Greeks threatened with power cuts if they fail to pay property tax

Civil disobedience campaign puts pressure on Athens government as it pushes EU/IMF austerity measures

the Guardian,

30 October, 2011

The Greek authorities are bracing for a broader campaign of civil disobedience as a nation infuriated by austerity and incensed at the engagement of EU and IMF "monitors" takes matters into its own hands.

Sales of generators have shot up as households, resisting further belt-tightening, have sought to bypass a new property tax that the beleaguered government will collect through electricity bills.

Announcing the measure in a desperate attempt to plug a budget black hole, the finance ministry warned that failure to pay the tax would automatically result in power supplies being disconnected.

"But when 70% of Greek households don't pay it what are they going to do, cut off the whole lot?" asked Giorgos Zisimos, a shopowner-cum-driver.

Rather than dampen Greece's anti-tax revolt, last week's landmark decision at an EU summit to write off 50% of Greece's debt mountain while giving Athens another €130bn (£114bn) in rescue funds, appears only to have bolstered resistance. Many fear the deal will mean more austerity on top of wage, pension and benefit cuts already enforced by the socialist administration in exchange for the foreign aid it needs to stave off default.

Although hailed by the prime minister, George Papandreou, for providing "necessary breathing space", the accord has also been harshly criticised for ceding too much sovereignty to its international creditors. Outraged Greeks are asking how much say they will have in their own affairs after the EU made clear that monitors would be relocated to Athens to supervise the economy. On Friday, anger reached boiling point as anti-austerity protesters, some carrying "Merkel = Hitler" banners, others burning German flags, disrupted national parades commemorating Greece's entry into the second world war.

"Greeks are a proud people and the EU should bear this in mind," said Yiannis Dimaras, who was expelled from the ruling Pasok party in June for refusing to endorse painful cost-cutting measures demanded in return for a second aid package 14 months after Athens was first bailed out to the tune of €110bn. "The prospect of more measures will bring more social explosions. The civil disobedience that we are seeing is partly about protest but also about people just not having the money to pay such extras. How can someone who earns €500 a month suddenly be called on to pay a property tax? The government I think is going to have huge difficulty enforcing this."

Nothing has galvanised public opinion more than the unpopular property tax. The finance ministry says that as a result of rampant tax evasion it is owed €40bn in unpaid taxes. It hopes the levy, whose lifespan is as yet unspecified, will raise about €2bn by the end of the year.

The civil disobedience movement, which began with Greeks refusing to pay road tolls and has seen ministries and government buildings being taken over in a wave of strikes and protests, has grown to such an extent that even elected local officials have thrown their weight behind it.

With thousands of electricity bills yet to be printed, militant unionists at the public power corporation, DEH, who recently took over the company's printing press, have threatened to step up action. "We are not going to do the government's dirty work," railed Nikos Fotopoulos who heads the union. "Electricity is a social commodity, not a means to collect taxes. We will do everything to ensure that unemployed people, poor people do not have their electricity cut."

Comment on proposed European Stability Mechanism

Treaty of Debt - An Eye Opening Video on the ESM Bailout Mechanism

Mish’s Global Economiuc Analysis,

29 October, 2011

Inquiring minds are interested in the terms of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) accord scheduled to replace the EFSF. The following video highlights the key sections of the proposed treaty.

There are comments on The Telegraph article A German view of the bailout deal which is where I found the video.

Key Details of ESM Accord

• Article 8 says "Authorized Capital stock 700 billion Euros"

• Article 9 says "ESM members irrevocably and unconditionally undertake to pay capital calls on them within 7 days"

• Article 10 allows the ESM board of governors to "change the authorized capital and amend article 8 accordingly"

• Article 27 says ESM shall enjoy "immunity from every form of judicial process". Thus the ESM can sue member countries but no one can challenge it. No governments, parliament or any other body or laws apply to the ESM or its organization.

• Article 30 says "Governors, alternate governors, directors, alternate directors, the managing director and staff shall be immune from legal process with respect to acts performed by them (...) and shall enjoy inviolability in respect of their official papers and documents"

There are no independent reviewers and no existing laws apply. Thus Europe's national budgets will be in the hands of one single, unelected body that is accountable to no one and immune from all legal actions.

Is this the future of the EU or will the German supreme court and other governments put an end to it?

