EMR

You should read the English language press , it has regular stories about hotel staff not eceiving their wages, having to strike or sue.
But then what do the Portuguese know about life in their own country.
When some expats who live here permanently know so much more.
Such as Caterina Martins one of the leaders of the left block who said that while her party wanted the mi wage jncreased to 600e it would be demagogic to beieve that it could be.
It is just not possible.

macliam

You do not need to look far to see where the problem is with the economy in Portugal - see the number of company-supplied BMWs & Audis ferrying the "SR Doutor"s & "Sr Enginheiro"s from one lunch to the next, the ridiculous salaries and benefits that the politicians give themselves and the ludicrous lack of competition in the home market for utilities, etc. There is money around, but those who have power are intent on keeping it, those who do not, pay the price.

Next time you go to the supermarket, ask yourself how you would pay for your food bill on the now-general minimum wage, let alone put something aside for a rainy day. Ask yourself whether you would feel incentivised by being paid under £3 and hour with little chance to progress due to the glass ceilings imposed in major companies where only graduates can move into management. Those who have the get-up and go have got up and gone.....

So it's about time the system got a kick up the backside and began to resemble a working democracy, rather than letting the same type of people who maintained the Estado Novo maintain the old barriers.

EMR

It is certainly not going to happen if there is a change of government.
As a Portuguese aquaintance said last week half in jest, what this country needs is another revolution..

Ingles

It obvious my oblique comment @5.54 went straight over your head!!
Catarina Martins is the Spoke Person for the Bloco Esquerda.
95.00€ increase per month = 0.60€'s per Hour (Get you a café)
or 4.80€'s per day

Mcliams comment above hit's the nail right on the head

Ingles

I personally wish to congratulate you over this post.
Honest & Truthful

EMR

And Pigs might fly.

GeniB

NO It's not ok ,but it's sadly they way we have allowed the world of finance to work. We have no democracy,its a fallacy. The rateing agencies have been proven time and again to be corrupt,inacurate,biased puppets. But we roll over when they say so.

Pulaski

FIFY

Pulaski

You have a weird obsession with the ratings agencies. Historically the problem with the ratings agencies is that they have been too generous to borrowers/issuers, and therefore have "wronged" investors, not the borrowers that have benefitted from cheaper borrowings than they deserve, which is the exact opposite of what you appear to be complaining about, that they have a downer on the PIGS.

Ingles

"And there goes' the dolly ,straight out off the cot"

macliam

You can't have "another" revolution when you didn't have one in the first place.... The "Carnation revolution" was amazing for a number of reasons, the lack of blood spilled by the "rebels", the fact that a military coup immediately handed power to civil authorities, the lack of revenge trials, etc., etc.

However, it was NOT a revolution, it was a military coup which proved popular. The civilian "revolutionaries" only came out once the Captains had done their job and whilst it "dethroned" the supporters of Salazar, they just laid low for a while, before coming back. The new democracy did not fundamentally alter the inequalities and barriers in Portuguese society and they still exist, that's why it is still an also-ran economy.

Too many people have spent the last 30 years patting themselves on the back, whilst allowing the same old people to pull the strings. Faith and Fado may have been replaced, but Football is still the greatest politics. "O povo" não estava e não está unido .....

Red Eric

A half quote taken out of context - nice one!

For the record, let's have a little look at what Catarina Martins actually said, shall we? It was during an interview with the Diário de Notícias, in response to a question as to whether 600 euros, which has been talked of, is possible :
And if you check back to my post where I mentioned a raise to the minimum wage, you'll find that I said there would be amounts and a timetable (I didn't mention an actual figure), which is completely in agreement with this full quote.

Either your English language newspaper put that in a completely different light, in which case you now know not to trust it, or you did, in which case you ought to be ashamed of yourself and should go and stand in the corner for the rest of the day.

Red Eric

You naughty, naughty boys! You've been ogling that seductive little minx TINA again, haven't you?

EMR

Not Tina but Catarina !

EMR

It was the Algarve Resident, page 6 last para.
Make of that what you will.