Black Humor Pervades Norway as Subprime Losses Extend to Arctic
By Robin Wigglesworth
Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- A subprime-linked investment has cost four Norwegian towns as much as 451 million kroner ($82.1 million) and left them wondering how they'll pay workers this Christmas. The rest of the country is cracking jokes.
``Just imagine how many lottery tickets they could have got for 400 million kroner,'' Jon Almaas, the host of ``News on News,'' Norway's most-watched television program, joked on a recent episode. ``Or, for fear of appearing old-fashioned, they could have spent it on health and education.''
The losses on securities tied to the U.S. housing market are providing plenty of fodder for Norwegian comics, who compare the towns of Rana, Hemnes, Narvik and Hattfjelldal to naive country bumpkins taken in by big city hucksters. It has also inspired amateur comedians who are sending their own attempts at humor to the Web site of national broadcaster NRK.
``We have had loads of material which has crisscrossed the country by e-mail,'' said Ulrik Rongved Amundsen, project leader for NRK's comedy sites.
The humor may be lost on the inhabitants of the four towns near the Arctic Circle. Narvik, with about 18,000 residents, failed to make payments to city workers last week.
Norwegian brokerage Terra Securities ASA filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 28. The country's financial regulator revoked Terra's license, saying the firm was guilty of ``serious and systematic violations of good code of conduct'' because it failed to inform the municipal clients about the investment risks.
Beware of Sharks
Comedian Knut Naerum said Terra's promotional materials were like ``Jaws'' without a shark.
``That's called creative editing,'' Naerum said on ``News on News,'' where comics comment on current events. ``Take the shark out and all you'd have is a rather short and nice film about swimming and fishing.''
Last weekend, more than 10,000 people took a multiple choice quiz on NRK's Web site to determine whether they were a ``Naive Northerner or a Slippery Salesman?''
``Where do you keep your money?'' was one question, with the possible answers being ``Certainly not in a hedge fund; I leave that to the local government,'' or ``A nice man with aftershave takes care of it for me.''
The scandal ``fits well with an old narrative that we all know: the scheming salesman and the dumb farmer,'' says Ivar Froenes, a sociologist at the University of Oslo. ``By just twisting it slightly it fits perfectly with this situation.''
Rana, Hemnes, Narvik and Hattfjelldal, which are dark for much of the day during the winter, aren't the only towns affected. Four other Norwegian municipalities have invested in securities whose values are dwindling as the U.S. subprime meltdown takes its toll.
Yet the northerners have born the brunt of the predominantly southern mirth because they're richer than the average Norwegian town, thanks to the revenue from hydroelectric dams that they used as security for their investments.
``These municipalities are actually fairly well off, so you feel slightly less sorry for them than you normally would,'' Froenes said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Robin Wigglesworth in Oslo at wigglesworth@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: December 6, 2007 19:15 EST |
