By greydogg and snake arbusto, 99GetSmart
- Why Germany wants Greece in the Eurozone
Faced with the dilemma of kicking Greece out or keeping Greece in the Eurozone, Germany currently appears to be leaning towards the second option, for fear of a possible "domino effect" that could lead to the collapse of the Eurozone.
Such is the cause of the change in attitude of Berlin according to the propaganda in a recent Washington Post article, "As Germany rises, Frau Nein says, "Yes'"
As Germany rises? That ought to give everyone a chill up the spine.
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- On the eve of a new mammoth recapitalization of banks, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and Deputy Finance Minister Christos Staikouras announced that they have accepted the opinion of the State Legal Council (no. 386/2012) concerning the obligation of credit institutions to pay the Greek government an annual fixed return on the preference shares issued to increase the share capital and underwritten by the government at 10% of the contributed capital (Law 3723/2008).
In 2012, the State adopted a decision from the first stimulus package in 2008 and will give the banks Greek public money -- commissions on shares of contributed capital.
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- The Troika's clerks will engage in another round of meetings with Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis on Wednesday in Athens. At Tuesday's meeting, the loan sharks from the Troika upped their demands for changes to labor regulations.
According to ekathimerini:
These requests included scrapping the eight-hour working day and allowing employers to ask staff to work up to 78 hours a week. The only restriction in terms of working hours is that employees should be allowed a minimum of 11 hours of rest between shifts or working days.
The Troika has also reportedly asked for a reduction in the period of redundancy* notice that employers have to give, thereby cutting the total compensation payment due in half. The current notice period is four to six months.
The inspectors also asked for the retirement age to rise by two years to 67, following the last rise in 2010. The Troika reportedly want the increased limit to be effective immediately -- meaning that workers who were due to retire next year could have to wait another two years. This measure is estimated to save 1 billion euros.
The government had planned for about 5 billion euros of the 11.5 billion euros in spending cuts the Troika is demanding to come from reductions in wages, pensions and welfare benefits, but this number is now set to exceed 6 billion.
* "redundancy' is a euphemism for dismissal [ed.]
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