Mish Shedlock

Massive rally swamps Tel Aviv

RT,

29 October, 2011

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Tel-Aviv and across Israel to protest against economic injustice. The protest’s organizers are demanding that the Knesset rewrite the 2012 budget "taking into account the demands of the people."

The latest rally comes after a wave of social protests swept Israel over the summer and culminated in September, when half a million Israelis came out onto the streets. But since then, the movement has slowly died out as protesters returned to their daily lives.

Israeli police say more than 30,000 people marched in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, and thousands more protested in Jerusalem.

As RT’s Paula Slier reports, many protesters are concerned that their story of social protest will be missed by the international community and media, which is now focused on unfolding events in Gaza.

In the past few hours, multiple rockets have been fired from Gaza into southern Israel. Several people have been injured. It came as retaliation after Israeli aircraft struck Palestinian militants in southern Gaza on Saturday, killing five.

Due to the latest exchange of fire, a planned protest in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba was canceled.

Paula Slier reports that people on the street say the timing of the Israeli airstrikes against Gaza is very convenient for the government, as it helps distract attention from Israel’s own domestic problems.

Demonstrators in Israel are demanding that the Knesset reconsider its 2012 budget, stated social activist Nicola Simmonds.

“We want the budget [debate] to consider the general good of the country,” she declared.

But the nature of this protest in Israel is different than those taking place in Europe and the United States, Simmonds remarked.

“Here in Israel we are not in an economic recession,” she noted. “Our problem isn’t that we don’t have enough money. Our problem is that it’s being mismanaged.”

Israeli journalist Bradley Burston says that the protesters are questioning resource allocation and sacred cows like the defense budget and settlements.

Even though the Israeli parliament recently outlined a number of economic reforms, the protesters are not satisfied because the proposals may – or may not – lead to change.

“It requires legislation which will come up in the next parliamentary session,” he said.  “More than that, there is a sense that some of the immediate response to the social protests, [like] the widespread lowering of prices by the major-marketing chains, for example, are being lost in a retrenchment: a policy of raising prices quietly back.”

The Israeli government, meanwhile, is pushing ahead with building new settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, and Burston believes that without proper scrutiny it will be much more difficult to stop the behind-the-scenes allocation of resources to new housing developments in the occupied territories.

“The questioning has a lot to do with transparency, with what actually is happening with the resources that are going to defense and are going to the settlements,” he said. “Even if the settlement activity is not blocked, the fact of the widespread nature of allocations and subsidies that go out to the settlements may change people’s minds eventually about the wisdom of continuing to build there.”

Chris Hedges and Amy Goodman discuss Occupy Wall Street

Part One

Part Two

Germany "Raises" €55.5 Billion, or 1% Of Its Debt/GDP Ratio, Thanks To Derivative "Accounting Error"

Zero Hedge,

28 O)ctober, 2011

As usual, the most surreal news of the day, perhaps week, is saved for Friday night, when we learn that Germany has magically raised over a quarter of its total EFSF obligation of €211 billion by way of what is essentially magic. 

The Telegraph reports that "Germany is €55bn richer than it previously thought because of an accounting error at state-owned bank Hypo Real Estate Holding. 

The mistake at "bad bank" FMS Wertmanagement, happened because collateral for derivatives wasn't netted between the asset and liability side, an FMS spokesman said. As a result, FMS will only contribute about €161bn to Germany's debt this year, down from €216.5bn in 2010."

Another way of representing the error is that it is equal to a ridiculous 1% of the country's debt to GDP ratio. 

"Germany's 2010 debt-to-GDP ratio also drops, to 83.2% from the previous 84.2%, a finance ministry spokesman said." 

In other words, the modern world, best characterized by the imploding fiat ponzi, has discovered a way to raise capital (electronic, naturally) courtesy of CDS bookmarking errors. And now, we have seen it all.

Since money is fungible, especially at the sovereign level, the "unlocked" capital which fortuitously was in a favorable netting direction (and we can't wait to get our hands on the detailed explanation of just what the error was that resulted in €31 in 2011 and €24.5 billion in 2010 of additional "debt" issuance going to fund FMSW, also known as Germany's bad bank, and now effectively being unwound) can and will used to plug bad Greek debt shortfalls at any other wards of the state which has material exposure to bad debt. 

Such as partially nationalized Commerzbank, which as we noted yesterday by way of German FAZ, is dumping all of its PIIGS (and potentially US) bond exposure into a bidless market with the same urgency as US banks offloading subrpime paper in the summer of 2007, in order to preserve liquidity and raise capital.

