Yanis Varoufakis
Posted by Jazzlike-Moose3123@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 126 comments
What do you think about Varoufakis? Does he have a point?
Do you also believe in things he says about ısrael and techno feudalism?
Is he liked or hated in Greece?
Greece has become Israel's "satellite" says Yanis Varoufakis.
TheoKondak@reddit
He is a fraud and a grifter, and a freaking narcissist. Also he went to Moscow and danced like an idiot amidst the war in Ukraine, when ruzzians are commiting war crimes every single day. That tells me all i need to know about him. And as a Greek i feel lucky that he got kicked out of his ministry which probably saved Greece.
MrImAlwaysrighT1981@reddit
He has some good points, but he's mostly about himself, be popular and provocative, seem smart etc.
I would like to see any credible facts about one country who has it worse after entering EU, at least for less developed ones. Greeces problems aren't EU membership, it's Balkan mentality, public sector, overspending etc.
ShlalomShabbat@reddit
What is balkan mentality?
TheAimIs@reddit
Varoufakis told everyone that austerity brings recession and thus the debt will not be paid. That Europe needs investment. He was mocked by everyone. 5 years later Draghi told everyone that austerity is not good, that Europe needs growth and investments. Everyone agreed with him and austerity stopped in Europe.
Generally Varoufakis is a strange man. I wouldn't like him as my friend but definitely i would like to hear what he has to say. I would like to hear him much more than other politicians an journalists.
Artistic_Wind333@reddit
In his tenure as Minister of Finance he attampted to do what he was writing in his articles for years. I was reading the articles, he had some points but too radical in my opinion. When Tsipras made him Minister of Finance, i was like "Really? What happens if he tries what he mentions in his articles? Are those things practicall?". I did not vote for them, because i found it scary...Well, he started doing what he was preaching. I call that honesty.
Tsipras did a referendum, to support the scary plan Varoufakis had. Then Tsipras interpreted the referendum whichever way it was convenient, because he wanted Varoufakis for the buzz, but also to cut him short before materializing the plan. So, Tsipras was caught bluffing and what came afterwards was the concequence of this. All the blame (or most of it) was put on Varoufakis by media. He was mocked for rejecting austerity, while 5 years later it made sense. I call this character assasination. But Varoufakis, from his side could do better job on promoting his idea, instead of insulting everyone and starting a beef with Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
Regarding Israel, he has some points. No practical points, though.
Regarding techno feudalism, he also has some points. Nothing practical as well. Just another way to describe modern economy. I haven't read any book on the topic, so i am probably missing stuff, like if there are any practical sugestions.
I would like him to have a voice in the parliament, lets say, but i would not want him in a government. These podcasts were interesting. (I have seen a couple, not all)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kamRV8zQWA&list=PLbm5lDhZiNste3pmr9QPbWH82XceZnBGy
Valara0kar@reddit
What a weird total delusional and factually just propaganda take on his time as finance minister.
He actively went to Europe to demand free money or else he is going to default. Crashing both out of EU and eurozone. He didnt have a mandate to do this. He only had a mandate from the goverment to renegotiate the deal. His plan instantly fell through as he lost all other southern EU allies. Also both EU and ECB were ready to limit any spread of damage. It was actually facinating at the time looking how Europe united against this total fool.
He had already hinted at a dual currency breaking ECB rules and ECB stopped the currency tranfer to Greek central bank. Bcs people started to fear their euros will be replaced by worthless varufakiscoin. It led to a bankrun. He managed extreme economic harm and put the "left" to mean economic destruction. Leading to now long record of rightwing rule even through corruption and abuse.
On your Tsipras not doing Varofakis plan....... Greece didnt have money. You needed money for his stupid plan.
Btw.... austerity worked. Only countries not doing austerity being Italy and France are in cycle of bad spending. Meanwhile others recovered markedly well. Most of all Spain.
lupi64@reddit
But have you seen how badly Greece dropped from the middle to the bottom of the EU in most indicators since 2009? Austerity that caused material deprivation and workers to lose competitive edge and brain drain hurt the country.
