[tcrlaf]

Bu... Bu... PLEASE, Mrs Merkel.
It’s the only way we can save the future for retiring 50-yr old Gub’ment employees in Greece and Portugal!

[Cronos]

I'm wondering about this -- we are told in the news that they are striking about no Christmas bonus. But on reading it in some more depth i see that some of the other reasons are that the national health service is cut and public services are cut. Now what those are, i don't know -- and I don't think they are completely justified, BUT i know folks in Portugal and life is hard, the job situation is bad and many are desperate

Do remember, I don't know the complete situation and definitely not the solution, just pointing out what I know -- portugal did not lie about its finances like Italy or Greece and they did not spend too much and their banking system was not as risky as Ireland's -- their problem is that their economy is weak and they are part of the eurozone.

They SHOULD put their retirement age at 65, I agree and I don't know the extent of their healthcare and other benefits, but a lot of government spending should be cut -- i just don't know if there are some really serious things that are being cut (would be good to see the actual list of demands, but I can't read portuguese!)