Portugal's Social Democrats Win Vote, Oust Socialist Socrates

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: San Francicso Chronicle

Portugal's opposition Social Democrats ousted the ruling Socialists in elections, putting Pedro Passos Coelho in charge of enforcing austerity measures mandated by a 78 billion-euro ($114 billion) bailout.

Coelho, who unseated Prime Minister Jose Socrates, would be able to forge a governing majority in coalition with the third- place People's Party. With 99 percent of districts reporting, they won a combined 118 seats in the 230-member parliament.

"The Portuguese people's will for change is unequivocal and clear," Miguel Relvas, the Social Democrats' secretary-general, said in comments broadcast by state-run RTP television. Relvas and Social Democrat Vice President Marco Antonio Costa declined to comment on the prospects for a coalition.

All three major parties committed to cuts and asset sales that aim to reduce the budget deficit to the European Union ceiling of 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2013 from a forecast 5.9 percent in 2011. The economy is set to shrink this year and unemployment rose to 12.4 percent in the first quarter.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/06/05/bloomberg1376-LMBVDX1A1I4H01-22OII6T8R2GAROORB1K0O34VH3.DTL

[xchrom]

1. The socialists all over bought into Austrian economics.

& now they are out.

[aquart]

3. Austrian economics?

Need link as I know nothing. I thought they all just stocked up on our crappy derivatives. Is there someone else I can blame?

[Odin2005]

4. The Austrian School is the ideology of the Libertarian nuts.

[xchrom]

5. In short - neo- liberalism. Nt

[rpannier]

6. Since no one else sent a link

http://wiki.ask.com/Austrian_School

The Austrian School is a heterodox school of economic thought that emphasizes the spontaneous organizing power of the price mechanism. Its name derives from the identity of its founders and early supporters, who were citizens of the old Austrian Habsburg Empire, including Carl Menger, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Ludwig von Mises, and Nobel laureate Friedrich Hayek.<1> Currently, adherents of the Austrian School can come from any part of the world, but they are often referred to simply as Austrian economists and their work as Austrian economics.

The Austrian School was influential in the late 19th and early 20th century. Austrian contributions to mainstream economic thought include involvement in the development of the neoclassical theory of value and the subjective theory of value on which it is based, as well as contributions to the "economic calculation debate" which concerns the allocative properties of a centrally planned economy versus a decentralized free market economy.<2> From the middle of the 20th century onwards, it has been considered outside the mainstream,<3><4> with notable criticisms related to the School leveled by economists such as Bryan Caplan, Jeffrey Sachs, and Nobel laureates Paul Samuelson,<5> Milton Friedman,<6> and Paul Krugman.<7> Followers of the Austrian School are now most frequently associated with libertarian political perspectives that emanate from such bodies as the Ludwig von Mises Institute and George Mason University in the US.<8>

[aquart]

10. Thanks.

"spontaneous organizing power of the price mechanism"?

Well, I see a problem. Say a widget costs 2 cents in raw materials and you sell it for $10 bucks because you paid 1 cent to the laborers who made it, and $4.99 to the executive officers leaving a 100% markup for the merchant who sells it and puts it in a tasteful plastic bag. That isn't the same as paying the laborers $2 and the greedy executives $3. Or paying the laborers $3 and the executives $2. Price stays constant. Buying power does not.

[curtd59]

14. Buying Power Staying Constant

1) The average company that is not publicly traded struggles to produce a profit margin greater than the rate of inflation. Your supermarket is lucky if it produces 1-2%, your gas station .5%, your favorite retailer 5%. Small businesses are lucky at 10%, and the really, really, mega companies sometimes make 20-30% because of scale. But by and large, it's pretty hard to get over 10%.

2) There is a problem called 'Money Illusion". Read about it on wiki.

3) You're thinking about money sideways. Money is a commodity, like oil, cigarettes, pot, or chicken soup. Prices change relative to one another. That includes the 'price' of money. There is no way to fix the 'purchasing power' of money without fixing the 'price' which is a synonym for 'purchasing power' EVERYTHING. If you think the 'purchasing power' of money isnt very good, then buy some other commodity that has better purchasing power (gold). But unfortunately, money is highly liquid, and has very little friction, and is in demand by everyone.

I know it seems unfair or unjust or illogical.

But we have this system because it's the only one that works. I promise that I can argue every single known alternative with you. and the truth is, that money and prices are the only things that make having this many human beings alive at once, possible. Its seems horrid at times. But without money and prices, it's very likely that something like five billion people would have to die.

If you want to complain about redistribution. In that, we should have more of it, then the question is, what would you trade for more redistribution?

[JackRiddler]

2. What a joke. All of the parties are for the Troika plunder plan.

How is this different from kayfabe? (That's the system you might know as professional wrestling.)

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Yeah, going for a party farther right, that still supports the austerity measures

seems a sign of despair. Maybe it's like the British local elections last month - the Lib Dem (centre) party of the coalition suffered badly, with the spending cuts blamed, while the Conservatives' vote held up. Maybe people accept getting shafted by right wingers, but not by others.

It might be good to compare the turnout with earlier elections - if it's down, then the 'despair' theory might make sense.

Hmm: turnout was about 60%, in line with recent elections. So much for that theory.

[JackRiddler]

8. LibDems are 100 percent the makers of their own pickle.

In the rich history of post-electoral reversals on anything you promised or pretended prior to election day, they are the new champs. People especially hate getting shafted by liars. Right-wingers promise the shaft, and they usually deliver double that.

[bongbong]

9. Counting the votes

I didn't know Diebold (or whoever they are now) sold vote-switching machines to Portugal.

[The Unawriter]

11. What kind of electorate votes out Socrates?

:(

[daleo]

12. Athens did in 4th century BCE

People never learn.

[dipsydoodle]

13. BBC News link

Portugal's governing Socialist Party has admitted defeat in the general election.

Socialist leader Jose Socrates said he accepted responsibility for the defeat and resigned as head of his party.

The victorious centre-right Social Democrats (PSD) led by Pedro Passos Coelho are expected to form a majority with the conservative CDS.

The new government must implement a demanding austerity programme as a condition for an EU bail-out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13658998