Will this happen in the USA soon?

[jagbender]

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's government resigned on Wednesday after violent nationwide protests against high power prices, joining a long list of European administrations felled by austerity during Europe's debt crisis.
Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, a former bodyguard who swept to power in 2009 on pledges to root out corruption and raise living standards in the European Union's poorest member, now faces a tough task to prop up eroding support ahead of a probable early election.
Wage and pension freezes and tax hikes have bitten deep in a country where living standards are less than half the EU average and tens of thousands of Bulgarians have rallied in protests that have turned violent, chanting "Mafia" and "Resign".
On Tuesday, 11 people were hospitalized - including one man bleeding heavily from the head - and 11 arrested after protesters threw flares at police, who fought demonstrators with shields and truncheons.
"I will not participate in a government under which police are beating people," Borisov, who began his career guarding the Black Sea state's communist dictator Todor Zhivkov, said as he announced his resignation on Wednesday.
Parliament is expected to accept the resignation later in the day.
The spark for the protests was high electricity bills, after the government raised prices by 13 percent last July. But it quickly spilled over into wider frustration with Borisov's domineering manner and unpredictable decision making.
The prime minister made sacrifices in an attempt to cling on, sacking his finance minister, cutting power prices and risking a diplomatic row with the Czech Republic by punishing foreign-owned companies, a move that conflicted with EU norms on protection of investors and due process.
Borisov's rightist GERB party is the dominant faction in parliament but will not take part in talks to form a new government, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said, indicating that an election planned for July will now be held early.
"He made my day," student Borislav Hadzhiev, 21, in central Sofia said, commenting on Borisov's resignation. "The truth is that we're living in an extremely poor country."
IRE
GERB's popularity has held up well and it still leads, just, in the polls, largely because budget cutbacks have been relatively mild compared with those in many other European countries. Salaries and pensions were frozen rather than cut.
But the last opinion poll, taken before protests grew last weekend already showed the opposition Socialists were nearly tied with the ruling party and analysts said the protests had boosted the Socialists' chances.
Unemployment in the country of 7.3 million is far from the highs hit in the decade after the end of communism but remains at 11.9 percent and average salaries are stuck at around 800 levs ($550) a month.
Millions have emigrated in search of a better life, leaving swathes of the country depopulated and little hope for those who remain.
The measures announced this week has also put the country on a collision course with the EU and financial investors without easing the tension at home.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas demanded an explanation from Bulgaria and accused it of "politicizing" the power sector by threatening to revoke the electricity distribution license of central Europe's largest listed company CEZ, 70 percent of which is owned by the Czech state.
There have also been fines for another Czech company, Energo-Pro and Austria's EVN.
The precedent is unlikely to encourage other foreign investors, who already have to navigate complicated bureaucracy and widespread corruption and organized crime if they want to take advantage of Bulgaria's 16-percent flat tax rate.
"The resignation is the only responsible move," said Kantcho Stoychev, an analyst with pollster Gallup International. "It also gives Borisov some legitimacy to stay in political life in the future, despite the violent police actions last night."
(Additional reporting by Angel Krasimirov; editing by Patrick Graham)

[LAM]

doubtful. the US is full of pussies that dare not speak out against the government and its corporate masters that dictate the vast majority of policy.

[dogsoldier]

That is a very European response; when the shit starts hitting the fan, leave. Our politicians do not have the good manners and have too big of egos to do similar. They just stand there in front of the TV cameras all indignant, stamp their feet and blame someone else.

[charley]

What do you expect ??? It's freakin Bulgaria....its like the other side of the Moon....

[Zaphod]

That is a very European response; when the shit starts hitting the fan, leave. Our politicians do not have the good manners and have too big of egos to do similar. They just stand there in front of the TV cameras all indignant, stamp their feet and blame someone else.

That's because they aren't afraid of the people. They should be.

[LAM]

Bulgaria is a horrible example as they just recently made the crossover from communism to capitalism in the late 80's after the fall of the USSR. it's not even close to apples to apples when comparing a country like that to the US. especially when the majority of American's don't even know the history of the country except the bullshit revisionist history they learned in public high schools.

[Big Smoothy]

JAGBENDER:

Will *what* happen soon?

US govt resign? No.

Or,

Protests over prices?

No.

[LAM]

the Bulgarian's don't even know what to do with their "freedom", they were so used to being communist. they were the weakest country under the boot of the USSR and a country loaded with crime and corruption.

[dogsoldier]

They make some very good AK's though.

[Big Smoothy]

The point to the OP, no offense to the OP, is that

These 2 countries cannot be compared.

But I am not sure if that was the point of the OP. Perhaps it was a figurative rhetorical question.

OP?

[jagbender]

Just rhetorical, most of the American public are sheep. Too fucking stupid to realize what is going on. Too many American are on the entitlement rolls and think they DESERVE it.


like an AC / DC song Highway to Hell

[Big Smoothy]

Just rhetorical, most of the American public are sheep. Too fucking stupid to realize what is going on. Too many American are on the entitlement rolls and think they DESERVE it.


like an AC / DC song Highway to Hell

Cheers,

A Nation of Takers and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

A Nation of Takers: America's Entitlement Epidemic

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2012

In A Nation of Takers: America?s Entitlement Epidemic, one of our country?s foremost demographers, Nicholas Eberstadt, details the exponential growth in entitlement spending over the past fifty years. As he notes, in 1960, entitlement payments accounted for well under a third of the federal government?s total outlays. Today, entitlement spending accounts for a full two-thirds of the federal budget. Drawing on an impressive array of data and employing a range of easy- to- read, four color charts, Eberstadt shows the unchecked spiral of spending on a range of entitlements, everything from medicare to disability payments. But Eberstadt does not just chart the astonishing growth of entitlement spending, he also details the enormous economic and cultural costs of this epidemic. He powerfully argues that while this spending certainly drains our federal coffers, it also has a very real,long-lasting, negative impact on the character of our citizens.

Also included in the book is a response from one of our leading political theorists, William Galston. In his incisive response, he questions Eberstadt?s conclusions about the corrosive effect of entitlements on character and offers his own analysis of the impact of American entitlement growth.

[jagbender]