{"id":17756,"date":"2016-02-13T15:35:49","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T20:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=17756"},"modified":"2016-02-13T15:36:06","modified_gmt":"2016-02-13T20:36:06","slug":"10000-greek-farmers-stage-massive-revolt-in-athens-destroy-police-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=17756","title":{"rendered":"10,000 Greek Farmers Stage Massive Revolt In Athens, Destroy Police Cars"},"content":{"rendered":"

10,000 Greek Farmers Stage Massive Revolt In Athens, Destroy Police Cars<\/a><\/h3>\n
On Friday, some 800 angry Greek farmers\u00a0marched on the Agriculture Ministry<\/a>\u00a0in Athens and beat police with Shepherd\u2019s crooks.<\/div>\n
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No, really:<\/p>\n

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The farmers are understandably upset with Alexis Tsipras and the government for a proposal to triple the social security burden and double income taxes in an effort to appease the powers that be in Brussels who claim Greece has not made enough progress towards fiscal consolidation since the country\u2019s third bailout was agreed last August.<\/p>\n

Tsipras and Syriza swept to power a little over a year ago with promises to roll back austerity, but prolonged negotiations with creditors and the resulting economic malaise that gripped the country last summer broke the PM\u2019s revolutionary spirit and now,\u00a0he\u2019s been reduced to something of a technocrat rather than a socialist firebrand<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Putting Greece on a sustainable path is a virtual impossibility at this juncture. There are myriad structural problems that cut to the heart of the currency bloc\u2019s woes and on top of that, Athens\u2019 debt burden is simply astounding. In other words,\u00a0Tsipras and Brussels can raise taxes and cut pension benefits all they want but this problem is never going to be solved<\/strong>. It\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

Adding insult to injury, data out Friday shows the country slipped back into recession in Q4.<\/p>\n

All of this helps to explain why,\u00a0after the tomato-tossing, stick-waving melee at the Agriculture Ministry, the farmers – joined by some 10,000 of their compatriots as well as union members, massed in Syntagma Square on Friday<\/strong>\u00a0where tractors could be seen meandering through the crowd.<\/p>\n