I'll give you one gue$$ from whom:
"Portugal’s bonds cut to junk status; Workers strike against tough austerity moves" November 25, 2011|By Barry Hatton, Associated Press
LISBON - Portugal’s efforts to climb out of its economic crisis suffered a double setback yesterday as its credit rating was downgraded to junk status and a major strike gave voice to broad public outrage over austerity measures that have squeezed living standards.
Portugal’s deepening plight underlined Europe’s difficulties in finding a way out of the continent’s government debt crisis that has recently shown alarming signs of spreading to bigger nations, most notably Italy.
Already did: Monti the New Mussolini
Like others in the 17-country eurozone, Portugal embarked on an austerity program to make its debts sustainable. Earlier this year, Portugal followed Greece and Ireland in taking a bailout to avert bankruptcy.
As in Greece, though, the government’s tough medicine, which is required by international creditors in return for the $104 billion in bailout money, is unpopular. The strike had a huge turnout, making it possibly the biggest walkout in 20 years.
Also see: Globe Gives Greece the Answer
Police detained three demonstrators who scuffled with police outside Parliament after a protest march, Associated Press Television News reported.
“They are trying to destroy the national health service, and salaries haven’t gone up since 2004,’’ striking Dr. Pilar Vicente told the agency.
International ratings agency Fitch blamed Portugal’s “large fiscal imbalances, high indebtedness across all sectors, and adverse macroeconomic outlook’’ for its decision to cut the country’s rating by one notch to BB+. Rival Moody’s already rates Portuguese bonds as junk, but Standard & Poor’s rates them one notch above.
Aren't those the same s*** agencies that were paid by Wall Street banks to AAA the mortgage-backed crapola they sliced into servings?
Fitch’s decision to cut Portugal to a noninvestment grade will likely mean it’s even more difficult for the country, which is already mired in a deep recession and is witnessing rising levels of unemployment, to return to bond markets by its 2013 goal. That raises the prospect that Portugal, like Greece, may need a second bailout.
“Portugal’s downgrade goes to show how hard it will be for troubled economies to pull themselves out of the crisis and how long this will take,’’ said Sony Kapoor, managing director of Re-Define, an economic think tank. “The Portuguese downgrade highlights the limits of austerity policies both domestically in Portugal and in the wider euro area.’’
The 24-hour walkout came as Portugal, one of Western Europe’s smallest, frailest economies, endures increasing hardship as it tries to get its borrowing down.
And to do that they are going to borrow more money to pay back loans to the same people making the loans?
The strike was called by Portugal’s two largest trade union confederations, representing more than 1 million mostly blue-collar workers. Much of the private sector remained open for business, but a huge Volkswagen car plant south of Lisbon, which accounts for 10 percent of Portuguese exports, shut down production for the day because of problems facing its suppliers.
Much of the disruption was centered on the transport sector. Airlines canceled hundreds of international flights, and the airports of Lisbon, Porto, and Faro were mostly empty as tens of thousands of workers walked off the job. Commuters had to get to work without regular bus or train services. The Lisbon subway was shut, and police said roads into the capital were more congested than normal.
Few staff were working at government offices, local media reported. Many medical appointments, school classes, and court hearings were canceled, and mail deliveries and trash collection were disrupted.
An unsustainable debt load and feeble economic growth over the past 10 years pushed Portugal toward bankruptcy earlier this year, forcing it to ask for a financial rescue.
In return for the aid, Portugal agreed to cut its debt burden to a manageable level by 2013. That goal requires it to enact deep spending cuts and to hike taxes.
It's amazing how austerity so bankers can get paid never goes over well with the public.
Income tax, sales tax, corporate tax, and property tax are all being increased. At the same time, welfare entitlements are being curtailed. Falling living standards have stoked outrage at the austerity measures.
“All the sacrifices the Portuguese are making today will prove worthwhile in the future,’’ Parliamentary Affairs Minister Miguel Relvas told reporters.
A key difference from Greece is that the markets have not given up completely on Portugal....
Meaning they HAVE on GREECE!!
Hey, maybe that could be a good thing.
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Related: Pressure on Portugal
Another kind of pressure:
"Portugal won’t extradite convicted killer to US; Wright escaped prison, hijacked jetliner in 1970s" November 18, 2011|By Raphael Minder, New York Times
MADRID - A Portuguese court decided yesterday to deny an American request to extradite the fugitive George Wright, decades after he fled in a hijacked jetliner.
Wright was convicted of murder in the early 1960s, but he escaped from prison in 1970 and hijacked a domestic Delta flight two years later, alongside four others, and took the plane to Algeria. He eventually settled down under a different identity in a village in Portugal, where he was arrested in September.
“This is just a fantastic decision,’’ said Wright’s lawyer, Manuel Luis Ferreira.
He said that he had not yet read the details of the ruling but had been informed that “all my main arguments were accepted,’’ including that Wright should not be extradited to the United States because he holds Portuguese nationality.
Ferreira also fought extradition for family reasons, so as to allow Wright to stay close to his wife and two children, who live in Portugal.
Ferreira said the US authorities could still appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Portugal.
During an interview last month while under house arrest, Wright explained that he had believed that, after four decades, the US authorities were no longer chasing him, but he added that, “knowing the Americans, I always feared that they had their antennas up.’’
Wright, now 68, was convicted of murder in New Jersey in connection with a robbery in 1962 in which Walter Patterson, a gas station owner, was killed.
Two years after escaping from prison, Wright and four others in Detroit hijacked a Miami-bound jetliner and demanded that it be flown to Algeria.
After the hijacking, Wright left Algeria for France.
His fellow hijackers were arrested there, but he managed to make his way to Portugal before moving to Guinea-Bissau, which eventually granted him political asylum.
He eventually returned to Portugal two decades ago, taking up odd jobs and leading a quiet family life in Casas Novas, a village about 30 miles from Lisbon.
Wright was fighting extradition under his assumed Portuguese identity, Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos.
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Related: Black Panther Hiding in Portugal
