5 ms·

He was also the finance minister of Greece. You may or may not agree with his ideas or not but I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone with more nuanced t

He was also the finance minister of Greece. You may or may not agree with his ideas or not but I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone with more nuanced takes on politics, tech, and crypto. Unusual combo. Interesting person.

arinlen 5y ago
> You may or may not agree with his ideas or not but I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone with more nuanced takes on politics, tech, and crypto. His very short and tumultuous tenure as the finance minister of Greece's Coalition of the Radical Left government (SYRIZA) was also between less-than-stellar and totally catastrophic, which culminated with being fired from his position. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Cabinet_of_Alexis_Tsipras https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Cabinet_of_Alexis_Tsipra... Appeals to authority aside, in this case "nuanced" doesn't exactly refer to insightfulness. It doesn't surprise me that he's pivoting to crypto, as his short-lived political career was saturated with self-promotion schemes.
- denismi 5y ago
  Was he fired? I thought he quit after Tsipras sold out the Greek people?
  - dopidopHN 5y ago
    You are correct, he resigned, following pressure on Tsipras government to get rid of him. Some details are provided in the link in the comment you are responding to.
  - arinlen 5y ago
    > Was he fired? I thought he quit after Tsipras sold out the Greek people? His less-than-transparent scapegoat of "the referendum didn't went my way" doesn't hide the fact that Varoufakis was forced out of SYRIZA's government after pushing disastrous policies designed to derail Greece's recovery. https://www.businessinsider.com/report-yanis-varoufakis-got-kicked-out-for-saying-greece-could-introduce-a-parallel-currency-2015-7 https://www.businessinsider.com/report-yanis-varoufakis-got-... Unsurprisingly, once Varoufakis was forced out and his successors reintroduced a rational approach to Greece's finance ministry, Greece ended up getting back on track. Also, this is the same Varoufakis known for at the time pushing Greece both out of the European Union and into Russia's sphere of influence. https://euobserver.com/world/127475 https://euobserver.com/world/127475
    - Sytten 5y ago
      If by rational you mean neo-liberal and that this policy crushed the weaken economy of Greece and created a decade of poverty for the people then yes he was forced out to put "rational" policies in place.
- tpoacher 5y ago
  Mind you this is roughly about the same time that mainstream global media were trying to push the whole "Greeks are lazy/scammy creatures by DNA" narrative in response to Grexit. I'd take any "tumultuousness" with a large grain of salt and focus on the man's careful and nuanced arguments instead. Particularly since much of what he warned about during his "tumultuous" term has in fact come true.
  - dopidopHN 5y ago
    Completely aside, but those specific events is when I personally started to see Europe as problematic. ( I'm a European citizen, pay taxes there. Also : I'm the 'right' kind of European, because clearly and unfortunately: there is two kind, we started to see that in 2008 )
  - pessimizer 5y ago
    > "Greeks are lazy/scammy creatures by DNA" narrative in response to Grexit. And it was particularly disgusting because Greeks and Poles worked (and work) more hours per year than anyone else in Europe.
  - arinlen 5y ago
    > Mind you this is roughly about the same time that mainstream global media were trying to push the whole "Greeks are lazy/scammy creatures by DNA" narrative in response to Grexit. This scapegoat has no credibility. At the same time all countries submitted to a bailout program (Portugal, Ireland, and also Spain and Italy) were actually recovering, and only Varoufakis's Greece insisted on purposely sabotaging their recovery process. We're talking about the same mastermind who thought it was a good idea to at the same time demand free money from Germany while throwing around references to Nazi Germany.
- dopidopHN 5y ago
  He resigned, following pressure from the Eurogroup on the greek government. It's interesting he had to resign after effectively 'winning' a referedum. ( "Should greece accept the bailout? yes/no" ) He was a prominent "No" to that question. And apparently the Eurogroup preferred continuing the conversation without him in the picture and effected pressure in that direction. IIRC the guy after him also resigned, leaving the position vacant. I think it speaks to the level of agency that this position or minister of finance in 2008 Greece had to begin with. Either be a Europe yes-man, or git.
- breakfastduck 5y ago
  This is a misleading take at best and purposefully ignorant of the situation at worst.
slothtrop 5y ago
> you'd be hard pressed to find someone with more nuanced takes on politics, tech, and crypto. Really? Because there are some heavy-handed quotes in the article.

