been gained with hard work and through our welfare system. There have always been wealthy people in this country, but until recently they did not behave like total pollocks.

I come from a fishing town in the West Fjords. When I was growing up there was plenty of work for everybody. Every hand was needed to save what was brought to shore. There were rich people but they didn’t brag about their wealth to others or flash it around with fancy lifestyles. It was hard-earned and honest wealth made by pioneers. In fact most of it was poured back into society to create more stability and work. 

A former bank manager in the Westman Islands once told me a story. He came there right after the volcanic eruption in 1973. The town of 5,000 inhabitants was evacuated in one night to save people. After the eruption people returned to their properties and started to clean up the mess.

These were hard times for the people in the Westman Islands, just like the times are hard now for most of us here in Iceland. The times that followed the eruption were even harder, three bad fishing seasons in a row. And this was a town which was built solely on fish.

The bank manager said to me: “The bank basically ran the society. When the fishing was bad men sneaked along walls and wanted not to be seen. When the fishing was good they walked in the middle of the street.”

Like in the Westman Islands there will be bright times again although much has been lost.

I hope that we will find a solution for those who put their hard-earned savings away into an Icelandic bank, here and elsewhere. Otherwise we will have to sneak along walls when we travel abroad. 

For those who lent adventurers sums of money that normal people like I can’t understand I have no sympathy. And for those who spent and spent on silly and meaningless things without ever thinking about the consequences I have no sympathy either. Shame on you!

We should divert our thoughts to more meaningful things than money and build a system that is fair, safe and equal for citizens. When this tempest is over I hope we will be able to walk in the middle of the street again.

BB – bjarni@icelandreview.com