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Varoufakis' "Strategy": "No Grexit, But Default Inside The Euro, And Stick The Middle Finger To Germany"
In a recently uncovered speech by the Yanis Varoufakis that took place in May of 2013, and which was either ingenious or naive beyond comprehension - we can't decide - or is simply the contradictory stream of consciousness of a financial expert who has become the epitome of saying one thing now, and its diametrical opposite 5 minutes later, the Greek finance minister explains why he was for a Greek default but against returning to the Drachma.
Following several minutes of tortured logic, Varoufakis explains that devaluation is, drumroll, bad for a country that is on the verge of doing so and seems not quite clear with the concept of currency controls (he applauds Argentina for "sticking the finger to the IMF" and says Greece unlike Buenos Aires doesn't have a Chinese export market ready: perhaps he should read up on the whole Dry Bulk shipper thing) yet completely ignoring the the very reason why a country devalues in the first place: to implement an external rebalancing - something it should have done years ago - the reason for which is that Greece will soon be if not already is, on the verge of outright social conflict as there is no further room for internal rebalancing, i.e., wages and welfare cuts. Just wait until the people realize their pensions are being used to repay the IMF...
Then Varoufakis, channeling Schauble, proceeds to justify the German way of thinking, namely one where the only thing that matters is the preservation of exiting wealth, an odd position for a self-proclaimed Marxist, and one which forgets that while there is a period of acute pain, the nations that made up all failed currency unions in the past (incidentally, all of them, which is why the Euro too is doomed to fail) somehow managed to survive. The reason being that once exports are cheap enough, any country - even Greece - can finally implement the much delayed reforms and return to growth on its own, and not on the back of German generosity: just how much money will the Troika agree to wire Athens this month?
There is of course an alternative, the one which Varoufakis is warming up to: a less acute, but unlimited and endless pain while existing as a vassal state of the most powerful authority in the monetary union, in this case Germany. This is precisely what Samaras had decided on, and why Greece had become a "sovereign" in name only - it was a broken country whose every state-level decision was made by the Troika. It was also why Varoufakis was elected: the break these shackles of German oppression, or perhaps he already forgot all his promises to the people?
Then the abovementioned logic gets even more tortured, when Varoufakis who until that point destroys the hypothesis in which a return to a Drachma is even remotely conceivable, crushes everything he had built up until that point: "what we should do is create a plan B, we should start the process of thinking of creating a currency in case we need it not just because we may choose to leave the euro, but because the euro may not exist after a while. If Germany leaves, that is more likely for me, as far as I am concerned that Germany would depart from the euro."
Well, if his intention was to soothe Europe's fears that Greece may contemplate a Plan B, he failed.
Then the stream of consciousness touches on Cyprus, which Varoufakis says should leave the Euro because it has already suffered the pain of capital controls, and because its banks are already insolvent. Here one asks: "and Greek banks are what exactly?", especially if on one sunny day the ECB decides to cut all ELA to Greece to €0? Or maybe in some game theoretical world in which Greece is hinting at its own currency, the ECB defecting on its own (and with Q€ as a backstop why not) is impossible.
Tortured stream of consciousness "logic" aside, where things get fun is when Varoufakis says: "the most effective radical policy would be for a Greek government to rise up in Ecofin and say folks we are defaulting - we shall not be repaying next May the €6 billion that supposedly we owe the ECB.... But why step out? Because the moment the Greek prime minister declares default within the Eurozone all hell would break loose and either they would have to introduce those shock absorbers or the Euro will die anyway and then we can go to the drachma."
Well, the Greek finance minister had his chance to do just that, at the Ecofin... and completely folded. So let's avoid any more such hypothetical cases in which Greece "should do this or that", when Greece had the chance to do just what Varoufakis said was the optimal path, and didn't do it. In other words, "regardless if you want or don't want your euro, you get to keep your euro. Just as Germany demanded"
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But the reason all of the above will be ignored by everyone, and certainly the German media, is because of what happened 2 minutes into the clip below: "my proposal was that Greece should simply announce that it is defaulting within the Euro in January 2010 and stick the finger to Germany and say well, you can now solve this problem by yourself."
Judging by how quickly Greece retreated with its tail between its legs after Syriza took power, Germany must have been quite persuasive in explaining why, no, Germany wouldn't solve this problem by itself.
