Meanwhile in the European Union...

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/austerity-protests-stall-several-european-nations-170229835--finance.html

Austerity protests stall several European nations

By RAF CASERT | Associated Press – 1 hr 49 mins ago

BRUSSELS (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Europe's beleaguered citizens went on strike or snarled the streets of several capitals Wednesday, at times clashing with riot police, as they demanded that governments stop cutting benefits and create more jobs.

Workers with jobs and without spoke of a "social emergency" crippling the world's largest economic bloc, a union of 27 nations and half a billion people.

The protests were met with tear gas in Italy and Spain, but were largely limited to the countries hardest hit by the austerity measures designed to bring government spending into line with revenues. Wealthier nations like Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark saw only small, sedate demonstrations.

Governments backing the line of stringent austerity were not impressed by the show of force.

"We must nevertheless do what is necessary: break open encrusted labor markets, give more people a chance to work, become more flexible in many areas," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. "We will of course make this clear, again and again, in talks with the unions."

Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos spoke of "a long crisis that has meant sacrifice and uncertainty," but said: "The government is convinced that the path we have taken is the only possible way out."

To combat a three-year financial crisis over too much sovereign debt, governments across Europe have had to raise taxes and cut spending, pensions and benefits. As well as hitting workers' incomes and living standards, these measures have also led to a decline in economic output and a sharp increase in unemployment.

The zone of the 17 countries that use the euro currency is expected to fall into recession when official figures are released Thursday.

Unemployment across those countries has reached a record 11.6 percent, with Spain and Greece seeing levels above 25 percent.

With no end in sight to Europe's economic hardship, workers were trying to take a stand on Wednesday.

"There is a social emergency in the south," said Bernadette Segol, secretary general of the European Trade Union Confederation. "All recognize that the policies carried out now are unfair and not working."

Spain's General Workers' Union said the nationwide strike — the second this year — was being observed by nearly all workers in the automobile, energy, shipbuilding and construction industries. The country, reeling from austerity measures designed to prevent it from asking for a full-blown international bailout, is mired in recession with 50 percent unemployment among its under-25s.

Ignacio Fernandez Toxo, a CCOO Spanish union leader, called Wednesday's actions "a political strike against the policies of a suicidal and anti-social government."

The Spanish strike shut down most schools, and hospitals operated with skeleton staffs. Health and education have both suffered serious spending cutbacks and increased moves toward privatization.

Frustration spilled into violence when riot police clashed with demonstrators in Madrid and other Spanish cities. By early evening, when a march drew tens of thousands of people into the center of the Spanish capital, 118 people had been arrested and 74 people, including 43 police, injured.

In Italy, protests turned violent as well, with some of the tens of thousands of students and workers clashing with riot police in several cities. Dozens of demonstrators were detained and a handful of police were injured, according to Italian news reports.

In bailed-out Portugal, where the government intends to intensify austerity measures next year, the second general strike in eight months left commuters stranded as trains ground to a virtual halt and the Lisbon subway shut down. Some 200 flights to and from Portugal — about half the daily average — were canceled. Hospitals provided only minimum services and municipal trash was left uncollected.

Protest marches in 40 Portuguese cities reportedly were peaceful but as night fell a small group of protesters threw rocks and bottles at riot police protecting the parliament building in Lisbon. A police charge dispersed the protesters who fled into narrow side-streets and set fire to trash cans. At least five people were injured.

Airports across Europe were forced to cancel flights to and from striking nations.

In Belgium, a 24-hour rail stoppage severely disrupted the Thalys and the Eurostar high-speed rail services — vital links that connect Brussels, London and Paris.

Philippe de Buck, chief of the EU employers' federation Eurobusiness, said the strike would cost billions of euros and hurt Europe's ability to attract investors.

"If you start striking at national level and in companies you only will harm the economy," he said. "And it is not the right thing to do today."

Europe has a long history of union action, and workers' rights and benefits have been one of the cornerstones of its welfare state, with its guaranteed medical care, generous unemployment benefits and often comfortable pensions.

The union action was not felt across the entire region, however, with countries where austerity has not hit as hard experiencing little disruption.

In Austria, which has the eurozone's lowest unemployment at 4.3 percent, only about 350 people gathered in a central square in Vienna to express solidarity with Greece. Many danced a sirtaki, Greece's traditional dance.

