Economic Disaster Area » Jon Asgeir Johannesson

A Bad Dream?

Dadi — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:16:42 +0000

I have fallen ill lately, either some autumn flu or an allergy reaction due to Icelandic news.

It seems like Bjorgolfur Thor and Jon Asgeir Johannesson are going to be the two people who hold the reins in Icelandic business once the dust has settled. Their creditors including Landsbankinn and Arion seem to be competing for who can pay them more for writing off their debts (proving the old if you owe the bank a million then you are blah blah, if you owe the bank a billion the bank is blah blah).

The Independence Party is scoring highest in the polls (No, Icelanders do not understand cause and effect).

Ogmundur Jonasson is back in the government and Jon Bjarnason keeps his place (it pays to be a bully, ask David Oddson).

Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson and Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson are criticizing the government for covering up economic failures (although to be fair they should know a thing or two).

Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir is back in Althingi (after a 900 million krona bullet loan mishap) .

Arni J. Sigfusson, the mayor of astronomically bankrupt and thoroughly corrupt Reykjanesbaer is begging for a bailout in the form of an aluminium smelter.

And the church is mending broken souls with a poster campaign (so both of its attendees can read about how abusing people is bad on the church’s wall…next to the toilet).

Is it 2007, 2003, 1983, 1528, a groundhog day or a bad dream?

The Blame Game

Dadi — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 11:56:40 +0000

Former Kaupthing chairman Sigurdur Einarsson who was wanted by Interpol earlier this year knows where to seek blame for the Icelandic banking collapse of 2008.

It was the government, the supervision authorities and Landsbankinn amongst others according to a big interview in Frettabladid today.

The governments of David Oddson and Geir Haarde also know who to blame.

The banks, their owners and management.

Bjorgolfur Thor has said that Jon Asgeir Johannesson is very much to blame. And in some cases the Geir Haarde government. And his own CEO’s.

Jon Asgeir Johannesson has blamed the governments of David Oddson and Geir Haarde and the supervisory authorities.

Jonas Fr. Jonsson of the Financial Authority blames the banks, their owners and management.

All of them are correct.

Baugur’s Monaco Party 2007 (Video)

Dadi — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:52:04 +0000

Don’t you just long for the good old times of 2007?

Watch here at Daily Motion

For The Love Of Baugur’s Money

Dadi — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:34:35 +0000

The love hate relationship between the Independence Party and Jon Asgeir Johannesson’s Baugur gets stranger every day.

The right wing politicians of the Independence Party loves to blame everything that is wrong with Iceland on Jon Asgeir and Baugur. If you believe what they say in the media then you’d deduct that they actually hate the man and his business.

But they love his money. And not just Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson or the party itself. Now DV tells us that in 2006, Gisli Marteinn Baldursson got one million ISK from Baugur when he ran for Reykjavik city council.

Gisli claims he didn’t know about the support because he wanted to separate himself from his fund-raising team.

How peculiar is that? To not want to know who your supporters are?

A Message From Steingrimur – You Will Pay For Jon Asgeir

Dadi — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:29:31 +0000

“How to settle the debts of individual businesses is in the hands of the banks and they have to work according to regulations in those matters and not discriminate between people when estimating how the interests of the bank and therefore the Icelandic economy is best served, and how to minimize the damage. I will not get involved in individual matters, I neither want to or can. It would be wrong if the finance minister would get involved in individual cases. I cannot believe that is what people are asking.”
- Steingrimur J. Sigfusson when asked to comment on the proposed restructuring of Hagar, where Kaupthing supposedly is prepared to write off 50 billion ISK and let Jon Asgeir Johannessson resume 60% control in the company. Kaupthing has reputedly already written off billions in Jon Asgeir Johannesson’s other failed ventures.

