There's a lot more of this to come both in Europe and the US. Though in many cases it has to be done, but whoever does it is going to be extremely unpopular with voters. The Guardian:
The nation is to be forced to make savings more extensive than at any time since the end of the second world war, with education and family welfare expected to take the largest hits.
The sobering figures emerged just after Germany's cabinet gave the go-ahead for Germany to put up €123bn (£105bn) towards the rescue package to stabilise the eurozone. That figure could rise to almost €150bn if needed.
Germans now face several years of belt-tightening, with Roland Koch, the deputy leader of chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and the minister-president of the state of Hesse, saying that no areas "can be considered taboo".
Tax cuts that were promised by Merkel's government when it came into office in October have now been scrapped, the chancellor announced this week. Instead, policymakers are now talking of raising taxes to fill a €10bn fiscal gap.