"So far, there are only symbolic demonstrations here in Germany, because we were able to avoid the crisis," said Michael Sommer, the head of Germany's main labor union federation.

In Denmark, too, there were no strikes, since cooperation between workers and employers has largely survived the crisis.

"The employers speak the same language as we do and we understand each other's needs and demands," said Joergen Frederiksen, a 69-year-old retired worker and former shop steward. "There are good vibes between us and that means a lot."

Edited November 14, 2012 by Bad_Daddy

[sly_wolf 199]

Thats what happens when you have corruption between the government and the elite.

[Danno 1,228]

Don't think all the Obamer Class warfare has no real effect, when our time comes to cut watch our folks take to the streets too with the cry in their mouths-

"It's the fault of the rich"

and

"Make the rich pay, not us".

as our cites go up in flames.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Don't think all the Obamer Class warfare has no real effect, when our time comes to cut watch our folks take to the streets too with the cry in their mouths-

"It's the fault of the rich"

and

"Make the rich pay, not us".

as our cites go up in flames.

That would be called "Occupy Protest part 2".

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I can see why people would be pizzed off.

The Life of Greece's One Percent

By Julia Amalia Heyer

The Greek economy has been tanking for years now as the country struggles to balance its budget by imposing deep austerity measures. But the country's richest residents haven't noticed. Many aren't taxed at all, and some of those that are prefer to dodge their obligation to the state instead.

He'd be happy to discuss art, says the spokeswoman of Greece's biggest shipping magnate. He'd be willing to talk about his collection and the market, or about his fondness for German painters, such as Neo Rauch or Otto Dix, from whom he owns several works. Perhaps he might even muse on the Botero painting he recently purchased for €330,000 ($420,000).

George Economou, though, would prefer not to discuss his country. "He is happy to answer questions on art," his handler repeats. She is standing in gold-colored sandals at the entrance to his villa in Maroussi, a northern suburb of Athens. Her billionaire boss behind her, wearing a pink shirt, khakis and boat shoes, is snatching an hors d'oeuvre off a serving tray.

Only a chosen few have received a fuchsia-colored invitation to attend the "Talking Heads" exhibition. Economou will be showing a large part of his collection for the first time this evening. The guests are milling about as a bartender in a large tent mixes mint, ice and the resin-flavored liquor mastika together for a Greek take on the mojito. Between bites, Economou explains that he views art as more than just an investment. His collection, he insists, means a lot to him and he expects it to keep growing.

Economou's little slice of heaven is well-protected. There are a number of guards, and those entering his art gallery must first pass through a security gate complete with a fingerprint scanner.

Sitting in a Mercedes luxury sedan with the air conditioning on high after the private viewing, Economou's daughter Alexandra says that her country is not as safe as it used to be and that she now only takes a taxi in a pinch out of fear of being abducted. Yes, even the rich in Greece have worries.

Last week, Greece's parliamentagreed to a new package of austerity measures that are supposed to reduce expenditures by €13.5 billion between now and 2015, primarily through salary and pension cuts. The measures will lower the average monthly salary in the country to some €950. Families making more than €18,000 a year will no longer receive child allowances. And, this month, Greece is once again trembling in fear over whether it will receive the next €31.5 billion tranche of loans from the European Union. If it doesn't arrive by the end of November, the country will become insolvent.

Stored away in Switzerland

At the same time, there are a number of lists circulating in Athens including names attached to unfathomable sums of money. These belong to politicians, actors and businesspeople, all of whom supposedly have accounts at the Geneva branch of the British bank HSBC. Experts estimate that Greeks have up to €170 billion in assets safely stored away in Switzerland.

"Greece is a poor country with very rich people," Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras recently said. And philanthropy, though a Greek word, is not widespread in practice. Members of the country's upper crust continue to exploit all the loopholes the government offers them. Indeed, the state makes it remarkably easy for them to do so: For a full year now, the government has been announcing that a treaty with Switzerland aiming to put an end to tax evasion is "just about to be concluded." But it has yet to be signed.

The privileged don't even bother to hide their wealth in public. In the rich neighborhoods -- whether Kifissia in northern Athens or Glyfada to the south -- people still speed about in their Porsche Cayennes and Hermès handbags can still be seen beneath café tables. Gucci, Balenciaga and Dior all maintain stores in the Greek capital. It's the florists around the corner that go out of business.