And all questions aside why the finance minister who would rather walk out on a TV interview than answer if he has become a liability to his country didn't do precisely that during one of the many Eurogroup and Ecofin meetings he participated in since coming to power, we know what the German public - of which the majority already want Greece out of the Eurozone - will be obsessing over the coming days and week.
Greece "sticking the finger to Germany"
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Full clip below:
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No, you simple Greek prick, you can't have it both ways.
Goldman Sachs and Greece fraudulently reported Greece's finances to get Greece into the Euro.
The Germans knew it and the Greeks intentionally did it.
While Germany may owe some war reparations, there is nobody with clean hands at the table. Not Greece, not Germany.
One big central planning nightmare coming apart at the seams - with calls for more central planning authority.
This soap opera is getting better and better with every hour that passes. I have lots of popcorn!
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Is he a "liability"?
Should think so, the Germans, by now.
I rarely toot my own horn here, but I've been asking since the first "Greek crisis" why not default on the debt but stay in the Eurozone? They CAN'T kick you out. THAT'S A LEVERAGE POINT.
Start over, cash-only (because all banks in Greece will be bankrupt under such a scenario).
I doubt he'll do this, though. I think he just likes being in the "elite", temporary though it may be. Such a scenario would also entail a DRAMATIC reversal of the Greek model where 70% of people work for the government. I just don't see them giving that up for the acute short term pain.
Wow! That was quite a statement from Varoufakis. The bankers HEARD IT and I'm sure they are shaking in their boots should Greece stuff the problems into the bankers own face.
EDIT: Nevermind, I looked at the date of the video - February 20th. Oh well....so much for that temporary bankicide induced high.
I rememb er someone else who said this would happen
I wish these jerks would stop flashing white gangsign.
This clip was shown to the German TV viewers last night.
He claims this clip and his finger were manipulated and never happened.
F#+k You Greece !
I think what they (the elite) really fear is decentralization of power. Regions of Greece will become hostile towards Athens. They fear that they'll spur a social mobilization that will being down the clientelist system once and for all. Varoufakis and Tsipras talked big about taking down the oligarchs, but I suspect their ulterior motives are the opposite.
Ordinary Germans are really ticked off. Greeks retire at 58 with 80% of full pay. Germans retire at 67 with 70% of final pay.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/charlemagne/2010/02/greeces_generous_pens...
Maybe they shouldn't keep lending them money ?! Just saying...
They do have a wacky pension system, but are you mixing things up there? They can retire at 58 after 35-37 years of service, and that's only a portion of workers (civil servants); in Germany it's 40 years. Not that much difference, and they have made major cuts and reforms since then (2/2010), even though it may have been applied haphazardly.
They could have cut more from the civil service pensioners (and leave the others alone who struggle to live with 400 euros a month), but who was the strongest voting demographic for previous gov's of ND and PASOK? Yeah, the over 60 crowd; they mobilized their old core supporters, and the rest they scared with doomsday propaganda. What Syriza does with them will be a sign if they're truly not cut from the same cloth of clientelism.
This is REALLY SIMPLE.
Whether you're Greek, German or whatever, recognize the reality that for every € of "loans" that "Greece" receives as "aid," AT LEAST 85% of such CREDIT/DEBT (they are the same thing in this case) received, that will burden Greek AND European citizens writ large, present and future generations, the real benefit is a one-sided bailout of banks & financial institutions.
And the same will hold true of Portugal's, Italy's, Ireland's, Spain's, and
ultimately, France's "bailouts."
RECOGNIZE THAT THIS IS ALL JUST ANOTHER TAXPAYER AND CITIZEN, PRESENT BORN AND FUTURE BORN, BAILOUT OF BANKING INTERESTS, REVERSE ROBIN-HOOD, FORCED FEEDING OF DEAD WEIGHT, PARASITIC BANKS & FINANCIAL ACTORS BY ACTUALLY PRODUCTIVE WORKERS (BLUE & WHITE COLLAR ALIKE); TRULY THE GREATEST SOCIETAL HEIST IN HISTORY.
It's all a big, giant SCAM.
