Greece Bars Hedge Funds From Friday Debt Offering

My friend Bran who lives in Spain writes ... Hello Mish Here are thoughts from the last couple of days on the strikes, protests, and violence in the wake of more austerity plans by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Pro-government news played down the strike to a virtual non-event, giving much criticism of the unions methods and exaggerations. Reality however, is that there is enough support by strikers to shape future politics, especially as austerity starts to bite.

GREECE faced massive strikes turned riots yesterday as its government passed a new round of fiscal consolidation, designed to shrink the budget €18.5 billion by 2016. The contents of the austerity plan hardly seems like the stuff to drive Greeks to firebomb riot police; among the measures under debate were a two-year rise in the retirement age and measures to make it easier to fire public employees.

BRUSSELS — Workers across the European Union sought to present a united front against rampant unemployment and government spending cuts Wednesday with a string of strikes and demonstrations across the region. However, while austerity-hit countries such as Spain and Portugal saw a high turnout of striking workers, wealthier countries like Germany and Denmark experienced only piecemeal action. To combat a three-year financial crisis over too much debt, governments across Europe have had to cut spending, pensions and benefits and raise taxes.

In spite of all the huffing and puffing and bluffing, once again the Greek puppets will likely dance to the strings of the Troika and pass austerity measures required for Greece to get the next tranche of money. Unions, lawyers, pensioners, and workers in general are not pleased with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and have planned a major series of strikes. I expect violence if Samaras musters the votes to pass the bills. There is likely to be violence before the vote as well.