The Greek government can no longer pay its bills and owes private-sector companies some €9 billion. But even now, three years into the crisis, it continues to exempt commercial shipping companies, which make up its most successful industrial sector, from all taxes. This relief for the rich just puts more of a burden on the poor.

The EU's Directorate-General for Competition recently identified 57 different tax amnesties for Greece shipowners alone and, puzzled, sent a letter to the government in Athens.

Leon Patitsas, the 36-year-old heir to a shipping company, numbers among those who have benefitted from these exemptions. Hanging in his office are portraits of his forefathers next to framed pictures of tanker ships. Patitsas is the head of Atlas Maritime, which currently owns six active oil tankers with a seventh under construction in Shanghai. The Greek merchant marine fleet, Patitsas says, is the largest in the world and he believes the tax exemption enjoyed by his industry is a necessity rather than a privilege. "Shipping ensures 400,000 jobs in Greek shipyards that could go elsewhere at any time," he says.

'I Love My Country'

But shouldn't the shipping industry be showing solidarity with the state instead of threatening to leave at the first sign of taxation?

The state doesn't offer any security, Patitsas says, not to investors, businesspeople or him. He says that people in Greece think that capital is to blame for everything, and not the powerful unions that actually destroy jobs with their unrealistic demands rather than preserving them.

Greece-owned ships transport 20 percent of the world's seaborne cargo, though the ships usually sail under the flags of other countries. As such, the world's largest merchant fleet hardly contributes anything to Greece's economic performance, and shipping revenues aren't taxed. In fact, shipping companies don't even have to pay taxes for divisions that have nothing to do with transporting cargo on the seas.

Patitsas and his wife, a well-known fashion model and television presenter, recently gave birth to a son. Just a year ago, the two would occasionally allow themselves to be photographed at home for glossy magazines. But they don't anymore. "We have to be careful," Patitsas says. "A lot of people are envious." When asked what keeps him in Greece, he says: "I love my country."

While Greece has public debt of roughly €301 billion, its citizens have private assets worth almost twice as much. According to the independent Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), the top 20 percent of Greeks earn six times as much as the bottom 20 percent.

Patitsas' family comes from Oinousses, a small archipelago in the North Aegean sandwiched between the island of Chios and the Turkish coast. A number of major ship-owning families have roots on the island, including that of Elli Patera. She also numbers among those Greeks who have it all -- and always have.

A decade ago, Patera started her own business as a real estate agent because she was tired of merely being an heiress. She focused on her direct surroundings: properties in the high-class areas of northern Athens, villas hidden behind huge hedges and bungalows sporting five-car garages.

Horrible Citizens, Enthusiastic Patriots

At the moment, the 47-year-old is spending some time on Mykonos. The country's crisis has never reached this island, a favorite resort for the jet set and party locale for the well-heeled. One can buy rosaries designed by Chanel at the local jeweler, and one can enjoy a magnum bottle of Armand de Brignac champagne at the Nammos beach club, on Greece's most exclusive beach, for a cool €120,000.

Patera says her country is afflicted by the same maladies as her profession: Things have gotten out of proportion. Before 2009, she says that only one thing mattered: growth, growth, growth. Every house with a garden suddenly cost €5 million, she says. "Everyone wanted to buy -- the more expensive, the better."

But now, Patera says, the real estate market has dried up. Most owners continue to demand as much as they did before the crisis, €30 million for a house that isn't worth even half as much. No one can or wants to pay that much anymore. "We refuse to recognize the causes," she says. "Most people think that the crisis is only an evil, stupid idea of the Europeans."

Patera's background no doubt helps her keep a level head. People with enough money have no need for conspiracy theories. But what are rich people doing for their country?

Greek President Karolos Papoulias once said: "Everyone acts in accordance with their patriotism." Peter Nomikos says that Greeks are horrible citizens but enthusiastic patriots. The 33-year-old investor from a ship-owning family is actually trying to do something for his country. He has founded an initiative called "Greece Debt Free," which aims to help Greeks buy back their debts. This is an impossible undertaking not only because it involves the astronomical figure of roughly €300 billion, but also because three quarters of this debt is held by public creditors rather than being traded on the open market.