If people woke up to the scale & gravity of what was being done to them and their children & grandchildren, they would burn the banks & financial institutions to the ground & hang the bought off politicians & regulators enabling this heist.
or try to do the sensible thing. which is the path to... balanced budgets
and this, my dear TIS, is the problem that Greece's government has. how to either balance it's budget or to loan moar. or to plunder social funds, temporarily, of course, meaning that they have to be filled up again, eh?
at the end, this is the true way of burden your future born: don't balance your budget, and take up new loans for the excess spending
sure, default is also a way. and yet after the default, the stark choice comes again: balanced budget or new loans? imho, THIS is REALLY SIMPLE, dear TIS
the parasites exist... and feast on it, yes. but the cadaver that attracts them is the bankrupcy of thinking that unbalanced budgets are a Way of Life, sustainable for ever
Ghordo, who will man up and demand it first? There isn't a clean shirt on the planet.
zhandax, anybody telling you how this thing will be exactly resolved is imho shilling something. we entered new historic territory with ZIRP and NIRP
the "clean shirt" thing itself is a banker's view anyway. it implies that money is lent to those who have the best looking balance sheets
balancing budgets, which is something both public and private hands can do, if they can resist the pain of living within means... which implies not lending/borrowing more
what has to default will default... eventually. how those defaults will happen, and when... nobody can really tell the future, only rationalized glimpses of possible futures are doable
Ghordius, I completely agree with you. But your original post suggested someone balance their budget. I simply asked 'who will be first', which you completely sidestepped.
I find it interesting that you seem to think the level of interest rates should enter into a decision on whether to balance a budget for purposes of governmental responsibility.
zhandax, sorry, I misunderstood you. what I implied is the current eurozone drive of balancing budgets, a policy that the current Greek government is trying to be vocal against
roughly, the status is that some half a trillion new debt will be added to the 18 sovereign's balance sheets, this year. roughly half of what the EuroSystem is planning to monetize. Germany has already balanced it's budget, and many are there or very near it
with France being the current laggard (Vive La Difference!)
the idea would be to refinance now, and then stop issuing new debt. from the perspective of debt peddlers, pardon me, financial services, a bit like if your junkies, pardon me, customers, would decide to wean themselves off from your drug
hence the banker's song: "This EUR Must Die!", the favourite one together with the evergreen: "The EU Must Become Like The US, Long Live The USE Central Treasury Or The EUR Dies!"
both available as CD, LP and on iTunes
Ghordius, if some of the members have already balanced their budgets, I may reconsider my opinion. However, "let's load up while it is cheap" does not sound like a prescription for future constraint. Half a trillion here and half a trillion there will have the EU catching up with the miscreants in the US before long.
well, there is this theory that a little bit of fresh debt is "good for the economy". it's a marathon, not a sprint
after all, we are just starting to face the consequences of Nixon's 1971 decisions. both about the Dollar and China. Perhaps future historians will nick it Nixon's Century
The northern EU countries have balanced budgets Oo? That's new.
No kidding. It's idiots playing fiscal badminton in my uncles backyard after plying themselves full of ouzo
These people have to take a good hard look at themselves before they bitch about reparations. Maybe pay some taxes for a change and actually work more than 10 hours a week and maybe, just maybe they can start complaining
It was the same even under the colonels.
I lived in Athens for a couple of months back then. If the junta couldn't make it work,
what makes you think anyone can.
I know people who lived during those times, and it's obvious you're talking out of your ass.
Edit: and judging from the upvotes, alot of ZHers enjoy the breath coming out of your ass.
"with calls for more central planning authority"
Now you are getting warm.
May be stalling..... He was nothing but a licker. Another one to bite the dust
There are states in the US that receive more in federal spending than they contribute in federal revenue.
If they want a currency union, then they need to accept that condition.
Tying all these different cultures and languages to one currency was a fool's errand from the outset though.
and how are those contributions set? by a formula that calculates the "disadvantages" that Austin or San Francisco have versus NY by using NY's dollar? or by... politics?
