comsc US Politics | AMERICAblog News: Austerity dragging down Portugal as well
Join Email List | About us | AMERICAblog Gay
Elections | Economic Crisis | Jobs | TSA | Limbaugh | Fun Stuff

Austerity dragging down Portugal as well



| Reddit | Tumblr | Digg | FARK

The situation in Greece is bad, but it's not looking much better in Portugal. Unemployment is rising, debt is increasing and the economy is shrinking. The unemployment levels have not yet hit Spanish levels, but if the economy continues along this path, that still may occur. The so-called rescue model in Europe is failing, badly. Austerity is not and will not be the answer. NPR:

Antonio Nabarrete, a 56-year-old schoolteacher, says the government has slashed his salary by 28 percent. "We lost our salaries and you have young without employment, and you have old people without money," he says. "And so there is no future for a country like that." Last May, Portugal received a $104 billion bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, in exchange for deep spending cuts and structural reforms. While the budget deficit was cut by more than a third, the economy is rapidly shrinking, consumption has plummeted, and unemployment has soared to 14 percent. Among the young, it reaches 30 percent.


blog comments powered by Disqus