Well Steingrimur, duh? There was an economic collapse here last year, remember?

was on the radio show Vikulokin at RUV the other day where one of the two other guests was Yngvi Örn Kristinsson, formerly chief economist of Landsbankinn. He had just finished work on the “government solution” and after the show he snapped at me for asking for a household debt relief plan. He told me how irresponsible I was because the government is re-building the banks on the back of the taxpayers so any more additions to that would mean more expenditure for the state, leading us into a situation where taxes would have to be 50% and pension payments cut.

I realised that a) we don’t know who was on that committee b) the Household Interest Group was not at the table c) Yngvi had mentioned that he had been in a situation where he had to negotiate with the new banks as if he had not been negotiating from a position of strength d) the people working on these plans are party-dogs like Yngvi who have been receiving huge salaries for the last couple of decades and cannot imagine the position of others e) are bankers who are used to assuming the position of the bank f) are good friends with the bank management g) and drive off after the meetings in their SUV’s.

I and the other two present countered with the unfairness of the price indexation, the flight from the ISK which lead to the currency mortgages and the alternatives of mass bankruptcies and exodus. Also the contradiction of the massive write-offs enjoyed by the riskiest businessmen and companies in Iceland.

Since that meeting with him I have felt the battle to make things better in Iceland is next to unwinnable. The people advising the government are the ones who created the mess. The only interest group that does not get representation are regular households and individuals. So their interests are not being watched.

I was on the radio show Vikulokin at RUV the other day where one of the two other guests was Yngvi Orn Kristinsson, formerly chief economist of Landsbankinn. He had just finished work on the “government solution” for the households and after the show he hissed at me for asking for a household debt relief plan. He told me how irresponsible I was because the government is re-building the banks on the back of the taxpayers. Any more additions to that would mean more expenditure for the state, leading us into a situation where taxes would have to be 50% and pension payments cut.

“Do you want to pay 50% taxes? Do you, do you?” was his mantra.

My arguments of the alternatives offered to people were bankruptcies and exodus did not merit an answer from the government’s chosen saviour of the households. Old style economics, old style economists.

I realised that a) we don’t really know who was on that committee b) the Household Interest Group was not at the table c) Yngvi had mentioned on the show that he had been in a situation where he had to negotiate with the new banks as if he had been the beggar d) the people working on these plans like Yngvi have been receiving huge salaries for the last couple of decades and cannot imagine the position of others e) are bankers who are used to assuming the position of the bank f) are good friends with the bank management g) and drive off after the meetings in their SUV’s.

Since that meeting with Yngvi I have had a resigned feeling of the situation in Iceland now being one where the have’s are cleaning up the valuables on the expense of the have nots. The people advising the government are the ones who created the mess. The only interest group that does not get representation with the government are regular households and individuals.

That is why we want Steingrimur to get involved. Unless what he really wants is to rebuild Jon Asgeir at our expense. I don’t know, the latest we’ve heard of Yngvi is that the Social Democrats are hard at work trying to find a lofty position for him in the system. It does not exactly build confidence in the whole process now does it?

This Is The New Old Iceland

Dadi — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:21:31 +0000

Morgunbladid today points out that one year from the economic collapse, Iceland’s most notorious businessmen still hold on to their companies.

Jon Asgeir Johanesson – Hagar (Hagkaup, 10-11,Bonus) / 365 Media (Channel 2, Frettabladid)

Karl & Steingrimur Wernersson – Lyf & Heilsa Drugstores

Agust & Lydur Gudmundsson – Exista (VIS, Lysing, Siminn, Oryggismidstodin) / Bakkavor

Palmi Haraldsson – Iceland Express

Strangely…or not so strangely considering who is Morgunbladid’s editor in chief, Bjorgolfur Thor is not mentioned. That eraser sure must be working.

He owns Nova, CCP, Verne Holdings, Novator

The Banana Republic Of Iceland (Video)

Dadi — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:27:42 +0000

The new video from Jon Gerald Sullenberger.

Economic Disaster Area

Dadi — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:45:26 +0000

Bloody hell.

