Furious Greeks Pack Streets to Protest Austerity Proposals Excerpt: Greek government plans for yet more austerity to satisfy its international lenders brought at least 80,000 protesters on to a central Athens square on Sunday to vent their fury at the nation's plight.
With Athens struggling to avoid a debt default, the cabinet will discuss a medium-term economic plan on Monday which promises several years at least of extra budget cuts and faster privatisations, its side of a deal to get a second financial bailout in a year from the European Union and IMF. Excerpt: Greeks are showing signs of reaching the limits of their endurance as budget cuts imposed under Greece's first bailout a year ago have helped to push unemployment close to 16 percent. Police said more than 80,000 people packed the main Syntagma square outside parliament on Sunday, although protesters accuse the authorities regularly of underestimating their numbers. Protesters have gathered on the square every night for 12 days but Sunday's was by far the biggest rally so far in the series that draws inspiration from similar protests in Spain. Excerpt: Papandreou has used his parliamentary majority to ram through successive rounds of austerity including cuts to pensions and civil servants' salaries. But faced with the popular anger, some PASOK lawmakers are becoming uneasy. A group of 16 wrote to the prime minister on Thursday demanding a full party debate on the medium-term plan as "a matter of patriotism and democracy." But Interior minister Yannis Ragousis warned that rocking the boat could lead to early elections, which opinion polls suggest would lead to political stalemate, raising the risk that the new bailout deal with the EU and IMF might unravel. "Anyone who drives the nation towards elections now will be effectively giving it the last push over the cliff," Ragousis told Sunday's edition of the Realnews newspaper. Excerpt: Greece agreed its first, 110 billion-euro, bailout a year ago. But this assumed that it could resume borrowing commercially early next year, which now appears inconceivable. So far, Athens has received 43 billion euros under the first bailout, although it urgently needs another 12 billion which had been due in late June to cover debt repayments and for its day-to-day running costs. The troika said on Friday that money should now be forthcoming in July. Read more here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/43285755 Fascinating. Prognosticators have been saying for two plus years that Greece is going to implode. Looks like it getting closer to the edge, especially if Germany gets tired of carrying the majority of the bailout burden (and the article indicates that Germany is getting tired of it). Also, it is understandable that the protestors want no more cuts. It would be interesting to see how they think such a policy could be carried out. If you don't have money and no one will lend you money, how exactly can you maintain the status quo? J - It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first. - Ronald Reagan The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. - Lord Acton ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:338640 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