your argument is deeply Neo-Keynesian. if the world would go back to gold... the ultimate non-national currency... you'd be talking the same point against it, or would have to make a turnaround
at the end, you either balance your budget or you need loans. and if you have debt, you either pay it or default on it, either straight or by devaluation
(Greece, for example, had already 100 billion that were "restructured"... i.e. a default by all means except the name)
all the rest is just noise
did you read your nemesis' column today in the FT ? He is advocating a parallel currency denominated in euro. What does he mean ? ( counterfeiting ? )
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/82527a4c-c9a0-11e4-a2d9-00144feab7de.html#axzz3UXSgk3jG
piratepiet, thanks. LOL. Wolfgang Münchau never ceases to amaze me. Nemesis? No, thanks, I prefer something more... substantial as Nemesis ;-)
"Grexit is not an outcome any rational person would wish for. It will undermine the EU’s geostrategic influence. Economically, it will unmask a hidden truth: that the monetary union is just a beefed-up fixed-exchange system."
the first sentence just reflects the worries of London bankers. the second shows how much he is an EU Federalist that wants the EU to have more geostrategic influence or at least not lose any of it. The third is hilarious, looking how busy he is to talk the EUR down as a "failed experiment"
note how much the guy would love the EU to have centralized taxes, a centralized taxman and a fully centralized treasury
his proposal for a Drachma-on-the-side is nothing that Greece could not do, if it wanted. Hell, the Banque of France manages two extra currencies, and for foreign sovereigns, to boot. The West African CFA Franc and the Central African CFA Franc
but Varoufakis was clear, on that
he would have wished to find an existing Drachma, to then devalue it. His own words in the famous "stick the finger to Germany interview". Neither he nor Tsipras seem to be interested to build up a currency - an exercise in public trust - and then keep it solid
and he stated clearly that putting "political capital" (my choice of words here) into a Drachma... and then devalue it... looks like a futile exercise, to him
this is, I fear, the usual problem with Marxists. they prefer to share an existing applepie more justly instead of thinking where to plant apple trees for future applepies
I think we might see Marine Le Pen, if voted, give a national twist to a new national Franc. the national rationale to put part of the state-owned economy under a different currency regime could work
in that case, we would see a private French economy working mostly with Euros and a state French economy working with Francs
a strictly national Franc, mind you, barred from international use or speculation, then otherwise it would not work
South Africa made similar experiences during the Apartheid Sanctions with a purely national currency and one meant for international exchange. note how much this is just techniques for capital controls
"Wolfgang Münchau never ceases to amaze me. Nemesis? No, thanks, I prefer something more... substantial as Nemesis ;-)"
But you called him your nemesis yourself before, you wrote on 31/12/2014 :
"piratepiet, for you I reccomend the excellent article written by my "EUR-nemesis" Mr. Wolfgang Münchau in the "Comment" section of the Financial Times, on Dec. 28, 2014 (link/needs subscription)"
So different persons are using the nick Ghordius ?
Anyways, thank you (plural ?) as always for educating me.
sure, I used to call him that, but sorry, he is really going down in the web of delusional spider nets he is weawing. on the other side, I don't have a replacement for him, so I guess he stays on that post. damn
what is your take on all this? I seldom read answers from you. Socratic Wisdom piratepiet? ;-)
"Socratic Wisdom piratepiet? ;-)"
yes, I know that I know nothing. :-)
"what is your take on all this? I seldom read answers from you"
In the case of Greece, I feel these are not so much economical, but rather political problems.
Greece does not come across with me as acting in good faith. On the other hand, I have the impression that the conflict that is playing out in Greece goes over most ordinary Greeks' heads. Greece is where the spheres of influence, for lack of a better word, of continental Europe and the Anglos meet, or I should say clash. Churchill flew to Moscow during WW2 to negotiate spheres of influence with Stalin, notably safeguarding Greece. Recently I saw a rather old book about the CIA in Europe. The name list of CIA personnel based in Athens was quite long compared with other capitals. So my impression is based on pieces of information I gather left and right, but I do not have a priviliged view on the situation and comparatively little knowledge.
In my mind the UK's stance versus EU ( in or out ) is likely to influence the Greek outcome.
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.
It is a tale
Told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.
— Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5)
So, how is he related to Vicky Nuland?
Goldman Sachs and Greece fraudulently reported Greece's finances to enter the Euro
Go open a diner in NJ and make something of yourself....
We are gonna wake up one day, and Greece is just going to be out of the euro....and everyone will say, "how could this of happened?"
This has gotten beyond farcical.
This guy Varoufukus is an economic actor, nothing more. Do not buy into anything that exits his lips. He's a con man of the highest order and is buying time until their fucking planets line up. We are fucking doomed!
He's one of the few smart economist out there. He's also one of the few who know what he's talking about... unlike many in this thread.
The interesting thing will be, if the sudden Grexit will be a good or bad event? Will it lift the Euro (at least temporarily, until the "who goes out next" game starts)? Or will it cause a big crash in the EZ? Like Eur below 0,85 USD?
The union is the only thing important and it will be preserved (and grown) at all costs. The Euro was always known as ultimately a destructive force, one that would create crisis for the whole area. The power to print money is the only gravity holding these systems together, and they will print. Is not Ukraine crisis the direct result of EU seeking to draw them in? has not the EU tried to incentivize every country to join, regardless of the popular vote, much less financial concerns. I believe the more fucked each country is, the more desirous they are to the EU. Dependency derived from crisis and chaos is the plan...everywhere.
The course ahead for Germany is clear, although her leaders and people will try to avoid the obvious for as long as possible.
Invade Poland.
Will they get there befor the Russians?
So, new plan, meet in the middle and divide in half.
"fatherland"...so his leaders !
That's it. I give up. The whole world is bat shit crazy.
Amen, brother that's just the way I see it..
I still have an inkling that they are playing Brussels - stringing them along to get as much as they can.
You know, like when you have a girlfriend who isn't a long term prospect and takes more than she gives emotionally and financially; but the sex is good and she owes you $500 so you get as much sex as you can and when she pays you back the $500 you dump her hard.
Two competing thoughts on this one, eb:
1.Why tell 'em you're through?
You might want some of that sex again later and she might even be jived into loaning you $500 bucks since you helped her out last time...
2. This is how guys get girlfriends 'who are not long term prospects' pregnant and go through one of a variety of hells that can last decades in the worst of scenarios...
This is an end run for Greece, they can't pay the loans back, but they can string Brussels along.
Let's say Greece is the Girl and Brussels the guy; he's a jerk but gives her money and buys her stuff and says nice things even though he is cheating on her constantly.
Nice night out on the town, some diamond earrings, help with the rent, maybe his old BMW he was going to trade in - then don't call him for a week and show up at his favorite work lunch spot with your older more experienced and level headed suitor who looks amazingly like Vladimir Putin - and pretend you don't see the jerk and give him the subtle finger brushing your hair back.
just need time to print the drachma.
Get some of the legalese worked out...
I agree, what happens here may be a template for the rest of them to exit.
^ ^. Clue -- He says 8 months in the video to ramp up to use drachma.
I'm listening and learning. Carry on!
The Greeks are trying to screw the Banksters. Why anybody on ZH is pissed about that is beyond me.
We are pissed because they say what they will do but they do not do. Say... is this guy related to the GOP by any chance? I only pick on GOP for last election and aftermath which was simply so over the top blatant disregard for the voters.
So it's the credit card issuer's fault when you go on a binge and then threaten to default?
It is the fault of all involved. There have always been liars becasue there have always been those who believe lies.
This situation is more like debt collection for a child pornographer turned loanshark who wants to strike a deal with you about selling your kid's ass to cancel your debts...and they're considering it.
Because they're only succeeding at screwing the Greek people; they should've exited the Euro, but these charlatans from Syriza don't have the balls their ancestors did.
What exactly will the EU do when Greece default?
They can't simply tell Greece to "leave" and lead their own failed union member into total collapse and hunger.
Europe can't allow this to happen, if for no other reason then just to attempt to preserve the EU.
Europe wants Greece out? by all means, help them get a new currency in place, some cash reserve, and set the debt free.
The Greece got right: they will Grexicent by simply running out of cash and defaulting "even though we did everything the institutions asked as for"
Short Euro.
Hmm.. the EU and the monetary union are two different things, and you mix this up with solidarity and some kind of parental responsibility. So after a Greek default, Greece would still not be sovereign but pampered by other countries to "get on its feet"?
The solidarity of the ordinary people in the Euro countries (not talking about Germany here) has swung to even outright hate. I look amazed on what ordinary people post on discussion boards about Greece. They used to be somehow understanding, but now they have turned into "Throw them out", politely speaking. This might be different in southern europe. But it's interesting to see how the sentiment changed since Greece announced they will not pay back their debt - which in many countries are considered to be lended to Greece by the "ordinary poor people." I'm not talking about facts here, but about sentiment and how it's chaning in northern Europe.
