Greece slashes civil service jobs in new bailout

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Source: The Guardian

Greece has secured an aid package worth €8.8bn from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund after the government agreed to cuts including 4,000 public sector job losses this year.

Officials representing the troika of international creditors agreed to release the funds following a government pledge to fire thousands of civil servants in return. The deal includes the disbursement of an initial €2.8bn tranche in the coming weeks, followed by a further €6bn in May.

"Greece is stabilising and its position is becoming more secure at a time when other countries are beginning to feel uncertainty," said prime minister, Antonis Samaras.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/15/greece-slashes-civil-service-jobs-bailout

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[JNelson6563]

2. The tried and true recipe for disaster.

Greg Palast describes it perfectly in The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. First cut the public workforce. Those lucky ducks who keep their jobs? Yeah, we'll need to cut those wages by about 50%. Then selling of public resources, like water, to private interests who then turn around and charge the shell shocked populace an arm and a leg for those resources.

*sigh*

Julie