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NEWS ABOUT: austerity measures

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Greek Euro Exit May Cost $1T

Tsipras tells Germany to stop demanding austerity

(Newser) - Europe has hundreds of billions of reasons to try to keep Greece from unceremoniously ditching the eurozone. If Greece leaves, the rest of Europe would face catastrophic losses, Reuters reports. Greece would default on the roughly $250 billion in debt held by the ECB, IMF, and other eurozone nations, and... More »

Brown's Plan for California: 4-Day Workweek

Budget deficit forcing painful austerity plan

(Newser) - California Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled a painful slate of budget cuts yesterday, including shifting all state employees to a four-day, 38-hour workweek, in an effort to reduce the state's yawning $15.7 billion budget gap . The plan also includes cuts to courts, health services, and welfare in what Brown... More »

France Swears In Hollande

Nicolas Sarkozy has left the building

(Newser) - France today installed Socialist Francois Hollande as its new president for the next five years, replacing conservative Nicolas Sarkozy with a mandate to ease up on the austerity measures with which Europe has fought its economic crisis. Hollande, the first Socialist to have access to France's nuke codes in... More »

As Thousands Protest, Spanish PM Backs Austerity

'This is about solving the situation once and for all,' says Mariano Rajoy

(AP) - Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy today defended his government's harsh austerity measures aimed at correcting Spain's grim economic forecast, one day after tens of thousands of Spaniards took to the streets in protest of his handling of the country's worst crisis in decades. Rajoy said the measures were... More »

Europe Finally Gets It: Austerity Isn't the Answer

Paul Krugman: Voters clearly 'wiser' than their leaders

(Newser) - Paul Krugman is applauding France and Greece for the results of their elections : "Time is clearly running out for the strategy of recovery through austerity—and that’s a good thing," writes the longtime critic of austerity measures in the New York Times . Austerity measures depend on a... More »

'Fairy Tale' of Austerity Is Finally Dead

Paul Krugman: Europe realizing those policies made things worse

(Newser) - Paul Krugman doesn't use the words "I told you so," but he does pronounce the notion that austerity measures would fire up Europe's economy good and dead. European policy-makers had the misguided idea—one embraced by Republicans in the US—that cutting back on spending would... More »

Dutch Government Falls in Austerity Crisis

PM Mark Rutte gives bad news to the queen

(AP) - The Dutch government, one of the most vocal critics of European countries failing to rein in their budgets, quit today after failing to agree on a plan to bring its own deficit in line with EU rules. Prime Minister Mark Rutte tendered the resignation of his entire Cabinet to Queen... More »

Eurozone Economy Shrinks

Nine of 17 member states post a fall

(Newser) - For the first time since 2009, the eurozone economy contracted last quarter. The fourth quarter of 2011 saw the GDP shrink 0.3% compared to the third quarter; the last quarterly contraction occurred during the second quarter of 2009 when the GDP dropped 0.2%. Meanwhile, the GDP grew just... More »

Greeks Clean Up a Smoldering Athens

But stock market responding positively in early trading

(Newser) - Skirmishes between police and protesters continued in Athens today, and buildings smoldered in the wake of Greece's vote on harsh new austerity measures . As many as 45 buildings have been torched and countless shops looted in the worst Greek rioting in years as 100,000 demonstrators took to the... More »

Greece OKs Austerity Bill Amid Rioting

Dozens of police and protesters injured, buildings ablaze

(AP) - Greece's parliament has approved an austerity and debt-relief bill, crucial for the country to avoid bankruptcy and remain in the eurozone. Lawmakers voted today in favor of the bill that imposes harsh new austerity measures in return for a $171 billion new bailout agreement and related deal with private... More »

Greek Workers Strike Over Austerity

Protesters clash with police in Athens

(Newser) - Greece's major unions launched a 48-hour general strike today, protesting the latest austerity cuts designed to appease international creditors. Thousands of people poured into the streets of Athens, the AP reports, and demonstrations occasionally got ugly; outside of Parliament, dozens of youths hurled fire bombs and stones at police,... More »

Greek Deputy Minister Resigns Over Cuts

Yiannis Koutsoukos not a fan of the new measures

(AP) - Greece's deputy labor minister has resigned to protest the agreement on new austerity measures. Yiannis Koutsoukos issued a statement today saying he opposes the implementation of cutbacks and reforms agreed to earlier today to secure the country's $172 billion international rescue loan lifeline. In a letter to PM... More »

Greek Leaders Reject Debt Deal

Coalition can't get past pension cuts

(Newser) - The heads of the parties in Greece's ruling coalition emerged from their long-awaited meeting yesterday empty-handed, refusing to accept a new austerity plan. Leaders were willing to accept a 22% cut in the minimum wage and job cuts, but balked at almost $800 million worth of proposed pension cuts,... More »

Greek Leaders Finally Huddle on Debt Deal

After delay over translation

(Newser) - The leaders of the three parties comprising Greece's coalition government finally met today to decide whether to make deeper austerity cuts in exchange for a $170 billion bailout from Europe, after three days of delays, the AP reports. The new austerity measures would be in addition to the 15,... More »

Greece Axing 15K Public Jobs

Country caves to creditors' demands

(Newser) - As politicians in the US debate the merits of smaller government, Greece's creditors are forcing it to shrink its public sector. Greece has agreed to cut 15,000 government jobs by the end of this year, and 150,000—a fifth of the total—by the end of 2015.... More »

Romanian PM, Government Resign

Emil Boc steps down in wake of austerity protests

(AP) - The Romanian prime minister today announced the immediate resignation of himself and his government, saying he wanted to protect the stability of the country. Emil Boc said he was resigning "to ease the social situation"—referring to weeks of protests in Romania over austerity measures that he introduced... More »

Behind Europe's Economic Mess: 'Willful Amnesia'

Austerity measures violate basic economic tenets: Paul Krugman

(Newser) - Europe has been lauded for its commitment to austerity measures as a means of restoring its economies. But a quick look at the state of those economies reaffirms what any economist should already have known, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times : The effort is backfiring. Krugman explains that... More »

Greece's Economic Mess Fuels a Medical One

Austerity measures aren't painless for poor

(Newser) - As Greece's debt crisis mounted and the country looked for austerity measures, its unwieldy and often corruption-riddled universal health care system became a prime target, with spending cut 13%. But that has had dire consequences, the New York Times reports. Public clinics are suddenly overwhelmed, as patients newly unable... More »

Italy Passes Austerity Measures Amid Strikes

Furious unions protest with transport shutdown

(AP) - The Italian government today easily won a confidence vote on its package of austerity measures in the lower chamber of Parliament as more protest strikes hit the country. Premier Mario Monti had called the vote in the Chamber of Deputies to speed passage of the $39 billion in extra taxes... More »

Hey Ideologues: Failing Euro Proves Little

No call for austerity measures in US: Krugman

(Newser) - As the euro struggles to survive, “ideologues” are using the failing currency as political ammunition. They say it proves welfare states don’t work, and that the US needs “immediate fiscal austerity.” But they’re jumping to false conclusions, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times... More »

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