Greece on the edge, will the EU leaders let them go ?

At the present time, foreign creditors and the Troika (IMF, ECB and EU) are trying to impose a new round of severe cuts on Greece, including 20% wage cuts in the private sector and an immediate slaughter of 15,000 public sector job as part of the destruction of 150,000 jobs by 2015. At the same time, support for the parties supporting the technocrat government of Papademos is in sharp decline. In one recent poll, Pasok, the now neo-liberal former social democratic party, is down to 8%, from 44% in 2009, when it returned to power! The anger and fury about the cuts is now reflected in the hesitancy that ND, the traditional conservative party, and Laos, a right-wing populist force, - in alliance with Pasok behind the Papademos government - are trying to present to the public, before again surrendering to the demands of the markets. “I will not contribute to a revolution out of misery that will then burn the whole of Europe”, Georgios Karatzaferis, the leader of Laos, was quoted, trying to distance himself from the government he supports.



General strike, 7 February 2012

The former banker, Lucas Papademos, was presented in November as a ‘neutral’ technocrat, above the different parties to save Greece after the fall of the Pasok government. On taking over the job of Prime Minister, he had approval rates of 60% or more. Now his support is shattered, and the parties supporting him – Pasok, ND and Laos – have fallen from 83% combined in October 2009 to less than 45% today, with ND on 31% (from 33.4% in 2009) and Laos 5% (5.6%).


Still, the ruling class and their politicians can feel that the mood is explosive.

The failure of two years of severe austerity after decades of stagnation and crisis in Greece is now obvious. The capitalist media and TV channels openly discuss the vicious circle of cuts and further economic decline. It’s widely acknowledged now, that this policy of austerity is a blind alley and capitalist commentators now raise the idea of limiting austerity to allow some limited measures promoting growth. The Troika is more and more criticised for imposing their policies and making the situation worse.

Still no significant part of the Greek capitalists wants Greece to leave the Euro-zone, but the debate is in full swing now on what would happen if Greece is kicked out of the Euro or leaves the common currency itself. Parts of the Greek capitalists are trying to use this as a tool to demand more concessions from the Troika.




With the narrow vote of the Greek parliament last night narrowly voting through new austerity measures mentioned above to be able to qualify for the next installment of the bailout from the IMF. This looks dire for Greecea s it is. They are effectively bankrupt already huge huge unemployment and the suicide rate is shooting up in the last year.

Greek gdp fell 7.3% in 2Q 2011. Est. -5% for 2011. Unemployment est. to be at 1.2M in a country of 12M how can they pay the debt?

Answer is they simply cant. I have a feeling that the EU leadership the ruling class's in germany and France are preparing the ground now for a exit of teh Eurozone for Greece. To me the EU cannot afford to bail out Italy and spain and Greece i think they will sacrifice Greece to try and save the rest of this failed capitalist project.

As for democracy in Greece i think now its long gone. With elections called for April time but all parties manefesto's has to be passed by the IMF. If you think that is democracy having your manefesto passed by the markets first you can think again.

Its time for the greek workers to over throw their government once and for all and to refuse to pay any more of the debt. To urge the cancelation of the debt and the bringing into public ownership the commanding heights of their economy to begin to rebuild Greece under a socialist planned economy.