Showing posts with label Yanis Varoufakis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yanis Varoufakis. Show all posts

Thursday, October 19, 2023

A Message from Yanis Varoufakis on Palestine

Oct 19, 2023 | A message from DiEM25's Yanis Varoufakis in support of the people of Palestine, and the Institute for Palestine Studies.


Related: Vanishing Palestine »

Friday, October 06, 2023

Saturday, October 01, 2022

Trickle-down Truss Is Carrying On the dirty Work of Thatcher, Blair and Osborne

THE GUARDIAN: Britain has endured 40 years of decline thanks to this faulty economic theory. Will Keir Starmer finally kill it off?

If Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget survives the storm it triggered, a banker on a million-pound annual salary stands to receive £50,000 of income tax relief – on top of the extra bonuses the bank can throw in, now that the Liz Truss government has removed the cap on them. Meanwhile, a Deliveroo rider gets a pep talk on the emancipatory value of aspiring to be wealthy, presumably as an incentive to pedal harder. This is the gist of the government’s growth strategy or, according to former Brexit minister David Frost, its antidote to stagnation and defeatism.

While it’s tempting to draw the obvious analogy between zombie ideas such as the trickle-down growth effect, and the classic Hollywood horror film Night of the Living Dead, a more appropriate response to the seriousness of the situation is to follow the banker’s extra cash. The government claims the banker will invest it, thus promoting growth. If it were not a blatant lie, it might have passed as a touching example of unfounded faith. But unlike Adam Smith’s bakers, butchers and brewers, who would invest any spare cash into better and more bread, ale and meat, the banker will buy into some fund that will, in turn, purchase shares, derivatives and bonds.

These recipients of the banker’s extra money have a long track record of not investing in actual productive capacity. Why would they, when the masses out there can’t afford to buy new, high-value products? … » | Yanis Varoufakis * | Saturday, October 1, 2022

* Yanis Varoufakis is the leader of MeRA25 in Greece’s parliament, a former finance minister of Greece, and author of Another Now

Thursday, April 08, 2021

Yanis Varoufakis: Capitalism Has Become 'Techno-feudalism' | UpFront

A recent Oxfam study found that since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the world’s richest 10 billionaires have seen a wealth increase of half a trillion dollars – enough to pay for every person on the planet to get a vaccine.

In this UpFront special, Marc Lamont Hill discusses with economist and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis what is driving the staggering wealth inequalities and how governments are offering socialism for the rich, and austerity for the rest.


Monday, February 05, 2018

Capitalism Will Eat Democracy – Unless We Speak Up | Yanis Varoufakis


Have you wondered why politicians aren't what they used to be, why governments seem unable to solve real problems? Economist Yanis Varoufakis, the former Minister of Finance for Greece, says that it's because you can be in politics today but not be in power — because real power now belongs to those who control the economy. He believes that the mega-rich and corporations are cannibalizing the political sphere, causing financial crisis. In this talk, hear his dream for a world in which capital and labor no longer struggle against each other, "one that is simultaneously libertarian, Marxist and Keynesian.

Friday, November 03, 2017

Yanis Varoufakis on Global Capitalism & How Trump’s Tax Plan Is Class War against the Poor


President Trump and House Republicans have unveiled their long-promised proposal to reform America’s tax code, with Trump calling it a “big, beautiful Christmas present” for the American people. Critics say the gift is a tax cut for the richest Americans. We discuss the proposal with economist and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who argues, “It’s an out-and-out class war waged against the poorest, the weakest, the disenfranchised—the very same people that Donald Trump appealed to in order to get elected.”

Economist Yanis Varoufakis on Nazi Resurgence in Europe & Why ”ISIS Loves Donald Trump”


We speak with former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis about the rise of the far-right Golden Dawn party in his country and how their policies “have infiltrated the mainstream” in European politics, including anti-immigrant measures similar to those proposed by Trump. Varoufakis says Trump’s vow to crack down on immigration after the attack in New York City will only inspire more attacks, noting that ”ISIS loves Donald Trump.”

Wednesday, May 03, 2017

Yanis Varoufakis On Brexit: 'How Can These Smart People Be So Deluded' - BBC Newsnight


Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek finance minister, resigned back in 2015 at the height of the crisis there. He has now written a book about the whole experience, Adults in the Room - and he spoke to Evan Davis about Brexit and the UK's general election.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Let's Talk About Greece


Against the backdrop of rising populism across the western world, we live in a time when massive change is coming. The question is, what form it will take?