There is a general strike today in Torino.  Well not so much a strike as a protest.  About one thousand people gathered in the city center, Piazza Castello, and marched down some of the main avenues to the busiest train station where they blocked train traffic for an hour or so.  Almost all of the shops and bars are closed in the center because there is always a small group of hooligans who start trouble even if the protest is peaceful.  They are protesting against too high cost of living, too high taxes, too high unemployment and too low salaries.  Life in general.  Why is it these mass protests and strikes are still so common in the rest of the world but haven't been popular in the U.S. since the 60's?  Have we become too complacent?  Life here is no worse for people than in the states and in fact for many it's better.  The lower working classes and unemployed are covered by the national health care plan unlike their peers in the U.S..  Many of the essentials are much cheaper here than there, (food, telephone, water).  If you can live without a car, as city dwellers can, that cuts out the biggest cost here.  And yet they protest and we don't.  I don't know if it will resolve anything but a lot of people got an extra day off work so they'll be happy.  xxoo me