Unhappy_Bicycle_7774@reddit
This is a stupid conception of what happened.
Greeks and greece gets tons of money from european banks who dont do any due diligence. They were not scammed they just didnt do their due diligence and didnt calculate risk which is literally their job
The bailout occurs ostensibly funded from the eu. This is CATEGORICALLY wrong. The bailout is money given to foreign banks to pay them back but establishes debt on the greek public to PAY BACK FOREIGN BANKS who didnt do their job. Its not up to a greek consumer to comprehend the risk of the loans he takes its up to the expert aka german banks to do so and explain it. Same story in croatia with swiss franc derived loans, etc.
The greek government repays the debt through three tactics, austerity, tax code fixes and selling public goods and infrastructure.
Due to austerity, greece is now the third lowest earning country in europe and has been in a steady decline. The share of jobs which are part time service jobs with low productivity like cafes is at an all time high. The economy is to be frank shit in terms of any per capita metric. Luckily the recalculation of debt in the nearly 0% ecb interest era in the 2010s helped a lot as did inflation recently. Spending for nothing is worse than austerity, but only by a tiny bit.
The main instruments of why Greece is able to repay debt is huge chunks of productive and critical infrastructure sold to some eu and a lot of chinese parties which is a strategic and economic long term problem that didnt exist before.
The other major part is the closing of tax loopholes and evasions WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN FAR MORE EFFECTIVE WHEN VAROUFAKIS WAS AROUND since greeks had good salaries in comparison back then and far more ownership and existence of industrial and logistical facilities. His start on those reforms is also what led to the current situation today.
Artistic_Wind333@reddit
Varoufakis had been suggesting dual currency long before becoming minister. For example:
https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2012/09/26/are-digital-currencies-the-future/
so it was Tsipras' fault that he made him a minister. Everything Tsipras was promising prior to becoming prime minister needed money. That is why nothing was materialized. Tsipras put the left to mean economic destruction and false promising. That is why Greece will probably have Nea Dimoratia as government for 50 years, with possible small breaks.
Natios_Hayelos@reddit
When you say he has no practical points do you mean his solutions are difficult to downright impossible to implement or that he does not offer any solutions?
Artistic_Wind333@reddit
He does not offer any solutions or alternatives, regarding Israel and Turkey for example. Difficult or impossible in other areas. Too one sided, in my opinion. For example, we was saying that we should close all embassies to save money. Yeah, it sounds like saving heaps of money. How would this work out though, regarding relationships with other countries? Is it according to law to stop paying ambassadors and the rest employees? Or, he was saying to start cutting the highest paying pensions. How would this work out? Cutting judges' pensions, would worr for example? I guess not, because judges still at work would rule it illegal.
Natios_Hayelos@reddit
Do you have any reference for the statement about the embassy? Where did he say it? If you can't find it I still believe you but I would like to see it myself. Did he not offer any explanation as to how that would work?
Artistic_Wind333@reddit
Prior 2015, he was writing articles. I had read it in his website, possibly in one of those. I will not search for the specific article: https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/greek-implosion/
Almost everything he is blamed for as a Finance minister were outlined in his articles before his tenure. For example the IOUs. He was suggesting it at least since 2012. When he suggested it officially he was kicked out.
Artistic_Wind333@reddit
Searching for the IOUs is easier: https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2012/09/26/are-digital-currencies-the-future/
Also che "a modest proposal".
I might be wrong for closing rhe embassies and not described in the articles. Maybe it was mentioned in an interview. It was something being done by various countries during 2011-2013.
Natios_Hayelos@reddit
Okay, thank you! I am Greek and and a firm supported of Varoufakis. But I have not found any real counterargument for his opinions. Most of the people who disagree with him simply blame him for things he has not done or said. So when I find someone with whom I can actually talk to and does not support him I am trying to find some real counterarguments.
