Ingles

Oh well ! as I expected ole bossy boots our PM Pedro Coelho has basically been given the "finger" over his declaration that he would not tolerate the working population taking a ponte/ponto today
65% of the Cãmaras have tolerated there employees joining in the carnaval celebrations, don't forget a LOT of Cãmaras are responsible for organising there local parade
It seems that some of the Post Office & Postal system is closed if not all
Some Banks are also closed.
A lot of retail outlets are open with a reduced staff.

Then think about The Portuguese President Cavaco Silva statement over his lousy pension & our PM's comments over working hours which started this thread off all off (which are documented above) one begins to wonder if there's a brain between the two of them.

To me this country is a true Democracy ,the lot in charge tell the public what to do & a great many of the public just ignore them

Ingles

On todays lunch time TV New's Miguel Relvas made it very clear (ha! ha!)
That the Goverment will definatly NOT tolerate anybody taking a ponte/ponto on the Tuesday Canaval falls on in 2113

Ingles

Our egotistical President Cavaco Silva was asked by a journalist last week as to why he had not replied or visited as he had been invited too the Arts School António Arroio in Lisboa.
he replied
"I was PM for 10 years & as of next week I will have been President of Portugal for 6 ,I have won 4 elections & during all this public service I have learnt a lot ,so I decided not to accept the invitation"

The real reason is it seems that as nearly every student in Portugal has had there Grant cut ,some so drastically that a great number are dropping out ,the PSP advised him not to go to the school as a demonstration was going to take place if he did & some of the angry students intended to "rip him a new one"

He was also questioned as to the correct amount of his pension from Banco de Portugal,as there are some strong doubts over the figure supplied?
He declined to answer

http://algarvedailynews.com/news/590...000-signatures

Ingles

Slightly of thread but I feel relevant
One of the measures brought in by our *" PM Pedro Coelho when he & the PT Gov where under pressure from The Troika was to state & implement the fact that all Employees of Public Companies take a Pay Cut of 10%
No exceptions! OK - bang you have been told !!!

Early last week the same PM & Gov agreed that employees of both TAP & Caixa Geral de Depósitos would not have to suffer this cut in salary & would be exempt from this measure !

Why ? by a miracle both of these Public Companies have now stated that they can "find" this 10% in there existing cash flow
(A 1000's questions come to mind)

And now ANA the Public Cº who run all PT's Airports & NAV yet another Public Cº who run the Air Traffic Controllers have come up with the same idea

p.s. Our ExPM José Sõcrates (PS) has so far been "mentioned" by witness's in 2 Court case's running at the present to do with corruption one of which the Freeport Case a english man Charles Smith & his business partner Manuel Pedro are charged with Attempted Bribery

Ingles

Well I hope you don't mind if I carry on with the last comment on post above because this is getting very interesting & could just take the lid off a can of worms !

Ex PM José Sõcrates has been receiving lot of attention from the PT Press over the last few weeks.
After the last General Election he lost his position as PM & Head of the PS Political Party & within a few weeks moved to Paris to study Political Science
The Correio da Manha published 4 full pages last week on one day about Sõcrates.

2 Pages where solely about the "Free Port Case" which is going on in Court now & his name is in the frame as he was at the time Minister of Environment
when Planning Permission was given for a huge shopping complex on a Environmental Protected site just 3 months after the first application was turned down flat due to impact concerns?
It seems permission was granted very soon after he had a meeting with Charles Smith of Smith & Pedro Consultants who has been charged with Attempted Bribery


But more interesting I thought where the 2 pages over his life style in Paris.
It was reported that his average out goings per month are +/- 15.000€'s
7.000€'s for the apartment he rents in a rather expensive area
As at the present he has no visible means of support & according to CdM since 1995 when he had submit under PT Law's his Income & Savings to the Tribunal Constitucional he has never declared any savings at all.
So the Press are very interested as to how he maintains expensive this lifestyle?