Most importantly, this is also money that amounts to over 25% of the German obligation toward the EFSF of €211. 

So while one can dream up ridiculous stories of €55 billion accounting errors, the reality is that the source does not really matter: after all these are merely electronic ones and zeros. 

And the next time Germany needs to "raise some electronic cash" to fund even greater PIIGS related shortfall, it will simply find even greater "accounting errors" which magically give justification to shift a liability to an asset, and thus validate what is effectively non-sterilized printing of euros at the national level! 

Is this merely an appetizer of things to come, and an explanation of how Europe will "fund" the hundreds of billions in capital shortfall once the PIIGS start falling left and right like dominoes, tipped over by what is now the Greek default of October 27, 2011? Of course not: certainly this is nothing more than an innocent accident (for €55 billion) and anyone claiming otherwise is a conspiratorial anarchist.

More from the Telegraph on this stunning development:

The ministry spokesman didn't directly comment on the accounting error, but said "the German government welcomes the substantial progress FMS Wertmanagement has made in reducing the portfolio it took over from Hypo Real Estate a year ago".

"In addition, it is positive that total assets, which include derivatives and hedging transactions, could be reduced by more than €30bn, or almost 10pc, compared with the 2010 results," the ministry spokesman added.

BBC has more:

The discovery was made earlier this month but only announced on Friday.

HRE faced a severe liquidity shortage in the wake of Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy in 2008.

The German government provided the bank with capital injections of 10bn euros and liquidity guarantees amounting to 145 billion euros before nationalising it.

And the truly good news is that with roughly one quadrillion in derivatives floating out there, the bulk of which nobody has any clue what they are, where they are, and what they are collateralized by, it means that the world is free to find derivative-based "errors" which can magically fund well over two times the global debt which at last check was about $500 trillion. At the end of the day, no one is the wiser: after all this is merely the creation and destruction of electronic ones and zeros in the span of nanoseconds in one computer's random access memory.

the Keiser Report - Gail Tverberg interviewed

Keiser Report: Bring down Bernanke Gaddafi  style

Gail Tverberg is a researcher and writer on Peak Oil.

This week Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, discuss Occupy London art that may be from Banksy... or Keiser Report? They also look at the skyrocketing cost of new oil supply as Tony Blair sets up office in Kazakhstan.

In the second half of the show, Max Keiser interviews Gail Tverberg about the 65 year debt bubble now bursting as resources and credit hit their limit.

Protests in Thessalonki

Greek protesters call president traitor, halt parade

Daily News,

28 October, 2011

Greeks protesting at austerity measures demanded by foreign lenders blocked a major national parade on Friday to commemorate Greek resistance in World War Two, shouting "traitors" at President Karolos Papoulias and other officials.

The protest in Thessaloniki was echoed at smaller parades across Greece, including in Athens where marchers held black ribbons. It showed the extent of anger at the higher taxes and wage cuts sought by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in return for funds to avert a debt default.

The annual military parade in the northern city is one of the most symbolic events in Greece's political calendar and commemorates the rejection of Italy's ultimatum to surrender in 1940. It was the first time it had been canceled.

"The Greek people are now fighting a major battle. They also fought one many years ago today ... We must unite to overcome this crisis," Papoulias said, adding that he had fought the Germans as a 15-year-old boy. "So who is a traitor? They should be ashamed!"

"I came to honor this historic city. There are some who want to prevent this celebration. I am very sorry," said Papoulias, 82, appealing to Greeks to stand together in the face of the country's economic plight.

The austerity measures demanded under an EU/IMF rescue of Greece have helped push its economy into its worst recession in four decades, driving unemployment to record levels above 16 percent. Many Greeks accuse Prime Minister George Papandreou of sacrificing their wellbeing to foreign lenders.

Incidents marred parades and celebrations in towns and cities throughout Greece, held to commemorate the day when Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas rejected a demand from Italian dictator Benito Mussolini to allow deployment of his troops in Greece. The national holiday known as Ohi Day, or "No Day", in Greek.

BAND STOPS

Despite a deal clinched on Thursday at an EU summit to cancel half the value of Greece's 200 billion euro debt in the hands of private bondholders, many Greeks are deeply resentful of what they see as foreign meddling in their affairs, reviving memories of the wartime Nazi occupation.