Artistic_Wind333@reddit
I consider him honest.
His "modest proposal" probably took it's title from this: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/modest_proposal
So i believe he wanted to put in the title that his proposal is unorthodox to say the least. Imho, he is great in describing macroeconomic concepts but he has trouble when trying to describe how his ideas could be financed in order to come to life. I was reading his articles before he became minister. That is why i was shocked that Tsipras selected him for minister. Maybe he would be fine as consultant.
Regarding his position on European matters, i do not have any critisism, or nothing specific comes to mind at the moment. I would prefer to have him in greek or european parliament, over many other small parties.
Not in government though. He is not a great politician. Definitely better as a writer. For example, even if he was right regarding austerity, he speaks in a way that people will not listen. I have not concluded if he is doing it in purpose, to be able to say "i told you" later on. I believe that as a finance minister his attidute and behaviour was what made everyone discussing about him and not his proposals.
I agree that people blame him for things he has not done or said. It is called character assassination. He even got physically attacked for voting in favour of memorantum, while he never did.
TheAimIs@reddit
I don't disagree with you. Πάνω κάτω αυτα εκφράζω κι εγω. Varoufakis has being saying that Europe has to stand on its own. That social media are american ways for propaganda. After the pedophile's second term everything is more than true.
Varoufakis is not a good politician. He does not understand when exactly people are ripe enough to understand. But what politicians does Europe need? Populists or those that understand?
Even Churchill was not popular at all before WW2 because he was telling hard truths. He even lost the elections after WW2. But who politician did history prove right? Certainly not Chamberlain.
Natios_Hayelos@reddit
He is not a good politician because his opinions are too advanced for the people to understand? I agree. He would be much better suited as some kind of councelor.
Artistic_Wind333@reddit
"Varoufakis is not a good politician" is accurate.
Good for stuff like that : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd4VnL81wI0
EmotionsInWine@reddit
I tend to agree, I disagree with his basic political stance but I like many of his opinions and ideas, for sure he is much more competent than almost every politician in EU, the fact that he was the first to go against austerity says it all!
Is interesting always to listen to him, of course with critical thinking. Then I like his coherence and continuous fight for his ideals, which deserves respect anyway no matter if agreeing or not…
So overall a voice to be listened to and a respectable person!
Open-Price-4568@reddit
Mark blyth as also very early against austerity. He wasn't a politician but he probably would have been a better voice for us to listen to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go2bVGi0ReE
EmotionsInWine@reddit
Never heard of him, will listen tomorrow, thanks!
BTW many of us were saying these things already before, not just these persons, usually the man of the street understands better real life than the so called 'experts and professors'...
MartinBP@reddit
Draghi spoke about investment in critical sectors and streamlining of capital markets to bolster innovation, particularly in the context of Western Europe. Germany's Schwarze Null policy objectively had run its course and people had been saying that for years.
Varoufakis, on the other hand, was talking about welfare and public sector spending in a broke Balkan country with a grossly corrupt and bloated public sector that was about to crash, because cutting spending or pulling back the state was completely against his ideology.
The two are completely incomparable and you're just showing that you've read nothing from either of them and are just repeating social media soundbites.
Just to hammer this in, Greece during peak austerity had higher public spending and a bigger welfare state than Bulgaria has had at any point in the past three decades.
FantasticQuartet@reddit
Don't know why you are downvoted, you hit the nail on the head.
Equating what Draghi and Varoufakis said is laughable and shows a complete lack of understanding them. It's sad that comment is the most upvoted in this thread.
asdsadnmm1234@reddit
Because in essence Varoufakis is right about austerity. A country's spending is not same as a ordinary person's spending.
A person can pay their debts by spending less but for countries it is not exactly same. Imagine government fires a portion of their workers, it is good right? Because they spends less on government worker salaries then that money can be used for repaying debt? Well not exactly because when you are firing those people it means they literally can't spend their money on things they used to spend like butchers, caffee shops, restaurants etc. so basically economy recesses which means lesser tax money which will be used for repaying debts. I can't see how fucking up country's economy will be so helpful about repaying debt.