Ingles

In the Court at Barreiro where the Free Port Case is being heard yesterday Augusto do Amaral when being questioned stated that in a conversation with one of the defendants Manuel Pedro he was told that the Min of Environment Sr.José Sôcrates had requested 500 Thousand c Million €'s to allow the Planing Consent to go thru

source of info in link

http://www.ionline.pt/portugal/freep...ros-aprovar-li

This link is getting a massive amount off hit's so please & may be a bit slow - Translate with Google

Ingles

Sr Mário Lina PS was the Min of Public Works when Sõcrates was PM ,at the moment he is testifying for the defense on behalf of Sr Armando Vara who is a personal friend of Sõcrates !

The Case is called "Face Oculta" & its about a Scrap Metal Dealer a Sr Manuel Godinho (facing 80 odd charges) that thru his VG contacts inside many of the bigger Portuguese Public Companies has acquired a absolute fortune by using these said contacts to get his tenders accepted.

In fact it's public record that he "lent" one off these contacts a Merc which cost 280.000 €'s ,Xmas prezzies for every body as well ?

Well Sr Mário Lina has just been informed that once he finishes giving testimony for the Defence he will be charged with "Trafico de Influência"
therefore become a Defendant

There is only one thing that is certain in Portuguese Politics ,a good many of the Politicians are as "bent as a nine bob note"

masterbaits

Inlges just read through this stuff , man its like your reporting , if everyone knows their politicians are corrupt then why dont they do something about it...Even the old revolutionaries are getting mighty peeved enough to consider action , though this time it might not be as civilised.

Even though I am not that fluent in conversational portugese , recently some in my community "jokingly" asked me to run for office , it would take me 30 years to learn how to be that bent so need to say no to them , I wouldnt be alive that long.

Ingles

I have tried over the years to start conversations off over the Political Corruption here & the standard answer I get
"It's always been like this ,what can I do about it" end of debate !
But ask the same question about the Banking Corruption & theres a lot of it going on & I always get a sensible debate.

I have carried on with this thread because I feel that the ExPats who don't fully understand Portuguese will I hope get some insight as to what is really going on in the background of there adopted country as to ignore these type of problems would be a mistake.

Did you know there are now One Million Seven Hundred Thousand (1.700.000)Court Cases backlogged in the Legal System & this lot in charge now want to close 47 Tribunals
Not bad for a Country with just 10,6 Million souls is it ?

masterbaits

Seen that somewhere that there was a large backlog of cases , If mem serves it was reading about a couple that had lived in a house they rented payed a month then 30 years of not paying.

I thought that part of being in the eu was contracted to sorting out the legal system to be on a par with the rest , but then again it is pt.Now I understand why so many neighbours keep some hungry pigs and a loaded shotgun.

Ingles

Hi masterbaits - Your comment over the "old revolutionaries" jogged my memory on to this.
In 1974 Portugal had one of the Biggest Gold Reserves per head of Population in the world.
By the late 70's a great deal of it had gone "walkabout" & nobody knew a thing ?
This is all on Public Record
So it seems that even the "old boy's" where at it !

masterbaits

Yet another thing I have read over the years , but some financial experts still say the pt still has the best per captia gold reserves , perhaps someone in the judiciary should have a check.

UK GOLD_Theres always slandering of Gordon Brown and selling off the reserves at a low price when he was chancellor , yes hindsight is 20/20 , but selling reserve off meant cheaper loans in the longer term as he paid off old tory and newer labour debt , this is what real economists forget too easilly and psuedo market watchers whom know very litlle actually highlight incorrectly.The uk interest rate on bond loans is so low now because of selling reserves then , only germany is lower with its higher manufacturing base.

I just read that the car sales are all down 40-60 percent including commercials in pt , yet porsche and luxury vehicle sales are up 17 percent ...very strange , in times of recession then there should be even higher taxes on super luxuries.Its worth noting here the manufacturing sector in the uk is up also , but only in exports of luxury goods and certain cars.

History repeats , greed is good.

Even if it is communist , socialist , or indeed revolutionary based , all goverments the leaders and their cronies rarely end up poor.So much for change and distrubution of wealth.