EU paymaster Germany, which has been vocal in demanding economic and fiscal reforms in return for its financial support, has become a target for demonstrators' derision.

"1940-2011: No to the Fourth Reich" read one poster in a demonstration in Cretan city of Heraklion, where protesters took to the streets during a parade.

Horst Reichenbach, head of EU taskforce in Greece, said he understood the sensitivity of national sovereignty but said his group was created at Papandreou's request to help implement reforms decided by the Greek government, not to decide policy.

"We want to help Greece in its effort to overcome this painful economic crisis," he told Ta Nea newspaper.

Credit agency Fitch Ratings said doubts over Greece's willingness to implement structural reforms and its weak growth prospects restricted the ability of this week's deal to transform the country's prospects.

In Athens, students paraded before officials with raised fists holding black ribbons as a sign of dissent at the austerity measures. The municipal band marched with ribbons tied to its instruments and stopped playing when it reached the podium where Education Minister Anna Diamantopoulou stood.

Some small groups of protesters scuffled with police and also shouted "thieves" and "traitors" at officials, but there was no repeat of the rioting during last week's 48-hour general strike to protest at austerity measures.

The leader of Greece's conservative main opposition party, New Democracy, blamed the government's policies for sparking social unrest but he condemned the marring of a day of national celebration.

"Those who are glad to have ruined our national holiday must know they have injured our national pride. They have insulted the memory of our heroes," Antonis Samaras said in a statement. "They should not confuse our national symbols and our history with a catastrophic government."

Thai floods - update

Peak tides test Thai capital's flood defenses

Reuters,

30 October, 2011

Peak tides tested Bangkok's flood defenses on Sunday as hope rose the center of the Thai capital might escape the worst floods in decades, but that was little comfort for swamped suburbs and provinces where worry about disease is growing.

The floods have killed at least 381 people since July and affected more than 2 million. Authorities have slashed growth forecasts for Southeast Asia's second biggest economy and disruptions to auto and computer-part producers have been felt worldwide.

Water flowing down the central Chao Phraya river basin from the north is meeting peak tides surging in the Gulf of Thailand, 20 km (12 miles) south of Bangkok, leading to fears the city's makeshift defenses would be swamped.

The tides have pushed water in the river, which snakes its way through the city past gilded temples and wooden shanties, about 2.5 meters (8 feet) above sea level but dikes and sand-bag walls have largely held.

For article GO HERE

Thai floods spark fear of disease and crocodiles

From AFP

More from Occupy USA

Michael Moore rallies Occupy Oakland protest

In NYC, generators used for heating seized; Nashville demonstrators return

MSNBC,

28 October, 2011

Left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore told hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters in front of Oakland's City Hall on Friday that the events there over the past week have helped change the national discussion about the movement.

Moore, who flew in from New York, said the Occupy demonstrations are "a movement of equals," and that everyone had something to offer.

The director of "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Bowling for Columbine" said the movement will not tolerate violence against demonstrators, referring to Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen, who was badly injured during a clash between protesters and police.

Moore urged the protesters, many of whom are demonstrating against what they see as a growing disparity between rich and poor, to continue their movement until they run the country.

ARRESTS IN SAN DIEGO AND NASHVILLE

MSNBC,

28 October, 2011

In San Diego, police arrested 51 people as officers cleared out economic demonstrators who occupied the Civic Center Plaza and Children's Park for three weeks. Dozens of police officers and San Diego County sheriff's deputies descended on the encampment around 2:30 a.m. Friday, declared an unlawful assembly and removed tents, canopies, tables and other furniture.

Occupy Nashville protesters defied a new curfew a day after they were forced off the Tennessee Capitol grounds because a new curfew was set.

Several dozen people remained on the grounds after the new curfew passed Friday at 10 p.m. There was no noticeable police presence and it was not immediately clear whether authorities planned to make arrests if the protesters stayed throughout the night.

Twenty-nine protesters were taken into custody at shortly after 3 a.m. Some were dragged from the campsite they've occupied for about three weeks.

Tents return to Occupy Oakland protest site

Mercury News,

28 October, 2011

OAKLAND, Calif.—Anti-Wall Street protesters in Oakland have erected more than two dozen tents in a plaza declared off limits for overnight camping, vowing to remain at the site despite city orders to vacate.

