StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece weeknights @ 6 pm Athens time. The following post is a loose transcript of the 14 August 2012 broadcast.
By greydogg and snake arbusto,99GetSmart
- The Vice-President of the union of small and medium-sized businesses was interviewed on Greek TV yesterday and made statements regarding the issue of lowering the VAT (sales tax) in Greek restaurants. Contrary to last month's announcements made by the government-of-the-regime, the VAT will remain at 23% and will not be reduced to 13%, as originally promised.
After five years of a brutally imposed manufactured economic crisis, restaurants in Greece are struggling to remain open. The VAT remaining at high levels will lead to thousands of closures of restaurants in Greece as well as the loss of many thousands of jobs.
The union VP said he spoke directly with the Troika's representatives and was told that the Troika does not have a problem with lowering the VAT in restaurants and that it was an issue for the government to decide.
But last week, in a meeting with the Undersecretary of Finance, he was told that the Troika would not permit the government to lower the VAT in restaurants. According to the Undersecretary of Finance, the intention of the government is to re-examine lowering the VAT next year.
The consequence of the VAT remaining high will make it even more impossible for families to be able to afford dining out in a restaurant. Small businesses in Greece like the restaurant industry have taken a huge hit because of the soaring unemployment rate and dramatically reduced pensions and wages. Within the last eight months, the number of visits the average Greek family makes to restaurants has dropped 80%.
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- There is a fear, among the Greek people, that the Troika will insist on more austerity measures on top of the 11.5 billion --. It is being reported in the Greek press that an additional deficit of 1.5 -- billion exists. Many people are speculating that it will be translated into new austerity measures.
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- The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party, who won 18 parliamentary seats in Greece's June 17 election, published an article on their official website calling for the sterilization and killing of all handicapped people or diseased people.
It should be noted that 50% of the Greek police force cast their votes for this ultra-nationalist party who ran a campaign that was openly hostile to immigrants, both undocumented and documented.
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- A recent Der Spiegel article is promoting the idea that nothing can help Greece avoid bankruptcy and that bankruptcy is the only way for Greece to be liberated from debt and begin anew. Der Spiegel reported that once again, Greece has managed to disappoint its lenders and questions whether Greece will remain in the euro zone.
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