Greeks Still Not Ready to See Reality

Tuesday 5 October 2010 - Filed under Dumbassery + Economy + Europe + Government

The New York Times concerning the Greek draft austerity budget:

The Greek government, which this year has come under the tutelage of its euro-zone partners and the International Monetary Fund after it reached the brink of default, on Monday presented a draft austerity budget for 2011 that promised to raise more tax revenue while ending public-sector salary cuts.

According to the draft submitted to Parliament by Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou, the state aims to raise €5 billion, or $6.8 billion, from new tax measures, while it will cut spending by €1.5 billion.

[. . .]

The main Greek union for state workers said Monday that it would not take part in wage talks unless the government restored bonus payments it cut as part of efforts to reduce the deficit, Bloomberg News reported from Athens.

Adedy, the union that has called a nationwide one-day strike for Thursday, “will not accept any general, vague propaganda process of consultation and dialogue on the development of a pay scale without the return” of the bonuses, which represented two months’ salary, the union said.

Two observations.

• I like how the Greeks by proxy of the Times consider tax hikes as part of any definition that involves “austerity”.
• Since when is 2 months salary (over 15% of your annual salary) considered a bonus? Who the fuck are they kidding? That sounds more like extortion on the part of the union than a bonus for its workers.

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2010-10-05  »  madlibertarianguy