Protesters began pitching the tents Thursday evening, according to Shake Anderson, an organizer with Occupy Oakland. On Friday morning, about 25 tents were up at the plaza near City Hall, where police armed with tear gas and beanbag rounds disbanded a 15-day-old encampment two days earlier.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan had issued a statement asking protesters not to camp overnight at the plaza.

For an unpdate on Occupy San Diego GO HERE

Scott Olsen 'cannot talk' after injury at Occupy Oakland protest

Iraq war veteran is believed to have sustained damage to speech centre of his brain in injury at Occupy protest on Tuesday

the Guardian,

28 October, 2011

Scott Olsen, the Iraq war veteran who was seriously injured by a police projectile during a protest in Oakland, has regained consciousness but "cannot talk".

Olsen, 24, is communicating with friends and family at his bedside by writing notes, but his injury is believed to have damaged the speech centre of his brain, according to Keith Shannon, who served with Olsen in Iraq.

Olsen is believed to have been injured by a police projectile. He was hit in the forehead in downtown Oakland on Tuesday evening, after marching with fellow demonstrators to protest the closure of an Occupy Oakland camp in the city.

"He cannot talk right now, and that is because the fracture is right on the speech center of his brain," said Shannon. "However, they are expecting he will get that back."

Shannon added that Olsen's "spelling is not near what it used to be".

"The doctors expect that he will have a full recovery," said Shannon, who is due to visit Olsen on Friday afternoon. "However, it is going to be a long road ahead for him."

Olsen was "really happy" to see his family, Shannon added.

A spokesman for Highland General Hospital confirmed Olsen could not talk, but said he "understands everything" doctors and family are saying. His family flew to be at his bedside on Thursday. The spokesman said Olsen remained under observation to determine if he needs surgery. His condition is "fair".

Video footage posted to YouTube shows Olsen lying motionless in front of a police line after apparently having been hit. A group of up to 10 protesters gather around him, but a police officer can be seen throwing a device close to the group which then explodes with a bright flash and loud bang, scattering the protesters. The video then cuts to footage of protesters carrying Olsen away as he bleeds from the head.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who was in Washington DC when the clashes occurred, has sought to distance herself from the police action.

"I only asked the chief to do one thing: to do it when it was the safest for both the police and the demonstrators," she said.

NY 'Occupy' protesters battle cold

From al-Jazeera

Solidarity with Occupy Oakland protestors

This is easily the most inspiring thing I have seen today.  With this sort of international solidarity it is going to be difficult to stop this movement without the most brutal suppression.

I await what happens in California this weekend

 Egyptians march from Tahrir Square to support Occupy Oakland protestors

Boingboing, 28 October, 2011

As they vowed earlier this week to do, Egyptian pro-democracy protesters marched from Tahrir square to the U.S. Embassy today to march in support of Occupy Oakland—and against police brutality witnessed in Oakland on Tuesday night, and commonly experienced in Egypt.

Above and below, photos from Egyptian blogger Mohammed Maree, who is there at the march live-tweeting. He is a journalist with Egytimes.org, a human rights activist, and a veterinarian. All photos in this post are his.

The larger demonstration back at Tahrir was about issues closer to home: Egyptians are demanding that the military transfer power quickly to a representative civilian government, after the death by torture of a 24-year-old political prisoner named Essam Ali Atta. As the Guardian reports, critics say his death proves that the junta is failing to dismantle Mubarak's brutal security apparatus:

Essam Ali Atta, a civilian serving a two-year jail term in Cairo's high-security Tora prison following his conviction in a military tribunal earlier this year for an apparently "common crime", was reportedly attacked by prison guards after trying to smuggle a mobile phone sim card into his cell. According to statements from other prisoners who witnessed the assault, Atta had large water hoses repeatedly forced into his mouth and anus on more than one occasion, causing severe internal bleeding. An officer then transferred Atta to a central Cairo hospital, but he died within an hour.

His funeral took place today. Follow live tweets from the memorial at #esamatta. Journalist Reem Abdellatif, who is there, tweets:

His sister just passed out screaming they took my brother from me. [photo]. The scene is devastating at the morgue #essamatta's mom and sister keep calling out to him like he's still alive. Essam was 24.

As some protesters noted, that is exactly the same age as Scott Olsen, the US vet injured at Occupy Oakland. They see both men as victims of state brutality.

Above, guards outside the US embassy block protesters from advancing closer.