Hannah Bell (1000+ posts) Mon Nov-08-10 05:47 PM
Original message
German parliament approves billions in welfare cuts
Edited on Mon Nov-08-10 05:48 PM by Hannah Bell
At the end of last month, Germany’s ruling conservative coalition passed legislation to impose drastic social cuts on millions of poor families and the unemployed. Handouts, however, are to continue for big business and the rich.
On October 28, the combined votes of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) resulted in parliament adopting much of the government’s €80 billion package of austerity measures. The so-called Ancillary Budget Law enables the government to save some €20 billion—mainly at the expense of recipients of Hartz IV unemployment benefits—by the end of 2014...
The scrapping of employers’ pension contributions for Hartz IV recipients was approved by parliament without amendment last Thursday. The result will be a further increase in poverty for the elderly. The supplementary payments given when an unemployed person moves from unemployment benefit to welfare will also be abolished. Moreover, job creation and support programmes and social integration assistance will be considerably reduced...
The government saw no reason to address the issue of the proposed welfare cuts, which they say are indisputable. Instead, the government spent its time resolving further fiscal changes in the interests of big business. Energy-intensive industries will no longer lose their “eco-tax†benefits, as was previously planned, and reductions in tax exemption will be applied less vigorously. The government estimates the value of these tax breaks at around €550 million...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9515210Sorry DUmmies as more people tire of paying for your kind to sit on your collective, non-productive asses, this will become the norm. Obama is going backwards, and isn't learning from the failures of others. I guess he must not be too smart.
marmar (1000+ posts) Mon Nov-08-10 05:50 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. C'est vrai.
Edited on Mon Nov-08-10 05:50 PM by marmar
People around the world are going to have to reclaim what's theirs.
You couldn't be more right, but not in the way you think.
Angry Dragon (1000+ posts) Mon Nov-08-10 06:07 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. The thing of it is
If one country starts to get angry
it makes it easier for others
marmar (1000+ posts) Mon Nov-08-10 07:18 PM
Response to Reply #4
13. True....So again I say, "Thank you France."
nt
And what did the protests in France, or Greece, for that matter, accomplish?
alanquatermass (117 posts) Mon Nov-08-10 06:45 PM
Response to Original message
5. Jesus. It's happening all over, isn't it (in the UK as well...)
What's going on here? Does it signify resurgent conservatism (and possibly incipient fascism) or merely a sensible reaction to an economy in trouble?
In other words, Is there a way of avoiding these cuts WITHOUT sinking the German economy (along the lines of what happened in Greece, where cumulative entitlements ended up DROWNING the Gov't in red ink)?
Just curious.
No, the free ride is over.
Hannah Bell (1000+ posts) Mon Nov-08-10 06:46 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. the international ruling class lost money on their phoney investments & are trying
to recoup it on the backs of their workers.
This imaginary international ruling class is not the cause of this. It is the working people getting tired of supporting the non-working moochers.
