The latest round of cost cutting in Greece might make you wonder why it wasn’t the first item slashed:  Greece is ending free police protection for wealthy executives and individuals who feel threatened by “anarchists”.

From now on, anyone individuals with a net income of more than A$146,000 a year will have to pay for their own police protection from potential terrorist, political, and organized crime attacks.  They’ll have to pay almost A$3,000 per month per officer, and another A$70 for the squad car.

Public officials will still get their bodyguards.  Private citizens getting this special police protection include business executives who claim “anarchists” threatened them, although none of the threats has proven to be specific.

Greece provided this service to the wealthy elite while crime skyrocketed during the six-year recession.  Police in many cases were accused of ceding the streets to the fascist Golden Dawn party, which in turn attacked immigrants in the name of “security”.

The European union says the troika (European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) is waiting for Greece to implement some 95 measures it had agreed with its creditors.