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 Post Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 12:11 pm 
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So how did you guys take the Great Recession? I have heard that it has led to a resurgence in far right parties in some parts of Europe. Is it a serious problem in Austria?

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 Post Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 6:27 am 
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I don't really know how much the recession actually has to do with the situation in Austria.

The Freedom Party had been gaining all through the 90s getting closer and closer to 30%, until they got into the goverment around 2000. There they had much infighting and party splits, the coalition did break apart, which was widely seen as their fault (though personally i think it was a shrewed move of the People Party) and they dropped to 14% in sum. Since then they have been gaining again and we are basically back to the situation at the end of the 90s. What is a bit new is, that we have a not really that far right but rather general populist party (Team Stronach) as well, but it looks more like they are fluke, that is going to disapeare soon.

Overall Austria did take the recession well. We also did take the dot com bubble bust well. I would say in general ecconomically Austria does not fly high, but does not fall deep either.

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 Post Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 12:51 am 
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So when you said earlier that the states in Austria have taken all the good responsibilities and leave the crap ones to the federal government, could you elaborate? Do people accept that that's the way things are, or does anybody want to change the division of powers between the local and central governments?

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 Post Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:40 am 
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The federal goverment collects almost all taxes and the states get a portion of it (according to their population) to spend.

In many areas there is a mixture of powers, where things only can get done if both levels agree and typically the money to maintain the status quo comes from the federal budget. Like you practically can't close a small hospital without the agreement of the state it is in, but the federal goverment pays for it. So it's the states that fight to have more hospitals, but it's the federal goverments fault, if there is not enough money, to run them all well.

As rule of thumb public buildings or infrastructure that bring prestige or have some coolness factor (such as sports stadiums, public baths, theaters ect) come from the states, while what is simply neccessary and has negative effects on the people living nearby (such as train tracks and highways) come from the federal goverment. Local public transport is a bit of an exception here as it is run locally, but even so the federal goverment pays partly for the viennese underground, while the viennese goverment mostly plans it, and still the public transportation, where primarily the local population profits from is run on state or county level, while if people or cargo just pass through and annoy the locals with the noise, it's the federal goverment.

Most politically literate people agree that the division of powers is not ideal. But since the 90s every reform had been about budget cuts and often did lead to worse goverment services, so many people are weary about reforms in general and fear that a federalism reform would lead to take away some of the good things the states provide, with no compensation. So the general public does not really take a position, federal party leaders are often dependent on the support from state party leaders and that means for practical purposes any reform attempts are bogged down.

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 Post Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 12:35 pm 
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as PS:

In the last years there were some large scandals regarding the fiscal responsibility of the states goverments. Carinthia has assumed liabilities (if that is the correct term, they agreed to pay if the bank can't) for a bank they owned (the Hypo-Alpen-Adria) for larger amounts then what they can realistically pay and then sold the bank and used the money for various populist projects. As part of the general finance crisis the bank got into trouble and has been saved for now by the federal goverment. In Salzburg the goverment or a minor goverment official, who as not properly supervised had done some rather risky speculation with goverment money and there have been substantial losses. In some other states they do things that look similarily shifty, but there was no bust yet. Both states are meanwhile governed by other parties BTW.

The fear to have to pay for the failures of other states goverments has created some resentments towards the powers and lack of responsibilites that the state goverments have but so far it seems it did not get enough traction to actually change anything.

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 Post Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2014 1:07 am 
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Thanks arcosh, that was really helpful. Funnily enough, the Austrian consulate saw my article in the paper and they want to come by my office for a chat with my boss. But in a good way. They're not mad at us, they liked the article. At least that's what they said.

(Insert inappropriate Terminator joke here)

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 Post Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2014 11:19 am 
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My pleasure.

Is the article online somewhere?

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 Post Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2014 3:34 am 
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You should be able to read it here. I think the paywall will give you a couple of exemptions.

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 Post Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 12:50 pm 
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I heard that the protests might be folding soon. How are things with you, Kea? It's been a month almost since you last checked in. Hoping you're alright.