About investing in critical sectors, austerity definetly won't solve that problem "now". A recessed economy will have a harder time in investing in those critical sectors too. Honestly its true that not investing in more critical sectors was the thing brought Greece to its state but austerity will not solve that problem now.
trisul-108@reddit
Yeah sure. But he was telling the EU that they have to write off Greek debt, so that Greece can get fresh debt with which he would hike up public sector salaries and pensions and hire loads more public sector employees. According to Varoufakis, the private sector would live off trickle down economics when public sector employees go shopping. This is such an offensive proposal, creating a new class of public sector aristocracy that would find Greece back in debt in a few years, needing another debt write off.
As the EU refused these perverse interpretations of "austerity bad", he threatened to bring down the Eurozone and consequently the EU. Instead, Greece was sandboxed and Varoufakis was eventually fired and the EU was saved from his irresponsible BS.
Nevertheless, he is right about the US techno-neo-feudalism, I respect that very much.
Dazzling_River9903@reddit
The limits of his intellect became clear when he started repeating Russian propaganda.
fragmuffin91@reddit
Economically love the guy, politically he's too buddy-buddy with Russians.
merdeauxfraises@reddit
In my experience he has always been right about everything. He’s deeply educated and is able to understand and predict situations better than any other Greek politician. Sadly, he’s not that widely trusted by the Greek public for stupid reasons like not wearing a shirt and tie and shit like that.
-aataa-@reddit
You can't have listened to much he's been saying then... He's a lunatic conspiracy theorist on the Jeffrey Sachs level. Some of his economic statements are sound, though...
FssstBoing@reddit
He has great points but awful ideas on how to 'get there', wherever his preferred solution is.
Orqee@reddit
Whatafakis?!
socialfamous@reddit
Did anyone see the video? All the comments speak about him and his character and not about what he said
Is Greece a satellite country for israel?
DontCareHowICallMe@reddit
Yes, yes we are
Cultural_Chip_3274@reddit
you never argument with an influencer a sensationalist or a narcisist. He has all of these traits, there is nothing serious to discuss apart from him making a show.
Suitable-Decision-26@reddit
Meh
skgdreamer@reddit
Liked or disliked, he is the only one in the political sphere that talks with defensible arguments, policies he wants to implement and scientific expertise. Nobody from the other trash talkers can follow this, neither the public opinion. It's depressing really, that this type of discourse doesn't persist in our national and global conversations.
On the international level, with his left leaning, is one of the few voices to follow for alternative narratives and viewpoints. Particularly in his analysis on the video you attached I find him 100% correct.
Marian7107@reddit
I'm German and mostly just reading this sub.
I one of Varoufakis books. I'm 99% with this guy. He's one of the very few public figures I have trust in.
Valara0kar@reddit
You must love him supporting Russia in Ukraine and dismantelling of both NATO and EU.
skgdreamer@reddit
Misinformation, he is not supporting that. He publicly condemns the illegal invasion of Ukraine, and critiques EU like Draghi to save it, not dismantle it.
FantasticQuartet@reddit
Varoufakis is more relevant abroad than he is in Greece.
His tenure as Minister of Finance lasted only 6 months before his resignation, and even his former ally Alexis Tsipras wrote in his book that he regrets putting him in that position. He then went on to make his own political party which briefly entered parliament with something like 3 seats but then failed to gather enough votes to remain inside parliament in the last elections.
I disagree with him a lot, especially his more radical views. To give you an example, he wants Greece to stop repaying its debt, even if it means returning to the national currency which will make us poor like Venezuela. He wants unrestricted access to immigration, as he doesn't believe in the concept of an illegal immigrant and he is very apologetic towards Russia as he constantly blamed NATO and the west for the war in Ukraine.
branimir2208@reddit
Introduction of Euro led to the crisis. Borowing and cooking the books for geting Euro so that politicans can steal more.