By August, donations to Nomikos' initiative had surpassed €2.5 million. The figure is constantly updated on the "Greece Debt Free" homepage. As of Monday morning, the sum lay at €2,510,072 -- or almost exactly where it was three months earlier.

Six Months for a Refrigerator

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation, named after a Greek shipping magnate of the same name, has also allocated €100 million to immediate crisis relief efforts. It also invests money in things that the rich value: in a park in Athens, an opera and a library. The Alexander S. Onassis Foundation, which honors a deceased son of the former shipping magnate and husband of Jacqueline Kennedy, has launched an architecture competition aimed at beautifying downtown Athens. It also finances several cultural projects -- though a guest performance of Berlin's Schaubühne theater company probably isn't all that high on the list of priorities for people who can no longer afford to visit a doctor because they don't have insurance.

By way of welcome, Petros Kokkalis, a scion of what is perhaps Greece's most influential family, is handing out a green brochure showing vegetable patches. He has set up an enormous garden in one of the poorer parts of Athens. Kokkalis used to be a vice president of the Olympiacos Piraeus football club, which his father once owned. He used to drive flashy sports cars, but now he prefers a Volkswagen Golf. Kokkalis says the crisis has opened his eyes and made him more political. He also says he is keenly aware of his county's problems. For example, he says he had to wait six months for a permit just to install a bamboo bar with a refrigerator in his garden.

When asked whether it wasn't exactly this kind of governmental inaction that allowed his family to become wealthy, Kokkalis shrugs his shoulders and nods. The state still has to become more just and more effective he says.

Has he moved much money abroad? "Certainly not all of it," he replies. It's meant as a joke. He says he can't help it that he's rich and that he never did anything to make it that way. But the vegetable park is his project. Here, he shows school classes mint and oregano growing in beds and cockroaches in a terrarium. There are also horses on the property.

The entrance fee is €4, more than many schoolchildren can now afford. So Kokkalis is thinking about lowering the fee to €2. When asked why there is any admission fee at all, he replies: "We want the project to be self-sustaining."

His family is one of the richest in the country. His father, Socrates, is the founder of Intracom, a multinational technology group. He bankrolled an entire library at Harvard University, and he finances a program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe at its Kennedy School of Government. His son Petros says that the family now has to be careful to make sure that the 10,500 people working for the Kokkalis empire in Greece don't lose their jobs. It's important, he stresses.

George Economou, the billionaire shipowner and art collector, doesn't even want to answer the question of what he does for his country. His spokeswoman will only say: "No information will be disclosed on this matter."

Translated from the German by Josh Ward

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I can see why people would be pizzed off.

Loans from German banks that were not forced upon anyone yet the rest of Europe likes to place the blame on the German banks for forcing them to pay up. The Irish are blaming the German banks, the Greeks, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, etc.. whaa whaa whaa. Just like Americans did over their home loans. It's always the other guys fault for him loaning you X amount of money and then expecting you to pay it back even if the economy tanks.

The Greek government is BROKE. They have NO MONEY. Germany was begging for an austerity plan from Greece and they got one. It's breaking those people but hopefully they learn something from all this. I feel bad for those people because it's only a small percentage that's screwing the rest when they signed those agreements with the German banks but maybe if they made rules ahead of time this could have been avoided. Sometimes you have to stick your tongue in a light socket to learn the hard way.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Bad_Daddy

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Loans from German banks that were not forced upon anyone yet the rest of Europe likes to place the blame on the German banks for forcing them to pay up. The Irish are blaming the German banks, the Greeks, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, etc.. whaa whaa whaa. Just like Americans did over their home loans. It's always the other guys fault for him loaning you X amount of money and then expecting you to pay it back even if the economy tanks.

The Greek government is BROKE. They have NO MONEY. Germany was begging for an austerity plan from Greece and they got one. It's breaking those people but hopefully they learn something from all this. I feel bad for those people because it's only a small percentage that's screwing the rest when they signed those agreements with the German banks but maybe if they made rules ahead of time this could have been avoided. Sometimes you have to stick your tongue in a light socket to learn the hard way.