arinlen 5y ago

> You may or may not agree with his ideas or not but I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone with more nuanced takes on politics, tech, and crypto. His very short and tumultuous tenure as the finance minister of Greece's Coalition of the Radical Left government (SYRIZA) was also between less-than-stellar and totally catastrophic, which culminated with being fired from his position. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Cabinet_of_Alexis_Tsipras https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Cabinet_of_Alexis_Tsipra... Appeals to authority aside, in this case "nuanced" doesn't exactly refer to insightfulness. It doesn't surprise me that he's pivoting to crypto, as his short-lived political career was saturated with self-promotion schemes.

denismi 5y ago
Was he fired? I thought he quit after Tsipras sold out the Greek people?
- dopidopHN 5y ago
  You are correct, he resigned, following pressure on Tsipras government to get rid of him. Some details are provided in the link in the comment you are responding to.
- arinlen 5y ago
  > Was he fired? I thought he quit after Tsipras sold out the Greek people? His less-than-transparent scapegoat of "the referendum didn't went my way" doesn't hide the fact that Varoufakis was forced out of SYRIZA's government after pushing disastrous policies designed to derail Greece's recovery. https://www.businessinsider.com/report-yanis-varoufakis-got-kicked-out-for-saying-greece-could-introduce-a-parallel-currency-2015-7 https://www.businessinsider.com/report-yanis-varoufakis-got-... Unsurprisingly, once Varoufakis was forced out and his successors reintroduced a rational approach to Greece's finance ministry, Greece ended up getting back on track. Also, this is the same Varoufakis known for at the time pushing Greece both out of the European Union and into Russia's sphere of influence. https://euobserver.com/world/127475 https://euobserver.com/world/127475
  - Sytten 5y ago
    If by rational you mean neo-liberal and that this policy crushed the weaken economy of Greece and created a decade of poverty for the people then yes he was forced out to put "rational" policies in place.
tpoacher 5y ago
Mind you this is roughly about the same time that mainstream global media were trying to push the whole "Greeks are lazy/scammy creatures by DNA" narrative in response to Grexit. I'd take any "tumultuousness" with a large grain of salt and focus on the man's careful and nuanced arguments instead. Particularly since much of what he warned about during his "tumultuous" term has in fact come true.
- dopidopHN 5y ago
  Completely aside, but those specific events is when I personally started to see Europe as problematic. ( I'm a European citizen, pay taxes there. Also : I'm the 'right' kind of European, because clearly and unfortunately: there is two kind, we started to see that in 2008 )
- pessimizer 5y ago
  > "Greeks are lazy/scammy creatures by DNA" narrative in response to Grexit. And it was particularly disgusting because Greeks and Poles worked (and work) more hours per year than anyone else in Europe.
- arinlen 5y ago
  > Mind you this is roughly about the same time that mainstream global media were trying to push the whole "Greeks are lazy/scammy creatures by DNA" narrative in response to Grexit. This scapegoat has no credibility. At the same time all countries submitted to a bailout program (Portugal, Ireland, and also Spain and Italy) were actually recovering, and only Varoufakis's Greece insisted on purposely sabotaging their recovery process. We're talking about the same mastermind who thought it was a good idea to at the same time demand free money from Germany while throwing around references to Nazi Germany.
dopidopHN 5y ago
He resigned, following pressure from the Eurogroup on the greek government. It's interesting he had to resign after effectively 'winning' a referedum. ( "Should greece accept the bailout? yes/no" ) He was a prominent "No" to that question. And apparently the Eurogroup preferred continuing the conversation without him in the picture and effected pressure in that direction. IIRC the guy after him also resigned, leaving the position vacant. I think it speaks to the level of agency that this position or minister of finance in 2008 Greece had to begin with. Either be a Europe yes-man, or git.
breakfastduck 5y ago
This is a misleading take at best and purposefully ignorant of the situation at worst.

slothtrop 5y ago

> you'd be hard pressed to find someone with more nuanced takes on politics, tech, and crypto. Really? Because there are some heavy-handed quotes in the article.