Greece set for anti-austerity general strike

[HiPointDem]

Wednesday's 24-hour walkout is to protest at new planned spending cuts of more than 11.5bn euros ($15bn; £9bn).

The savings are a pre-condition to Greece receiving its next tranche of bailout funds, without which the country could face bankruptcy in weeks.

Large anti-austerity demonstrations are also planned.

Greece needs the next 31bn-euro instalment of its international bailout, but with record unemployment and a third of Greeks pushed below the poverty line, there is strong resistance to further cuts.

The government of conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is also proposing to slash pensions and raise the retirement age to 67.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19724284

Strike in Greece Idles Almost All Travel

Wednesday's general strike protesting increased austerity demands combined with an air traffic controller strike in Greece will idle flights completely between 11am and 3pm, but the effects will be felt on many flights before and after those hours.

In addition, virtually all local transportation will only operate between 9am and 9pm. Ferries will also be idled, and the center of Athens around Syntagma Square will be crammed with protesters. Monuments and archaeological sites will be closed.

http://gogreece.about.com/b/2012/09/25/strike-in-greece-idles-almost-all-travel.htm

[dkf]

1. And that keeps them from making any money from tourism. That's great.

This is how it's going to happen with us. We aren't going to fix things until its all gone to hell.

[tama]

2. Making money

is the problem.

[darkangel218]

3. Imo, Greece brought this situation upon itself. For a long time they lived beyond their means n/t

[HiPointDem]

4. gag

[darkangel218]

7. The tax evasion in that country was at amazing levels.

And public servants were getting bonuses just for coming to work on time.

What did you expect it was going to happen?

[HiPointDem]

8. bullshit talking points from capital's spin machine

[darkangel218]

10. How is it bs?

It's facts.

[HiPointDem]

15. sure it is

[Selatius]

34. Actually, Greece's tax collection mechanism is notoriously lax and has been for a very long time.

The rich are the worst abusers of the system as well as educated professionals such as doctors and attorneys. For the wealthiest quarter of the country, dodging taxes had become something of a national pastime like football.

The result is the Greek government, rather than cracking down on the abuse, simply borrowed the amount to cover the tax revenue shortfalls. There had been a lot of lobbying by special interests to encourage the Greek Parliament to simply kick the can down the road by borrowing instead of actually punishing the tax cheats and imposing a tax collection mechanism that actually works.

The end conclusion is that now the working class of Greece is made to bail out the avarice and malfeasance of the wealthier citizens with cuts to social programs that act as a safety net for the working class and the poor.

They should've followed Iceland's example by letting the banks fail, nationalizing the pieces to be relaunched as sound banks, and offering relief to unemployed workers and distressed homeowners to keep them and the economy going.

For the record, I think Greece should've simply told the banks to burn.

[girl gone mad]

14. One of our Presidential candidates probably evaded more in taxes..

than all of the Greek middle class combined.

It's absurdly naive to blame the crisis on tax evasion. Who still does this?

[loli phabay]

22. not sure about that, but tax evasion is a national sport in greece

you would be amazed at just how prevalent it is from the corner grocer to the fisherman selling at the back door.

[Zalatix]

27. "from the corner grocer to the fisherman selling at the back door"

but most significantly, the Plutocrats moving millions of Euros offshore.

[loli phabay]

28. yup thats the point its all the way top to bottom

id say its the number one hobby, and it permeates every facet of greek life. Its pretty amazing to see.

[Zalatix]

29. Two problems with your comments.

1) Your comments blamed the lower classes but left out the rich who were...
2) causing the lion's share of Greece's money problems.

[loli phabay]

31. no problem with my comments, its the whole of greek society that plays this game

so everyone has a hand in the problems.

[Zalatix]

32. Your comments left out the rich who cheated Greece the most. That is a BIG problem right there.

Show me where, in your post, you talked about the rich and their tax evasions.

"from the corner grocer to the fisherman selling at the back door"

No rich people there. Perhaps your mention of the rich was in invisible text?

