All across Spain workers protested in the streets last weekend, when will we see this in the US?
By louisehartmann
From Greece to the U.K. to now Spain. Hundreds of thousands of workers took to the streets in 57 cities across Spain over the weekend to protest the Conservative government’s new austerity package and labor reforms. As many as a half-million people demonstrated in Madrid alone according to reports.
Alongside new spending cuts – the Conservative government is slashing severance pay for workers and making it easier for companies to opt out of union contracts. Before the European debt crisis – Spain’s unemployment rate stood at just below 8% - but today it’s above 22% - which is the highest in the developed world. And as we’ve seen elsewhere across Europe – and in the United States – slashing government spending and taking money out of working people’s pockets only makes the situation worse.
Comments
#2
The mauiman58 doesn't find the right thread, then tries to dabble in South European history and politics (of course messing it up with U.S. state affairs, not making sense).... Get it right here, folks:
http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2012/02/all-across-spain-workers-protes...
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Thom Hartmann is a literary descendent of Ben Franklin and Tom Paine. His unflinching observations and deep passion inspire us to explore contemporary culture, politics, and economics; challenge us to face the facts of the societies we are creating; and empower us to demand a better world for our children and grandchildren."
From Screwed:
"Thom Hartmann’s book explains in simple language and with concrete research the details of the Neo-con’s war against the American middle class. It proves what many have intuited and serves to remind us that without a healthy, employed, and vital middle class, America is no more than the richest Third World country on the planet."
From Screwed:
"I think many of us recognize that for all but the wealthiest, life in America is getting increasingly hard. Screwed explores why, showing how this is no accidental process, but rather the product of conscious political choices, choices we can change with enough courage and commitment. Like all of Thom’s great work, it helps show us the way forward."
Sory Thom, it was too much spending that got the countries of Spain, Greece, and Italy in trouble. Then the population that got used to the goverment handouts gets upset when they are told that the party is over.
Look at the following article from The Chicago Tribune. The Democrats have been in ower in Illinois for the past ten years and have just about spent this state into bankrupcy. Now the DEMOCRAT govenor is calling for cuts in Medicare. And he has served notice that he will have to do something about the public workers pensions becasue pretty soon all Illinois will be able to afford are the pensions of the public workers. Sound familar? Do you really think Illinois would be in this position if the Republicans had been in power?
Here is the articlehttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-quinn-medicaid-reform-0220-20120220,0,7615873.story: