Debt crisis enters decisive week as strikes hit Greece

[FarCenter]

Greek taxi drivers march towards the Finance Ministry in Athens during their strike on October 14. Greece’s two main unions prepare to hold a two-day general strike this week. AFP photo

Greek unions lashed out at the government yesterday with protests, strikes and ministry building sit-ins, intensifying resistance to austerity cuts in what will be a decisive week for the future of the country and the wider 17-nation eurozone.

Greece faces a key vote on new austerity measures on Oct 20, while other eurozone countries are rushing to find a comprehensive solution to the debt crisis by the end of the week. Both the vote and the plan are required to avoid a loss of confidence in global markets that some fear would plunge the world economy back into recession.

Protesting civil servants continued occupations of the finance and labor ministry buildings yesterday. Tax collectors and customs officers walked off the job, while strikes also forced ferries to the Greek islands to remain idle and rotting trash on Athens’ streets to pile up for a 16th day.

A 48-hour general strike to be held tomorrow and Oct. 20 is set to ground flights for two days and cripple public and many private services, with bakers yesterday joining the growing list of protest participants.

The Socialist government is facing mounting party dissent over a vote in parliament Thursday to pass a new punishing round of tax hikes and pay cuts agreed in exchange for bailout loans. With a majority of just four seats in parliament, the government is facing the prospect of an embarrassing defeat over a central part of the new legislation which involves plans to strip Greek workers of decades-old labor rights.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=debt-crisis-enters-decisive-week-as-strikes-hit-greece-2011-10-17

[Tansy_Gold]

1. One of these days,

one of these governments is going to fall, and whatever replaces it is going to do what should have been done in the first place -- which is to rein in the obscenely wealthy. It might be done peacefully, or it might not. It might be Greece or it might be Italy or it might be Spain. Or some other country we aren't watching quite as closely.

But wherever it is, and however it happens, it will be the first domino to fall, and it will push all the others over.

And whether the resulting cascade is calm and orderly and "civilized" or rough and bloody and terrible remains to be seen.

One way or another, sooner or later, it will happen.


It will.



TG