politics | 50000 march in Ireland against IMF and EU mandated austerity cuts that hit poor worse than rich (Reply)

Every goddamn time the IMF gets into an economy, they mandate cutting public services and privitization. Has this EVER worked?

Up to 50,000 people march in Dublin over budget cuts

Approximately 50,000 people marched in Dublin this afternoon in a protest organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) against the Government’s austerity plan.

The protest started on Wood Quay at noon, before crossing over to the north quays to Ormond Quay, continuing on to Bachelors Walk and then onto O’Connell Street, arriving at the GPO at 1pm.

Addressing the crowd on a podium at the GPO, Irish Times columnist Fintan O’Toole said the Government was doing a deal with people who had not been elected.

He said the country was paying billions to bail out the banks and the Government had declared war on the poor. He said Irish people were not subjects, but citizens, and wanted their republic back.

Ictu president Jack O'Connor told protestors the country had been brought "to its knees" by the Government and bankers.MORE

Dublin protesters march against cuts as bail-out looms

The march came as officials met to hammer out the final details of a financial bail-out

Tens of thousands of people have marched through Dublin in protest at the government's austerity programme.

Protest leaders said it was the first of many demonstrations over plans to raise taxes and cut public spending.

The austerity programme is designed to cut the Irish Republic's massive government deficit, exacerbated by the rescue of the country's banks.

The march came as officials met to hammer out the final details of a financial bail-out for the country.

The EU and the IMF are set to lend the country more than 85bn euros ($113bn; £72bn), with the terms of the deal expected to be announced on Sunday ahead of the markets re-opening on Monday.

State broadcaster RTE has reported that the interest rate to be paid on part of the loan could be as much as 6.7%, higher than the rate charged to Greece for its bail-out, which has raised concerns from opposition parties.MORE

And why are they pissed?

Key Points: The Irish Austerity Plan

The Irish government has unveiled the deficit reduction plan required for its EU and IMF bail-out, revealing deep cuts in spending and jobs.
The key announcements include:
corporation tax rate to remain unchanged at 12.5%
10bn euros (£8.5bn) of spending cuts between 2011-2014, and 5bn euros in tax rises
minimum wage to be cut by one euro to 7.65 euros per hour
3bn euros of cuts in public investment by 2014
2.8bn euros of welfare cuts by 2014, returning spending to 2007 levels
reduction of public sector pay bill by 1.2bn euros by 2014
the reform of public sector pensions for new entrants with pay cut by 10%
24,750 public sector jobs to be cut, back to 2005 level
VAT up from 21% to 22% in 2013, then 23% in 2014
raise an extra 1.9bn euros from income tax
abolition of some tax reliefs worth 755m euros
real GDP to grow by an average of 2.75% from 2011 to 2014
unemployment to fall from 13.5% to below 10% in 2014
the introduction of domestic water charges by 2014.

MORE

Someone please explain to me how come cutting the minimum wage sqaures with raising the VAT and introducing domestic water rates, among other things guaranteed to slam the poor? But the corporate taxes remain the same?And the banks get bailed out?

So how the hell did this happen?

Q & A:What went wrong in the Irish Republic's Finances?

How did the country get into this mess?

Hailed as the "Celtic Tiger" for the rapid growth of its economy, in the space of three years the Irish Republic has gone from boom to almost bust.

Much of its growth was built around the property market. But since 2008 this has suffered a dramatic collapse, with house values falling 50-60%.

Bad debts have almost wrecked the country's banks, forcing the government to bail them out.

This opened a huge hole in the Irish government's finances - which will see it run a budget deficit equivalent to 32% of GDP this year.

So the problem is just at the banks?

No. Another challenge facing the country is the very sharp deterioration in tax revenues and rise in unemployment benefit claims since the recession.

The government's spending gap is a substantial (and unsustainable) 12% of GDP.

Yet the economy began to shrink again in the second quarter of the year, and the government's austerity is likely to worsen any renewed recession MORE