Portuguese workers get 14 salaries a year. You get 12 monthly salaries and an extra salary in June and December. Before any comments are made about living in the land of milk and honey with 14 salaries a year, you have to understand a monthly salary of €1000 would be seen as a decent middle class wage.

The government have the right to remove these two extra salaries, they have suspended them for all public worker and last December they taxed any amount earned over the minimum salary of €450 at 50%.

Basically, the current government want to get their hands on one of those 14 salaries. They've made their minds up and they're going to do it, so this is why a monthly increase of 7% in any tax will do.

It basically proves how unimaginative and incompetent this government is. They're not prepared to look at the country, understand why it's broken and try to fix it. Their solution is just to rob the people of a salary. All this whilst ex-politicians and corrupt directors draw monthly state pensions of €25k or more.

Members of parliament, who aren't directly elected, brown nose their places in the house in order to leave as millionaires, which the grand majority do. They leave as millionaires because they are utterly corrupt and have no interest in serving the country or its people. They then receive enormous state pensions. And they want to take one of my hard earned salaries and one of every working person in the country? Well, they can go f*ck themselves. They fall before we fall.

Good on you, steveeeeeeeee. And keep us posted.

Hey, Canadians, did you know that the Greek Nazis are spreading to your gaff ?

The fuck?

I'm really hoping the "Jimmy James" in that article is not the well-known blues guitarist. That would ruin a lot of good memories from university.

Goddamn it. It probably is.

I still don't understand it. 7% is the worst possible figure they could choose- it's easily understood as one salary. They might have the right to do that, but it's incredibly dumb politics.

Anton Gramski wrote:


The comments below are blood-curdling.

I was in Portugal a few weeks back and an expat Brit told me that 70% of the working population are employed by government. Surely thats not true?

That's a lazy stereotype of Mediterranean economies.

70% of the working population are waiters.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:


I've got where you're coming from now tubbs. Yes, 2 or 3% raise would upset everyone, but you would be less likely to take to the streets. So, you're absolutely right that it's dumb politics, phenomenally dumb.

Anyway, it's now been announced that anybody taking home more than €2000 per month will be subject to a "millionaire tax" of roughly 60% on anything above €2000 liquid income.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:


I don't know if that 70% figure is true, the government do employ a lot of people if you include teachers, police, army, refuse collectors as well as your typically bored civil servant. They're all paid bugger all.

However, the main source of employment these days in Portugal seems to be working for those horrible security companies who seem to have gone beyond manning the door at companies or roaming around shops. Nowadays, they're operating call centres, checking tickets on trains, selling tickets at cinemas etc.

One for the WTF! Thread?

Thanks for being patient and explaining the stupidly inexplicable to me, Steveee.

That about the civil service is interesting. I thought the British civil service was a bit like that- slightly overmanned but not paying very well. Local government was better in that respect.

Is it like Spain, which has Franco-era labour law which makes sacking long term employees difficult? It's good till you get a panic like now, when you end up bringing in across the board wages cuts, and everyone gets demoralised.

Diable Rouge wrote:


Ireland! It can just about borrow money again!

Tubby Isaacs wrote:


Sacking anybody is phenomenally difficult. It's almost legally impossible for an employee to be sacked for incompetence. The company I work for had 2 members of staff blatantly stealing from it, whilst taking as much time off as they liked. It took two years to gather enough evidence to be sure that there would be no come back after they'd been dismissed. Even still, I think both ex-employees are currently processing claims against my employer for unfair dismissal.

Redundancy laws have been greatly loosened, so that is more of an option these days than sacking.

As I've said previously, the big problem is state pensions, they have to be capped but this isn't even seen as an option. The generous unemployment subsidy also needs further cuts, at the moment you receive 65% of your salary for at least a year after you've lost your job. That's just crazy, my other half had the time of her life during her 18 months of unemployment benefit when the rate was 80% of your salary. There's just no impetus to find a job when you're getting that sort of money off the state.

That's a lot of benefit. You'd think that would be one of the first things cut with the IMF around. Is there some legal barrier to doing that?

As a friend of mine said, they should send the IMF in when places are booming.

Hollande seems to have pooed his pants after a few internet types steamed into him on Facebook:

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oc...llande-entrepreneurs

I had to Google about Enda Kenny being on the front of Time. Apparently it's true. What a joke.

However, I do get a small little bit of satisfatcion from the thought of Bertie seeing it.

More Greek suicides. Of a somewhat different sort.

Not sure why the second one is being described in the article when the Indonesian police aren't commenting on the manner of death, though.

If it's true that this list has been circulating for two years and no one's done anything about it, it certainly has the potential to bring down the government. One MP has already left PASOK over Venizelos' handling of the matter.

This is really appalling and terrifying stuff www.businessinsider.com/golden-dawn-inci...&utm_campaign=bi