I knew the name of my website would be apt, but even my lowest hopes for how things would turn out are being shattered. Icelanders apparantly can dig deeper than anyone ever could imagine.

How on earth are you going to shove this down your throat!?! David Oddson as editor in chief of Morgunbladid for crying out loud. What next? Margaret Thatcher at the local school board? Pinochet taking over the police force and Milton Friedman the dean of the University of Iceland?

How about we just turn off the light and slam the door on this godforsaken idiotic country?

A year ago I was whisked onto Silfur Egils because I wrote a comment on Egill Helgason’s website where I lambasted the state of a country that was going to hell in a handbasket and everything always just revolved around David Oddson vs. Jon Asgeir Johannesson. Two bloated egos with no care in the world for anyone but themselves and their tiny little spirits.

Within a week Glitnir had fallen, within a couple of months the government had fallen, David Oddson was out, Jon Asgeir seemed bankrupt and people were talking about a “New Iceland”. Well, you can kiss that dream goodbye everyone.

NOTHING HAS CHANGED AND NOTHING WILL CHANGE!!!

The evening news declared 65% of Icelandic businesses and 50% of Icelandic individuals on the brink of bankruptcy. Inflation is at 16%, unemployment close to 10%. Housing prices are falling, taxes are rising and then there is IceSave. We need foreign currency but our natural resources are sold off for 130 years, paid for by loans from ourselves with no guarantees that they will ever be paid back. We are the only country in the literate world that thinks price-indexation of loans is a wonderful idea. Instead of people who were at the helm at our financial institutions and government in the last years being brought to justice, they are re-elected, re-financed and revived.

ICELAND HAS BEEN AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY FOR 65 YEARS AND ITS DEMOCRATIC STORY IS ONE OF CORRUPTION, NEPOTISM AND EXTRAORDINARY ECONOMIC MANAGMENT IMPOTENCE.

And the best you can say about the current government is that it is not the previous one.

David Oddson should be history. Yesterday’s bad dream. Just like Jon Asgeir Johannesson and Bjorgolfur Thor are never supposed to be able to own a business or drive a Range Rover in Iceland ever again, David Oddson is not supposed to be writing the script anymore for anything other than his autobiography.

But the people who were made wealthy through their access to Iceland’s fishing resources by the Independence Party, the same people who became filthy, stinking rich by using the fish in the sea as a collateral in the world that David Oddson created, they are resurrecting the corpse. They want a newspaper that is going to take “New Iceland” by its throat and fill it with xenophobia, propaganda and fear. They want David Oddson’s vision of the world where foreigners are to be distrusted, where the law is to be manipulated against his adversaries and where the nation’s wealth is supposed to line the pockets of his friends.

There is no “New Iceland”. Just the same old crap. By replacing Olafur Stephensen with David Oddson, journalistic integrity and sensebility is being shunned.

And believe me, it appears that Icelanders are going to sit back and take it. People are tired from a year of “negative news” and are increasingly attempting to distance themselves from reality. The Citizens’ Movement is dead and the promise brought with the pot and pan revolution is dying. There is just an economic disaster area and soon it is going to be an intellectual disaster zone as well.

A Diet Coke

Dadi — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:59:15 +0000

Jon Asgeir Johannesson, who is now facing the loss of his only operational business that is left, Hagar which he “restructured” out of Baugur at the last moment has offered up what promises to be a legendary quote.

He asks the Icelandic nation not to worry about him. “I have enough for a Diet Coke, that is enough”.

Pity the poor marketing manager for Diet Coke in Iceland. What did he/she do to deserve this product placement?

Jon Asgeir’s Private Jet Gone

Dadi — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:04:35 +0000

GE Capital, a subsidiary of General Electric has reposessed the private jet 101, from Jon Asgeir Johannesson and Ingibjorg Palmadottir. According to Channel 2 news, the Dassault Falcon jet is valued at two and a half billion ISK. So they’ll have to do with Business Class for now. Related posts:A private affair Just Some Private [...] Related posts: