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If Varoufakis is such a financial genius (with his eccentricity he is either that or a complete retard), then why is the country whose finances he managed the l

If Varoufakis is such a financial genius (with his eccentricity he is either that or a complete retard), then why is the country whose finances he managed the laughing stock of Europe? And why did it become like this on his watch? Disclaimer: I don't think it was all his mistakes that caused it, but his immense stupidity definitely did more harm than help. Anyway, commodity-backed money are back for a good month and they seem to be doing quite well so far. BTW with commodity-backed money you have direct mapping between wealth and environmental impact, thus eliminating the need of carbon-credits, right-to-repair regulations and a million other things.

coutego 4y ago
> but his immense stupidity definitely did more harm than help. Difficult to say. It is now accepted that the management of the Greece crisis and, in general, the 2008 crisis by the EU was horribly wrong. So much so that it almost destroyed it. The reaction to the COVID crisis in 2020 by the EU was exactly the opposite that in 2008, because of the lessons learnt back then. Those lessons became obvious in part because of the "noise" of people like Varoufakis or Paul Krugman, who explained at the time why the EU strategy was a mistake and what should be done instead. Time proved them mostly right. Varoufakis' rock star attitude and insistence to stick to economic theory discussions when debating with people who were just trying to cut their own losses, rather than finding what was the correct thing to do for the common good, was probably not a winning strategy. Nevertheless, from the economics point of view (not the realpolitik point of view) it now looks he was right.
netsharc 4y ago
Hah, the Greek economy was already in shambles before he and his party came to power. If you read his book "Adults in the Room"[1] about his time as finance minister, he was offering (obviously he'd say so) sane suggestions, but the Troika couldn't accept them because they'd lose face politically. E.g. ge wrote that the Spanish finance minister (from a conservative government) agreed in private that the ideas were good, but if he were to ask his parliament to ratify them (the weird EU policymaking meant every country had to agree to the rescue package, the countries would usually follow Germany's lead), the Spanish socialist party would've said "See, debt forgiveness makes sense!" and would've crucified the conservative party in the then upcoming elections. The book even had an appendix about why his and his prime minister's threat of Grexit were not bluffs (using game theory), but there was a marathon late-night discussion session between the Greek PM and Merkel, and at the end of it, it was morning, and the PM got beaten to give up Grexit and accept the Troika's destructive policies. And that's the main point, Varoufakis knew austerity wasn't going to help safe the economy, but the Troika forced Greece into those austerity measures to even continue negotiations. Paul Krugman quoted Matthew Yglesias about how these leftists who got elected in Greece were really serious about fixing their country the way they wanted it, and how Brussels rejected them because they're not part of the clique and don't want to be[2] > In the era of globalization and EU-ification, I think the leaders of small countries are actually in a somewhat different situation. If you leave office held in high esteem by the Davos set, there are any number of European Commission or IMF or whatnot gigs that you might be eligible for even if you’re absolutely despised by your fellow countrymen. Indeed, in some ways being absolutely despised would be a plus. The ultimate demonstration of solidarity to the “international community” would be to do what the international community wants even in the face of massive resistance from your domestic political constituency. But I have a feeling you're not here to learn and be changed of your opinion, you already know you're right, correct? [1] https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/15/adults-in-room-battle-europes-deep-establishment-yanis-varoufakis-review https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/15/adults-in-room... [2] https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/greece-the-tie-that-doesnt-bind/ https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/greece-the-tie-...

coutego 4y ago

> but his immense stupidity definitely did more harm than help. Difficult to say. It is now accepted that the management of the Greece crisis and, in general, the 2008 crisis by the EU was horribly wrong. So much so that it almost destroyed it. The reaction to the COVID crisis in 2020 by the EU was exactly the opposite that in 2008, because of the lessons learnt back then. Those lessons became obvious in part because of the "noise" of people like Varoufakis or Paul Krugman, who explained at the time why the EU strategy was a mistake and what should be done instead. Time proved them mostly right. Varoufakis' rock star attitude and insistence to stick to economic theory discussions when debating with people who were just trying to cut their own losses, rather than finding what was the correct thing to do for the common good, was probably not a winning strategy. Nevertheless, from the economics point of view (not the realpolitik point of view) it now looks he was right.

netsharc 4y ago

Hah, the Greek economy was already in shambles before he and his party came to power. If you read his book "Adults in the Room"[1] about his time as finance minister, he was offering (obviously he'd say so) sane suggestions, but the Troika couldn't accept them because they'd lose face politically. E.g. ge wrote that the Spanish finance minister (from a conservative government) agreed in private that the ideas were good, but if he were to ask his parliament to ratify them (the weird EU policymaking meant every country had to agree to the rescue package, the countries would usually follow Germany's lead), the Spanish socialist party would've said "See, debt forgiveness makes sense!" and would've crucified the conservative party in the then upcoming elections. The book even had an appendix about why his and his prime minister's threat of Grexit were not bluffs (using game theory), but there was a marathon late-night discussion session between the Greek PM and Merkel, and at the end of it, it was morning, and the PM got beaten to give up Grexit and accept the Troika's destructive policies. And that's the main point, Varoufakis knew austerity wasn't going to help safe the economy, but the Troika forced Greece into those austerity measures to even continue negotiations. Paul Krugman quoted Matthew Yglesias about how these leftists who got elected in Greece were really serious about fixing their country the way they wanted it, and how Brussels rejected them because they're not part of the clique and don't want to be[2] > In the era of globalization and EU-ification, I think the leaders of small countries are actually in a somewhat different situation. If you leave office held in high esteem by the Davos set, there are any number of European Commission or IMF or whatnot gigs that you might be eligible for even if you’re absolutely despised by your fellow countrymen. Indeed, in some ways being absolutely despised would be a plus. The ultimate demonstration of solidarity to the “international community” would be to do what the international community wants even in the face of massive resistance from your domestic political constituency. But I have a feeling you're not here to learn and be changed of your opinion, you already know you're right, correct? [1] https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/15/adults-in-room-battle-europes-deep-establishment-yanis-varoufakis-review https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/15/adults-in-room... [2] https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/greece-the-tie-that-doesnt-bind/ https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/greece-the-tie-...