Greek leftists Syriza aim for landmark election win

Reuters ^ | January 25, 2015 | BY ANGELIKI KOUTANTOU AND JAMES MACKENZIE

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Greeks began voting on Sunday in an election expected to bring to power the radical leftist Syriza party, which has pledged to take on international lenders and roll back painful austerity measures imposed during years of economic crisis.

Barring a huge upset, victory for Syriza, which has led opinion polls for months, would produce the first euro zone government openly committed to cancelling the austerity terms of its EU and IMF-backed bailout programme.

After its most severe crisis since the fall of the military junta in 1974, Greece's economy has shrunk by some 25 percent, thousands of businesses have closed, wages and pensions have been slashed and unemployment among youth is over 50 percent.

At the same time, its massive public debt has climbed from 146 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 to 175.5 percent last year, the second highest in the world.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

[yldstrk]

So retirement at 52, two month paid vacations will be back in?

[Crazieman]

[relictele]

All digits have been shot off. Now they’re aiming for limbs.

[Netz]

The Greeks are taking 10 giant steps backwards trying to revive the good old days of total fiscal irresponsibility and Communist utopia where 75% of the population works for the state. They will bow out of the Euro, go back to the Drachma and fins themselves in absolute critical mass 2 years from now. That will enable ISIS to make their move on Greece...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

No wonder the Swiss disconnected to the euro...

[rbg81]

Will definitely be interesting to see how this plays out. Basically, the Greeks are ignoring reality and going full retard. The way American is going, would not be surprised to see us do the same thing in 15-25 years. If the Entitlement State isn’t working, why no go big & bold, double or triple down on it. After all, what’s the worst thing that can happen? My $$ says concentration camps, starvation, and civil war. In short, the things that happen when civilizations start to self-cannibalize....in the name of “social justice”, of course.

[Nextrush]

The austerity measures of the EU and Greece’s traditional leftward bend have led to SYRIZA’s rise.

The Republican-Democrat type parties collapse when they turn the screws for the bankers and that is what is happened in Greece.

There is a conservative party that is anti-EU austerity but not the fascist Golden Dawn, they are called the “Independent Greeks”. They may luck out at around five or so percent of the vote.

[Netz]

Wow, you are optimistic. You give us quite a bit of breathing space, 15-20 years??? I think the way we are going, we’re talking about 5-7 years and that’s if a Conservative comes to power...big “if”...

[rbg81]

Certain things could accelerate it, like the election of Liz Warren to POTUS. However, I really expect the SHTF event to occur when the Baby Boom has effectively left the workforce.

[Zionist Conspirator]

The Greeks have been very radical for a very long time--strange considering the civil war of '47-'48 and the Papadopoulos regime.

Anybody know what happened to the Greeks?

[Zionist Conspirator]

Pinkie! My waifu!

[SunkenCiv]

They’ll be cozying up to Erdogan’s Turkey.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

What’s their view on immigration?

[SunkenCiv]

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