Whatever solving the European crisis costs Germany, it has already earned that cost many times over from the rest of Europe. There was an interesting article in the German media just the other day that walked through the scenario where Germany leaves the Euro zone to escape being on the hook for the cost of saving it. Germany did not come out well and it wouldn't. Germany's wealth stands and falls with Europe. Do the peripheral nations need to make adjustments? Sure. Can Germany just go it alone? Not without taking a major blow to its economy and to its wealth. Germany knows this and will work with the rest of Europe out of this crisis. They will start to focus on growth because Austerity clearly isn't working.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Wow! Everybody is sporting that same cheesy mustache.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Whatever solving the European crisis costs Germany, it has already earned that cost many times over from the rest of Europe. There was an interesting article in the German media just the other day that walked through the scenario where Germany leaves the Euro zone to escape being on the hook for the cost of saving it. Germany did not come out well and it wouldn't. Germany's wealth stands and falls with Europe. Do the peripheral nations need to make adjustments? Sure. Can Germany just go it alone? Not without taking a major blow to its economy and to its wealth. Germany knows this and will work with the rest of Europe out of this crisis. They will start to focus on growth because Austerity clearly isn't working.

Germany wouldn't even consider the thought of leaving the EU. The EU is a German invention and Berlin's project. No EU and Berlin would be bored to death. If Germany ever did decide to go it alone it would come out better than the rest of Europe and that's something I would bet the farm on.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The EU will devolve. It has to. There are too many artificial supports keeping it alive. If the UK pulls out, it's over.

MPs debate case for UK pulling out of European Union

A Conservative MP has likened the UK's membership of the EU to "being shackled to a corpse" as the Commons debated the case for quitting the union.

Douglas Carswell told MPs that talk of withdrawal was now a "mainstream" rather than a "maverick" view.

His private Member's Bill would repeal the 1972 act allowing the UK to join the former European Economic Community.

He admitted it had little chance of becoming law but said the issue could not be ignored by the ruling elite.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20085437

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Germany wouldn't even consider the thought of leaving the EU. The EU is a German invention and Berlin's project. No EU and Berlin would be bored to death. If Germany ever did decide to go it alone it would come out better than the rest of Europe and that's something I would bet the farm on.

If Germany was to leave the EUR zone, the German Mark if re-introduced on a 1-1 basis against the EUR would be worth EUR 1.50 within a quarter. German products would no longer be competitive in Europe and Germany companies would have no choice but to move production to EUR zone countries. German unemployment would skyrocket and the national economy would tank. Germany has no choice but to pull the European periphery up. It's the market that consumes most of its products. Germany depends on Europe much more than you realize.

[Ban Hammer 13,399]

If Germany was to leave the EUR zone, the German Mark if re-introduced on a 1-1 basis against the EUR would be worth EUR 1.50 within a quarter. German products would no longer be competitive in Europe and Germany companies would have no choice but to move production to EUR zone countries. German unemployment would skyrocket and the national economy would tank. Germany has no choice but to pull the European periphery up. It's the market that consumes most of its products. Germany depends on Europe much more than you realize.

when it was pegged officially the mark was 1.94 or something to the euro, wasn't it?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

when it was pegged officially the mark was 1.94 or something to the euro, wasn't it?

It was. But if Germany was to introduce the DM again today at a 1:1 ratio, the DM would exceed the EUR in value in very short order. That's how uneven the competitiveness of the EUR countries is. You know that Germany could not survive a DM / EUR ratio of 1 / 1.50. No way. The US would suffer from a devalued EUR all the same.

[Ban Hammer 13,399]

It was. But if Germany was to introduce the DM again today at a 1:1 ratio, the DM would exceed the EUR in value in very short order. That's how uneven the competitiveness of the EUR countries is. You know that Germany could not survive a DM / EUR ratio of 1 / 1.50. No way. The US would suffer from a devalued EUR all the same.

why not the original 1.94/1?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

why not the original 1.94/1?

Why bother with that rate? You'd have to do the same exercise changing prices, payrolls and everything on that exchange rate again. Same as they did when the EUR was first introduced. Easier to make it 1:1 and just change the currency from EUR back to DEM. The exchange rate to the EUR would be set by the market and - according to the article I read the other day - would be expected to be at 1.5 EUR to 1 DEM within a matter of months. The German economy would be toast right then and there. And again, the US economy would suffer as well since exports into the now smaller EUR zone would collapse while imports from that zone would skyrocket. Not good for US jobs.