Austerity

They want to stop the yearly wage increase indexing system which I've always found to be quite an extraordinary luxury plus fiddle about with the pension system.

It's so expensive to employ anyone here, it's hardly surprising that the level of unemployment is where it is - so then there's a huge benefit bill, which puts taxes up. It's hopeless, really. It needs a good shake, in my opinion.

For those that are in work, it's a nice life, which obviously they want to defend. But, it's hardly long term and just look what the rest of the World (outside the EU) is doing. Booming, generally.

Belgium has to stop discouraging work with high taxation, stop discouraging business from employing, stop encouraging people to stay home with early retirement, ludicrously generous and simple to obtain sickness and unemployment benefits.

I never lived the expat bubble life in Belgium, I introduced myself at the local café from day one. I have seen what goes on and it's mind-boggling and it's absolutely unsustainable. From people who had state funded education to 26 and who were retired at 51 to enjoy 30 years of leisure on the tax payer, to another on sickness benefit who lived in Thailand!

An awful lot of very comfortable people are not happy about attempts to tackle. I did laugh at one protester insisting the broadest shoulders should take the heaviest load. How high does income tax need to get? Jeez, the broadest shoulders have had enough!

Those people in Brussels are children having a temper tantrum because mummy State really does have to tighten the purse strings. I don't suppose I am the only one who is horrified at the train company supplying 600,000 cut price tickets to Brussels for strikers? Thank God I don't pay for this madness any more.