At least with the uk tories we all know they are in it for the rich few at the expense of the many , but with the likes of facist/communist/socialist/revolutionary they get in on the sweat , blood and bodies of others riding on the horses of lies and broken promises to make even fewer even more richer than the tories do.

BUT in some ways greed is good ,,,, for if there is no profit to be had then there is need to divest for the greedy , which is why I always say tax the rich harder.

How to do it.Uk.

Ban overseas investment monies returning that arent subject to large exit/import duty/capital gains outwith the financial region.Give a 2 year window for tax free for persons , 5 years for investment companies inside pensions , one year for po box companies.

Ban non declaration of offshore accounts for all those that have primary property and are registered tax payers in your country.

Prevent anyone from becoming politicians if they have offshore savings accounts accounts for wealth concealment and of course post box companies.In all but name this is tax evasion and should be treated as so.

Ban portfolio ownership of overseas oeics/investment funds , or only with 30 percent import/export tax of the pound on its sale , plus 2 percent yearly on earnings when kept and remove them from tax benefit gains on losses.

Ban generational fortunes and tax breaks for the landed gentry other than for windfarms , forestry , food and eco fuels.

Stop paying the crown money for offshore wind farms rents.

Prevent the taxpayer paying for high speed trains , which again only makes the rich richer , if there was demand there would be a company wanting to supply it without aid but strictly for profit.AS we see trains are bought from abroad , tax is used to prop up the train infrastructure , so there is no gain but drain to the taxpayer.

Promote damming for hydropower and water investment and a public infrastructure to deliver it.Bring water back from private companies slowly from/through the proceeds of taxation.

Renationalise power companies that dont supply electricity/gas at cost plus moderate profit , tax all profit above this at 100 percent other than when reinvested to reduce prices and relaiances on imports.While the taxpayer was promised that competition would reduce prices it simply hasnt ....something the tax payer never thought of is that only a few got rich on selling off the nationalised elecos and gas and yet you pay tax on it anyway - akin to what it was costing to keep nationalised

Increase tax on property holdings based on yearly evalutions for non co's landlords , 2 percent on 2nd property , 3 percent on 3rd etc.End second home tax break for hoilday homes and rentals.End part vacancy council tax deduction.

Increase tax on long term vacant unkept and uninhabitable property , 50 percent of sold price including commercial sites.Govt agency creation to ensure return to use within given timespan or claim it for selling at auctions.

If the rich have to invest to make money through industry and farming in their own country , rather than emerging markets , then they will if its the only option to increase personal wealth.Its simple maths , no wealth or it reducing is bad , means they either leave or find a way to keep the status quo.

By doing this jobs are created , food is created , carbon footprints are reduced , tax exiles dissapear , generational landed and wealth trusts are wiped out if not reimported ,import/export unequality is gone , taxes are overall greater thus income for the government itself is increased greatly , more than austerity and worker taxes in recessions can ever do.

Austerity is the greatest con , as much as convincing the working classes that they are middle class..... If the electorate wasnt so eager to beleive that kind of rubbish , while being spoon fed blamehounds , then they would have spotted it.

In the animal kingdom the predator feels no remorse for its prey as it gobbles it up , but when it fools the prey into beleiving its one of them, making it a takeaway , now thats something that should at least be admired if not applauded.

Ingles

Hi Masterbaits. Read your reply ,but with all due respect could we possiable keep this thread focused on Portugal

ps. It was reported in the Press last week that PT Gold Reserves are 15 Billion

Ingles

Reported at a fair lenght on RTP1 this evening was a study on Corruption In Portugal which has just been published
precise :-translated & quote

"There is a distinct lack off Political will in trying stop corruption & the Judicial System also seems to be having the same problem"

I personally find it very amusing that somebody has actually sat down & done this study!

All they had to do just stop anybody over the age off 18 & ask !

Oh . Portugal has drooped 10 points on the Corruption Table
We where 24th ,now mid 30's & it will drop again

Ingles

Sorry Just realised a bad mistake