Greeks eat garbage, bailout fat cats eat caviar

This video is called Greece: austerity deal hits people hard.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Tsipras: stop bumper pay for top cutters

Friday 07 September 2012

by Our Foreign Desk

Greek opposition leader Alexis Tsipras launched an explosive attack on the government today, accusing it of paying bailout officials fat-cat wages while working people face endless cuts and rock-bottom wages.

The HFSF bailout fund manages the recapitalisation of Greece’s banks as part of the country’s €130 billion (£104bn) bailout.

HFSF managers are earning up to €22,000 (£17,500) a month compared with a minimum wage below €600 (£480), said Mr Tsipras.

Other civil servants’ pay has been cut by about a third since the first bailout in 2010 and stand to be slashed further under the coming second bailout.

The Finance Ministry agreed to consider a review of managers’ pay.

The ministry was also forced to acknowledge that previous governments had paid about £12 million on fees for privatisation advisers since June 2010 even though there were negligible asset sales over that period.

“Where did this money go?” Tsipras asked.

Meanwhile, mass protests continued throughout Greece.

Around 3,500 police will be deployed tomorrow in Thessaloniki, where unions are planning renewed protests against the next round of austerity that is set to see pensions and state salaries cut further.

Police officers are planning their own demonstration earlier in the day.

Thousands of police marched through Athens last night, chanting “thieves, thieves” and carrying black flags.

Over 4,000 uniformed services protesters including firefighters and coastguard officers lit flares and set up a mock triple gallows with a sign reading “Troika” in reference to the austerity inspectors from the European Union, the IMF and the European Central Bank.

A top labour leader warned that new spending cuts would unleash unprecedented unrest.

“To insist on the current austerity programme and adopt new measures against the less well-off will provoke a social explosion that is violent and of an intensity never seen before by Greek society,” warned GSEE union leader Yiannis Panagopoulos.

GSEE estimates that unemployment will reach 29 per cent in 2013.

Union officials said that Greeks on minimum wage have seen their spending power reduced to 1979 levels, while those earning an average salary have been pushed back to the early 1980s.

The bankers’ dictatorship in Greece: here.

The European Parliament deferred a hearing on a nominee for a top European Central Bank job today to underline concerns over the absence of women in leading posts: here.

Austerity in Ireland: here.