Ever wonder how Starbucks coffee tastes burnt? Ask a Greek in Athens [View all]

[stockholmer]

Starbucks in Athens



Historic buildings set ablaze in Greek riots

http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/historic-buildings-set-ablaze-in-greek-riots-4717763


(Reuters) Historic cinemas, cafes and shops went up in flames on Sunday as Greek riot police struggled to pin down black-masked anti-austerity protesters roaming around central Athens. As lawmakers prepared to vote on an EU/IMF bailout to save Greece from a messy bankruptcy, a Reuters photographer saw the buildings engulfed in flames and huge plumes of smoke rose in the night sky.

Black-masked protesters throwing petrol bombs created a wall of fire outside Greece's parliament as lawmakers inside looked set defy public rage by endorsing a new austerity deal to secure an EU/IMF bailout and avoid national bankruptcy. Lawmakers came under intense pressure from both sides, with tens of thousands of demonstrators pouring into Syntagma Square in front of parliament, while the government warned that rejection would demand "unimaginably harsher" sacrifices by Greeks.

In running battles, protesters threw home made bombs made from gas canisters as riot police advanced across the square on the crowds, firing tear gas and stun grenades. Loud booms From the protests could be heard inside parliament.

"Tear gas has reached the parliament chamber," said leftist lawmaker Panagiotis Lafazanis.

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Live streams:

http://www.livestream.com/stopcarteltvgr?utm_source=lsplayer&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=footerlinks

http://www.aganaktismenoi.com/index.php/live-streaming-.html










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Meanwhile in Ireland:

The middle classes, the very backbone of Ireland, are being driven into revolt

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/carol-hunt-well-only-be-pushed-so-far-enda-theres-nothing-left-to-take-from-us-3016993.html

The Coping Classes: The term was first coined by Eoghan Harris, a leading political strategist in Ireland, to analyse the rise of a huge middle-class in the South, which is credited with kick-starting the Celtic Tiger.


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Here in Ireland, Eoghan Harris replaced the term "middle-class" with "coping classes" to better explain the increasing numbers of Irish people who may not have fitted the traditional (British?) interpretation of "middle-class" but who nonetheless shared the values usually attributed to this group.

So who are we? Well, we're a very ordinary lot really -- but what we all have in common is a belief in the future. We work, we earn moderate salaries, we have mortgages -- some far in excess of what our homes are now worth -- we pay our bills and taxes and try to make sure our kids get the best chances available to them. We keep the peace, we keep our heads down, we are little or no trouble to our neighbours or to the State.

We try to go away every so often -- for a break, a treat, a family time together that we believe is important for good communication. We save to get braces fitted on our teenagers' teeth or to consult a specialist about their swollen tonsils; we put what we can away for their college fees and we enthusiastically drive them to football, piano or ballet practice. We ask for little, we give far more than we take and we are happy to be in a position to do so in a civilised and just democracy in a State we call our home.

But now we, the coping classes, are in danger of being wiped out, in many cases we are no longer coping, but barely surviving. Some are not even doing that. We've become an easy target for a political class that doesn't have the guts to stand up to a bullying European bureaucracy or the imagination to conceive of new approaches to our current woes.

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Ireland: Shocking injustice of austerity taxes revealed The biggest burden has fallen on those earning €17,542 to €20,000, who have collectively paid three times more tax in 2011 than they did in 2010 — or a shocking 215 per cent increase.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/shocking-injustice-of-austerity-taxes-revealed-3017101.html

THE true scale of the tax burden on low- and middle-income earners as a result of the austerity drive is revealed in staggering new figures published today. Estimates released by the Department of Finance showed that those who earn the least have been worst hit by tax hikes while the country's top earners contributed marginally less.

The figures provide a detailed snapshot of how the increased tax burden caused by the economic crisis has weighed more on the less-well-off than the richest. They showed that the "coping classes" earning anything from €17,543 to €50,000 are bearing the brunt of austerity.

The biggest burden has fallen on those earning €17,542 to €20,000, who have collectively paid three times more tax in 2011 than they did in 2010 -- or a shocking 215 per cent increase. Those earning €20,001 to €30,000 are paying 36 per cent more tax than they did in 2010 and those earning between €40,001 and €50,000 are paying 23 per cent more. The huge tax burden was attributed to the introduction of the Universal Social Charge and on a reduction in tax credits in the Government's bid to raise more than €1bn in extra income tax in 2011.

However, leadings tax consultants said yesterday the figures showed how the tax hikes have had a "disproportionate effect" on the lower paid while leaving the country's highest earners largely unscathed. For example, the 118 people in the country who earn more than €2m paid 0.3 per cent less in tax in 2011 than they did in 2010; the 1,148 who earned between €400,001 and €450,000 paid just 1.1 per cent more in tax.

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