BankBackground2496@reddit
Greece managed to bankrupt itself a number of times previously before the Euro.
I hate Varoufakis for giving false hope, that means no new Greek party will ever be elected in our lifetime.
branimir2208@reddit
Yes but with drachma you could pull yourself from bankrupcy, with Euro you couldn't.
Valara0kar@reddit
Cant. EU countries are holding that debt and wont forgive it. It was already restructured debt with 60% being 0 interest. EU states will tariff that money back and take assets like Greek state pensions.
Let alone the dozens of billions of euros Greek central bank would owe the ECB leading it to seize all its assets outside. The drachma would be totally worthless as Greek central bank wont have any hard currency. The goverment would need to cut costs hard from both of the deep economic loss but also that it wont have anywhere to raise money.
Its economy totally ruined through consumption and trust loss.
Excellent_Jeweler_43@reddit
That really is not true though. With drachma they could’ve easily brought hyperinflation a-la Venezuela, Bulgaria in the end of the 90’s or Turkey in recent years
branimir2208@reddit
Greece isn't Venezuela or a country that could see any level of that inflation.
Excellent_Jeweler_43@reddit
Any why not? Turkey has a much larger economy yet they are in borderline hyperinflation territory. Same as Argentina back in the day who used to have one of the strongest economies in the world
branimir2208@reddit
Because Greece isn't ruled by islamist who thinks that interest is sin and Argentina is a special case.
BankBackground2496@reddit
With drachma you can keep going bankrupt, with Euro you cannot.
You'd think after all that Greece would drop the Euro and leave EU.
branimir2208@reddit
With Euro you are eternally bankrupt.
Capital-Driver7843@reddit
You fell it that way, so it must be true :)))) feelings based logic based on a great video you saw in tik-tok
BankBackground2496@reddit
Are you old enough to have seen hyperinflation?
FantasticQuartet@reddit
Maybe, but how the Euro was introduced isn't really relevant now though is it? If Greece today suddenly decided to abandon its international obligations, then every bit of investor trust in the country would collapse. Returning to a highly devalued Drachma as our currency would be catastrophic.
Stalaagh@reddit
What do you mean it isn’t relevant? This is one of the main reasons of the Greek crisis!
Also:
FantasticQuartet@reddit
Every time someone here mentions the serious ramifications of exiting the Euro, the usual response is "the introduction is what led to the crisis". It's not a relevant topic at hand, because we have the Euro now and this is where we are. I don't know how much more clear to make it to you.
If you don't think there are serious investments now, then you are in for a big surprise if we ever return to the Drachma.
TankerDerrick1999@reddit
My mother calls him an irrelevant dickhead.
eucalyptus-d@reddit
For the majority of human history, there was no such thing as illegal immigration, or passports etc. Illegal immigration is the result of illegal colonialism and countries like Greece or Turkey take the burden of colonialism just by virtue of geography. Free migration could ameliorate global economic equality, at the expense admittedly of cultural integrity of superpowers, that on the other hand compromised culture all around the world. With a view that we are on the path to globalised techno feudalism, the proposition of techno equality is a valid alternative as the feared drawbacks are already underway and the benefits are more fairly distributed.
Affectionate-Arm-405@reddit
Every culture would lose its identity. The strongest culture with the biggest amount of exports (immigrants) would eventually take over. Not saying that it's a bad thing or a good thing, but you're making it sound that only superpowers would get affected
Mysterious_Might3977@reddit
Funny thing to say that culture is exported by moving people, all in English on an American platform and with other people commenting in English, very probably learned at very early age by watching Hollywood movies.
Yet the guy who came here to sweep our streets will cause our culture to disappear.
Affectionate-Arm-405@reddit
There is no arguing that English culture has been the dominant culture in the last hundred years, at least. At least in our parts of the world. What's your point? This will change one day. Same way that Greek culture was the dominant culture at some point in history or Egyptian or Spanish etc.
rrrzrrr@reddit
Illegal immigration is tied to the concept of borders and has nothing to do with colonialism. Ever heard of Sea Peoples during Late Bronze Age, or barbarian invasions of Rome from 3rd century CE onwards?
BankBackground2496@reddit
Absolutely, citizenship and inherent rights are ancient concepts.
EdliA@reddit
Well yeah because for the vast majority of human history we didn't have planes that could quickly move millions of people everywhere in the world.
And even if you did make the months long trip, the moment you decided to settle somewhere the lord of the area would come and put you on the sword or turn you into a slave. You're painting it like it used to be this Disney level paradise.
Vaisiamarrr@reddit
Exactly, you don’t have to look further than the Roma community they immigrated from India and ended up into slavery
kostasnotkolsas@reddit
Tsipras wrote that he regretted every personnel pick he made, characterizing his staff as clueless. His book backfired immensely as he admitted he sold a dream in 2015.
P-l-Staker@reddit
Regarding the debt though, he did had a small point. The country was literally ransacked trying to pay it off. It was a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation.
Ok_Eagle_3079@reddit
You were lucky he was finance minister only 6 month.
Stalaagh@reddit
And which of these points that he made is invalid? It’s fine you disagree with him, but he is not pulling these arguments out of thin air, he bases them on real examples.
Jazzlike-Moose3123@reddit (OP)
thank you.
Atlandios000@reddit
Although I lean mostly left politically but I think guy's a narcissist and I can for no reason trust him.
Jazzlike-Moose3123@reddit (OP)
Why? I dont know him. Just want to know ? Techno feudalism makes kinda sense.
BankBackground2496@reddit
Like most politicians he is a word merchant. What is the difference between raw capitalism and techno feudalism?
MapleFlavouredKebab@reddit
i'm not too familiar with Varoufakis himself. but the idea of raw capitalism is that, in the most naive way of thinking, there is an "invisible hand" that controls the market and steers it towards the "right direction." in theory that invisible hand cannot be controlled by any of the agents and and intervention will result in loss of productivity. this of course only applies to true free market capitalism. a very flawed system that assumes corporations cannot destroy their rivals and turn into monopolies, so that there will always be competition and progress
in techno feudalism where big tech corporations have access to control of the algorithms that basically shape our digital life, they can in a sense control that invisible hand. they can control the wants and needs of their customers, which just completely destroys the rational consumer and competition aspect of a regular market. imo it's kinda like a version of capitalism that has actualized its potential of control and manipulation of information. very very dangerous
Mysterious_Might3977@reddit
Read his book or at least watch his rants on youtube.
Basically he argues that large tech platforms, like Amazon for example, are not governed by free market principles that we associate "raw" capitalism with. Algorithms determine what products you'll see at what price and by which seller and by using the platform you are giving your preferences to improve the algorithm and its effectiveness and thus you're improving the platform. And the algorithm is controlled by very few people (Bezos, etc) and they determine its parameters. It's like in feudal times where there was a feudal lord who owned all the land and the people on it and the city and the bazar in the city where trade happened.
Cultural_Chip_3274@reddit
He is not even a politician. Varoufakis needs to be viewed as an influencer type of persona, with lots of unresolved narcissistic issues. I would not trust him to tell me his name, which is actually a matter of fact as he has invented his own spelling for his name.
RegionSignificant977@reddit
Even if techno feudalism is making sense, that couldn't happen with a decree from Ministry of finance. You need a lot more that that. Varoufakis invented new economy. Just like Erdogan. It didn't ended well in Turkey. Sadly. People like that like to talk what the public will like. Best wishes to you and to Greece. When your neighbors get better, you are also getting better.
mantiklidusunenadam@reddit
Varoufakis is literally the goat. He did his best against French and German banks but in the end Greek politicians fucked him over and put the country in massive problems. I really like his outlook and style. Unfortunately greeks didnt care that much for him...