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 Post Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 10:56 pm 
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I'm fine. I've been staying away from the protest sites since things started getting more aggressive. I am a coward and have no desire to seek out grievous bodily harm. might go visit one last time during a calm day before they fold. They really have no choice - you can only inflict so much inconvenience on the public before you start hurting your own cause. The government knows this, so they are offering no compromises. Asshats.

I've been impressed by the protesters' creativity. They've rigged together showers, an outdoor study room, electricity-generating bicycles, staircases to cross road medians, a potted herb garden, first-aid stations and supply stations. Their artwork and posters are poignant and often very funny. Even the more arsey flash mobs have been hilariously irreverent. People crossing the road extremely slowly on purpose, or dropping coins in the middle of the street and stooping to pick them up. When the smaller (and more tumultuous) protest site was cleared last week, and the Chief Executive told the public to go shopping, the evicted protesters turned back up and started roaming around, chanting "SHOPPING SHOPPING SHOPPING!" In bad Putonhua.

But, it's got to end soon. The danger now is that the more extreme people will refuse to go quietly and will insist on a violent confrontation. We don't even know how many of them are for real, and how many of them were planted there to make the protest movement look bad. It's dicey.

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 Post Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 12:42 am 
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I'd have gone for a Canadian classic and glued down a couple of high value coins in the middle of the crosswalk. Why limit the inconvienince to just you, when you can have just about everyone try their luck at unsticking the coin?

On topic: I'm glad you're doing O.K. Kia. Things don't look good in the media over here.

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 Post Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 2:25 am 
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The cops are becoming increasingly dickish. The higher ups have probably authorized harsher tactics, and well, they're only human. They're really pissed off and are taking it out on the protesters quite viciously at times. To the point of jeering and clapping as protesters get chased and beaten with sticks by other cops. Since they've seemingly put a moratorium on the further use of tear gas, they are now having to use pepper spray and truncheons to keep protesters back, and I don't think it's psychologically possible to spend 2 months in close combat and not hate your opponents. Some of the protesters have been getting increasingly agitated too. At least a few are wondering why they should be non-violent when the cops are beating them over the head. (Because you don't bring a fist to a guy with a gun, stupid). At least nobody has died. Yet.

The Ferguson protests in the US don't look too good either. What's going on with that?

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 Post Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 3:35 am 
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I'm pretty sure that very few people really want the police to start shooting. In terms of comparative history, if that happens, then it opens up all sorts of pretty horrible tactics on both sides.

Right now, it's got a strong sense of comedy...

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the evicted protesters turned back up and started roaming around, chanting "SHOPPING SHOPPING SHOPPING!" In bad Putonhua


...but as soon as the police start shooting, that comedy will be wiped away by a long series of tragedies.

I mean, beating up people with sticks is one thing (and I'm sure that at least some of the protestors have considered taking a cellphone video of such an incident and sending it to foreign news agencies, to drum up international outrage and sympathy for their cause) but once one person gets killed there's going to be people who will start using phrases like "they left us with no choice" and "regrettable casualties" and once that starts there's no going back.

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 Post Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2014 11:02 am 
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It's waaaaaay past YouTube cell phone videos. The beatings with sticks take place in full view of professional cameramen and photographers from just about every news agency you can name. The journalists sometimes outnumber the protesters. And sometimes the journalists get beaten and arrested too.

I don't think anybody is going to get shot, not on purpose. China has gotten significantly more PR-savvy in the last 25 years, and they don't even use live bullets on far worse riots up north. (What riots? There's riots all the time in China, they just get news blackouts.) They have actual riot control equipment these days, and they have gotten adept at more "subtle" tactics like sending unidentifiable thugs round to the homes of the ringleaders and breaking their noses and threatening the jobs and schooling of their family members.

They tried the "paid thugs pretending to be concerned citizen vigilantes" and the "astroturf government loyalist counter-protest" route here, but there's too much media attention to get away with the more obvious forms of intimidation.

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