GREECE, THE UK AND THE WORLD - WHAT TO EXPECT?

Expect greater poverty? The UK economics minister Alistair Darling has said that the Labour party's planned cuts in public spending will be "deeper and tougher" than Margaret Thatcher's in the 1980s.

The government in Greece is socialist.

It plans (Huge Greece bail-out deal agreed) to do the following:

1. Ban increases in public sector pay and pensions for at least three years.

2. Increase VAT to 23%

3. Increase taxes on fuel, alcohol and tobacco by 10%

4. Cut civil servant's income. (Factbox: Details of Greek austerity deal with EU/IMF‎)

5. Increase the retirement age.

6. Cut pensions.

"It is overtly a rescue of Greece, but covertly a bail-out of banks." (FT.com / Columnists / Martin Wolf - A bail-out for Greece is just the beginning.)

According to estimates by The Economist, foreign banks’ exposure to Greece, Portugal and Spain combined comes to €1.2 trillion. (Greece's sovereign-debt crisis: Still in a spin The Economist)




Meanwhile, there are "persistent fears about reforms to the US financial sector." (Greece doubts fuel nerves over sovereign debts )

And, the U.K. government's budget deficit as a share of gross domestic product could reach 12 percent in 2010, about the same as Greece's deficit. (Debt crisis: Greece freezes pensions, cuts salaries and adds taxes ...)

In the UK a vote for Labour, or the Conservatives, or the Liberal Democrats will mean Greek-style cuts.

The UK's Institute for Fiscal Studies says tax rises and Whitehall spending cuts of 25% are in prospect during a six-year squeeze lasting until 2017. (Alistair Darling: we will cut deeper than Margaret Thatcher ... )

The UK Government has been told to cut Trident before the budget (SNP).

A UK Cabinet Office 'transition team', under the direction of Sir Gus O’Donnell, the head of the civil service, "has been 'war gaming' various scenarios - from pacts to coalitions to loose arrangements in parliament." (Will David Cameron be left hanging? )

As Labour and the Conservatives have virtually the same policies on war and terror, one possibility is a Labour-Conservative alliance.

This alliance would have a big majority and could bring in savage cuts.

Expect vote fraud in the UK to be used against the anti-war parties. (General Election 2010: Postal vote fraud amid fears bogus voters ...)

Anti-sleaze campaigner Martin Bell is quoted in The Mail as saying: 'There is actually a possibility that the result of the election could be decided by electoral fraud. That’s pretty grim.

'We are facing a situation where we can no longer trust the integrity of our electoral system.

'It was a huge mistake to extend the postal vote. It opened up our system to all kinds of frauds.'

http://www.snptacticalvoting.com/