Austerity? What austerity?

Thousands of people attended anti-government protests organised by the taxpayer-funded trade unions against "austerity" yesterday.

Cost/Benefit analysis of
yesterday's protests

In Greece, where the Greek government has implemented a severe austerity package mandated by the EU, they've seen budget cuts equivalent to 1.5% of GDP, minimum wage decreased, 30k civil servants suspended on reduced wage, new property taxes, new ex-pat property taxes, permanent budget oversight by the EU, EU Central Bank and IMF, all international aid apart from compulsory payments into the EU bailout fund stopped and unemployment has reached 22%.

Here, every government budget has been increased, minimum wage has increased, the number of civil servants is decreasing at the same rate as they have since Labour started cutting them in 2005 and international aid has been increased to maintain position as second largest aid donor in the world.