Dull_Cucumber_3908@reddit
He's just an attention whore.
Substratas@reddit
Idgaf about politics & opinionists, but I think he’s very handsome.
Substratas@reddit
Idgaf about politics & opinionists so no opinion on that, but I think he’s very handsome.
k0pr1va@reddit
I spoke with a Greek friend a few months ago about him. He said most people don't like him there. I believe he is a great academic but a shit politician.
forwheels@reddit
Not a good person.. and even worse as a politician. Theories and ideas in economics are only useful if you can put them into practice. Destroying a banking system and then joking about people struggling because of it is unacceptable. Instead of trying to solve the problem, he makes jokes like, “Honey, I closed the banks,” or suggests things like “atestupa” as a solution for pension funds. He closed the banks while having access to the his own money from foreign banks and laughed about it. A privileged rich leftist, like many others who pretend to be humble while taking advantage of people.
elusive_cure@reddit
Another self proclaimed saviour, a charlatan.
Iterative_Ackermann@reddit
I came across a few of his youtube videos on Israel and big tech billionaries and I think he makes perfect sense. I wasn't aware he was a politician at all. I wish we had politicians that elequent and thought provoking in Turkey too. It is all just a show to keep deep state running flawlessly here.
Critical-Copy1455@reddit
I heard him saying "broligarchy" once explaining something during an interwiev. One of my favourite's words up to today.
dasmai1@reddit
His theory of techno-feudalism is rubbish, as are all other theories of re-feudalization.
ThomasArad@reddit
He has several excellent points but also an act to play and monetize.
XenophonSoulis@reddit
He is overwhelmingly disliked/hated in Greece. He has a political party that gets less than 3% every election. The reason is probably the fact that the only time he held any political position he almost ruined the economy in 6 months. We are still paying for his mess-ups among other things. Despite Reddit's left leaning stance, he is still not well-liked among Greek redditors.
Many of us are trying to make westerners aware of the aforementioned results of his political career. It's one thing hearing his bogus theories from afar. It's a completely different thing queuing at the ATM and waiting to withdraw 60€ every day because the banks and the state may go bankrupt at any moment and lose everyone's deposits. And all that for an entire summer, with a maximum daily amount of 50€, because the maximum allowed amount was 60€ but the state had run out of 20€ banknotes.
kostasnotkolsas@reddit
I dislike Varoufakis, i even have serious beef with the student party he used to back. Blaming him or Tsipras for the economic crisis is a gross rewrite of history, ND and PASOK ruled for 40 years, they co governed and brought austerity, they privatised every proffitable public sector company. Syriza post referendum continued these policies and can be blamed for that.
XenophonSoulis@reddit
You are wildly off. I don't know what you are attempting to gain by this, but whatever it is, stop it. The blame on Tsipras and (especially) Varoufakis is for their gross mismanagement of the economy during the crisis. They inherited a bad economy, that's for sure, but they themselves almost bankrupted the banks and the state, while also playing games with the counties that had ended Greece money. That was their doing and nobody else's.
mostlyecstasy@reddit
Another useful idiot for turkey and no i dont like israel either
Lanky-Rush607@reddit
He's as credible as Andrew Tate.
Impossible_Web_4332@reddit
But people demonstraded in Athens when Tate was arrested 🥹
IslandVisible5023@reddit
For turkey and Russia , he is a useful idiot , for us he is dangerous in office
Impossible_Web_4332@reddit
Ah yes, Russia the biggest external enemy of Greece
Few-Interview-1996@reddit
I'd love to see him post on Reddit.
padel_zdravlje@reddit
He needs to do an AMA
Ujemegaz@reddit
I think his theories are rather philosophical. At first i seemed to understand, because he has eloquence, but then i lose track and did not bother to follow.
padel_zdravlje@reddit
You sound like we could be friends irl hahaha
Hot_Reference_6556@reddit
that was fun to read :)
EdliA@reddit
He is very good at the art of speaking to the camera, a soapbox orator that can easily fool the people that don't know much into thinking he's really intelligent and a genius. His points are silly when stripped down of that facade.