[loli phabay]

33. as i said and ill say again, its the whole of the society that plays the game

not sure what you read as the whole of society as.

[Zalatix]

35. You added that after the fact, after I called you on it.

That is nowhere in the post that I criticized.

[Zalatix]

24. You're kidding, right?

[Prometheus Bound]

5. At this point, what's the point.

Let's say this pressures the government to cancel or reduce the planned cuts. The money's not there. Everyone knows it.

Maybe it's a show of solidarity for the IMF or something. Or just to make people feel useful about doing something even if it is useless.

[HiPointDem]

9. there's plenty of money there, here, and everywhere.

[darkangel218]

11. umm.. ok.

[HiPointDem]

13. direct your smiley things at yourself

[darkangel218]

16. Nope, theyre directed at you and theyre going to stay that way lol

[HiPointDem]

19. whatever, dude, your dumb talking points are too tiresome

[darkangel218]

20. First off, im not a dude.

Secondly, no one is forcing you to agree with me

This is a forum, you're bound to run into fifteenth opinions.

[HiPointDem]

30. i'll just put you down for the column that favors killing people so banksters can get richer

[Prometheus Bound]

12. Sure, but it's all spoken for.

81% of new borrowed money goes to bond holders. With tax revenue continuing to fall, that leaves very little for regular government spending.

[HiPointDem]

17. i'll put you down in the 'greeks must die to pay the bondholders' column, then.

[Prometheus Bound]

37. Why would you do that?

What an odd response!

[Zalatix]

26. Then perhaps it's time to take the money from the bondholders.

[Prometheus Bound]

38. That's already been done.

And it looks like it'll be done again.

It's still hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel.

[Zalatix]

25. Untrue. The money ain't "here", if here is Greece.

That's because the Plutocrats moved a ton of Greece's money offshore.

The solution is to raid the offshore tax havens for Greece's share of the $21 TRILLION that the tax cheats put there, NOT to impose austerity upon the people.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Headline changed to : Greece stages anti-austerity general strike

Trade unions in Greece have begun the first general strike since the country's conservative-led coalition government came to power in June.

same loink : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19724284

[AnneD]

18. The Greeks brought this on themselves???????

Record unemployment, esp. for young college educated Greeks ( over 50%), over 1/3 the population thrown into poverty due to high taxes on basics essentials like oil and electricity as a way to raise money, employees 'paying back' on wages they have already earned ( ie basically working for free), and now they want to slash pensions and raise the retirement age.

These loans to prevent a default are basically going to pay interest to banksters. It does nothing to help the Greek people. If you don't think that will happen here, you haven't been reading any financial news. It is getting worse here and we will be eclipsing Greece. I don't think the Greeks need condemnation, they need support. They should do what Iceland did, arrest and convict the criminal bankers with their fraudulent deal and refuse to pay usuary interest on sham debt deal. The people are being reduce to economic serfdom. I support a general strike in Greece and think we need to have a preemptive one here when they start that crap here.....and they will.

[darkangel218]

21. They had a period between 2002 and 2007

When they piled up on this debt. It was a huge mistake, especially since they weren't such a wealthy country to begin with.

[AnneD]

41. Was this before or after Goldman Sachs cooked the books.....

This deal was hidden from the Greek people, much like the WS fraudsters hide their illegal dealings. I do not want to be responsible for their crimes anymore than the Greek people want to be responsible for crimes done against them. Iceland had the right idea.

How WS cooked the books.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/business/global/14debt.html?pagewanted=all

[Laelth]

23. k&r for a general strike.

That's the way to get things done!

-Laelth

[99Forever]

36. I'm hoping we start our general strikes long before...

.. we've been backed into the position the Greek people have been. Time to take the Banksters out.

[xchrom]

39. Du rec. Nt

[Prometheus Bound]

40. While 35,000 people participated in the strike, 60,000 left for Germany last year.

This reflects the hopelessness of the situation.

[Comrade Grumpy]

42. I stand in solidarity with my Greek brothers and sisters.

It may be getting to time to change the game in a big way. Repudiate and rebuild.