Most of the commentary misses salient points. There is a whole lots more in Greek protests then salary and pension cuts. Or even high prices. Greece has gone down hill --- and fast --- since joining Euro. It dawned on people, who trustingly waited for the highly advertised economic benefits of joining the EU, that these benefits do not exist, nor will ever come true. It dawned on people of Greece that they have been had. The EU helped rich get richer, while all along preaching the neoliberal doctrine of lowering salaries, attacking pension plans, health care, education, and social welfare nets. It finally dawned on them that it does not matter how much they worked, or how much wealth was created; the money was going to disappear via banking "instruments' into the pockets of super wealthy. Those are the folks with money all over the world. All the money made in Greece, goes out of Greece. While Greece is already having THE LOWEST WAGES in Eurozone, it is still too high for some. While they contributed A HIGH PERCENT OF THEIR SALARY to PENSIONS, now these are treated like luxuries, to be taken away by the kings, as being overtly "generous" to paupers. Let them eat cake, is the message. How can EU treat money collected from taxpayer for their public services as if NOT CAPITAL, while their INVENTED money given as CREDITS, is to be repaid come hell or high water? The problem is, the neoliberal "economics" has failed, and now it is FAILING TO INFLATE the baloon of their own making. The bubbles are having holes, and leak air. All that is left of neolibralism is just that --- hot air. And Greece is supposed to pay for this? Politicians tend to lie. For Greeks, the best solution is to default. Default is good for poor, just bad for those who receive EU gravy train money. This is why they are trying so hard to "save" Greece!

This policy has been characterized as 'Socialism for the Rich'. The state transfers income from the working classes to the bankers to balance their books. The assets of the wealthy appreciate the incomes of the workers decline. No matter who you try to cover up the process social peace becomes impossible. And this isn't the end or even the period of maximum readjustment. The process of implosion has only just begun.

I could not agree more with Bianca. Just to add the fact that the austerity plan includes cutting the basic salary for young employees from 700 Euro per month to just 590. In addition they openly attack basic employment rights, rights which I note, Greeks had struggled and sacrificed many lives to gain so that younger generations could have better living onditions. Another objective of the big capital is to force the Greek state to start selling off public assets in ridiculous low prices so that they can enslave Greece and Greeks. This is criminal but one needs to read history to understand that Capitalism destroys not only economies but societies too. However, despite the socio-economic crisis, I believe that Greeks and Greece will be able to overcome it. But the sacrificies are going to be very big...

They want to save "Greece" but screw the vast majority of the actual Greeks. I never put into the 401Ks etc until I had to because I knew they would find some way to take that money, and they did. Its just a sport to them. They feel so safe, so sure of themselves, they play with our lives as if we were gerbels in their cage...and we pretty much are. My dad lost his pension when the company declared bankruptcy. The owners kept their mansions and cars, as per the law, and then they got bank loans and started up another business just like before. My father, on the other hand, was poor after that. My dad was a master welder. You can STILL ride across the bridges that contain the I-beams he welded. I bet that SOB Old Man Bush in Texas even drives his little luxury car right smack over the I-beams my dad helped build....and look what they did to my dad and all kinds of people like him. Its not as if we want their stinking diamonds and furs, we don't.