Frank_cat@reddit
Very correct!
He's a narcissist.
Anto11x@reddit
And all the comments here are 100% proving your point lmao
Frank_cat@reddit
He's a proper attention whore and a narcissist.
holyrs90@reddit
Communist also stupid, confuses theory with realoty
kostasnotkolsas@reddit
>communist
LMAO, he is not even a marxist.
Cultural_Chip_3274@reddit
Love how are neighbors have become much more street wise from generations of fellow Greeks still voting for communist parties. upvote
Stalaagh@reddit
I think Varoufakis is simply too much for your average Greek to comprehend. You need to understand that Greeks, even if they say they hate the current political system/government and the corruption, they in fact are part of it, and relish it.
Most of his ideas make a lot of sense in a progressive society, and the point he made about Greece being an Israel satellite are absolutely true. Unfortunately, Greece is the polar opposite of a progressive society, and his political opponents have besmirched him to the point of irrelevance.
Cultural_Chip_3274@reddit
l o l
abki12c@reddit
Why would anyone trust Voldemort? There's a reason he isn't in the Parliament in Greece and for some reason he's popular on Greek reddit.
Cultural_Chip_3274@reddit
Sensationalistic influencer.
anon58588@reddit
Mostly hated. The Greek media are constantly mocking him.
Even now, when Greece ranks at the bottom of the EU 27, in terms of purchasing power.
People over the age of 35, who still live with their parents are mocking him.
bate_Vladi_1904@reddit
Some right points, some idiotic ones, lot of populist bs, mediocre economist and more of showman.
Lenin9112@reddit
Varoufakis tried at least to do something about our debt slavement and try to free us but most of the Syriza party was right wing bootlicker
P-l-Staker@reddit
I partially agree with some of his old economic policies. That's about all I know and care about him.
VisibleReport5008@reddit
https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/dunya/eski-yunan-bakan-varufakis-hurriyete-konustu-turkiye-akilli-davrandi-biz-israil-uydusu-olduk-43133274
this interview is also interesting.(in turkish)
glajzuka@reddit
BRAT
treba_dzemper@reddit
He's an economics populist for the barely-literate IAmVerySmart tankie edgelords.
ExpertOwn7301@reddit
Smart guy but he looks at the authoritarian regimes through tge pink glasses. He thinks that if europe is no longer part of nato they will just leave in peace...
wubladuba@reddit
Great economist and interesting point of view. Lots of his books are easy to understand even with a novice understanding. Hard to fully agree with someone but he provides a pretty clear point of view in my opinion and you know where he stands on issues.
ZedGenius@reddit
He's not very popular but I can appreciate that he has a very strong background of teaching Economics in both English and Greek Universities. He's generally educated well in those aspects. The government is trying to get him imprisoned under false pretences right now, so to me it's an "enemy of my enemy is my friend". I highly doubt I'd vote for his party though
YngwieMainstream@reddit
China bootlicker
gmat4@reddit
He is a great economist, but I wouldn't trust him as politician mainly because of the way he tried to achieve his plan at 2015. He was right, but naive to believe that he will explain those ideas to those people and they will simply say " ok , make sense, lets follow your path" His government didn't support him, there weren't alternative plans neither proper organize to achieve an alternative solution back then. Of course we don't know exactly what they said behind closed doors. But their retreat was a graveyard for Greeks and greek economy.
For Israel, i completely agree with him.... We woke up a day and find out that we are "allies" with them out of nowhere... Etc. Even though all the parties and the parliament vote to recognize Palestine, they never appy that.
rintzscar@reddit
He's a clown.
el_magyar@reddit
Mediocre left spokeperson from Balkan. It's ok for somebody who doesn't follow any other critical thinking publishing, and just jump across some of his articles... Fortunately, Balkan is rich in real researchers and thinkers for everybody who wants deeper understanding of social and political situation.