My completely uneducated guess is that you cannot force Greece to leave, but once the ECB pulls the plug (gone are Target2, and any emergency funding, and ..), Greece simply has to start printing their own currency.
Correct, short Euro!
I'm not confusing EU and the monetary union, I just don't care what "they" mean:
They will not and cannot let greece people starve.
Bummer, you won't take it well when you see what's coming
Does Greece have a neo-nazi party? Oh yes, Golden Dawn. What is this you say? No, nothing like Right Sector and Ukraine, nothing like it at all.
Golden Dawn are Greek patriots, not neo-Nazi astroturf like Right Sector (or for that matter, most "neo-Nazi" groups of any size throughout north America and Europe, lures for the unwary set up by law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies). Golden Dawn are funded only by Greeks at home and abroad, answer only to Greeks, and in government could be trusted to take Greece's side in disputes. They are not for sale to Brussels at any price.
That's why Golden Dawn's leaders are in jail, framed in the killing of a communist thug.
The world's first Schrodinger Finance Minster.
Lol, this looks so primitive. How come anyone with half a brain have this kind of speeches and swinging the middle finger? You lose all credibility and only make enemies in order to have a primitive venting of hate. I thought this guy is smart (in some sense), but he seems to be a walking disaster.
And now he has given the bankers everything they wanted and raided the pension funds.
Have not seen proof of that claim (raiding pensions to pay debt to Germany)
Should this prove to be true, his career if not his life will be precarious.
Millions of greeks only source of income are their pensions.
Take this away and the starving homeless people have nothing to lose.
All over the world the labor force is being idled. Yet they still must eat. right now the four horsemen are being postponed by massive CB infusions of majic debt.
Funny thing about majic...
It's based on illusion.
Kind of a Greek John Kerry.
The speech was also in 2013 I believe. I doubt he thought he'd be in the position he currently finds himself. Or maybe he's a puppet of Mr. Panos.
Full of sound and fury and fooling no one.
You realize he can't default for Greece; he is not the prime minister and can't unilaterally decide this at an ecofin meeting.
Not that I trust the guy, and he is a character who loves to hear himself speak, but a handheld video of a snippet of stream of consciousness comments in some seminar in Croatia... this is piling on.
"Varoufakis’s curriculum vitae, like that of Jaresko’s, reeks of George Soros-intertwined globalist links. For a finance minister who is to -- if we believe the dire warnings from the corporate press -- challenge the austerity measures dictated to Greece’s previous failed conservative and social democratic governments by the «Troika» of the IMF, ECB, and European Commission, Varoufakis has had a past close relationship with the global entities with which he is expected to battle."
From " A Soros Trojan Horse Inside The New Greek Government"
By Wayne Madsen
For Strategic Culture Foundation (strategic-culture.org)
The Greeks should become market manipulators and opportunists like everyone else, short the shit out of the euro, then come out tomorrow with a surprise exit announcement. When the euro collapses, they can cover their bets, say they really didn’t mean it, and do it ten more times. By the time it’s all over, they will be able to pay off their debts ten times over. What are they afraid of, that Goldman is going to front-run them. Too late for that already.
"The warning signs that Varoufakis is a «Trojan horse» for the global bankers are abundant. First, Varoufakis served as an economic adviser to the failed PASOK social democratic government of Prime Minister George Papandreou, the man who first put Greece on the road to draconian austerity measures. Varoufakis now claims that he was ardently opposed to Papandreou’s deal with the «Troika» but no one will ever know how much the now-anti austerity finance minister agreed to while he was advising Papadreou on the proper course of action to settle Greece’s enormous debt problem."
"Varoufakis also served as «economist-in-residence» for the Valve Corporation, a video game spinoff of the always-suspect Microsoft Corporation of extreme globalist Bill Gates."
From " A Soros Trojan Horse Inside The New Greek Government"
By Wayne Madsen
For Strategic Culture Foundation (strategic-culture.org)
Yes, but G-Pap was against the austerity measures but he was forced to accept them during the first Eurogroup meeting that addressed Greece's problem. Prior to that meeting he was called to a closed meeting with Von Rompuy, Merkel and Sarkozy. Von Rompuy architected the so called bailout of Greece which was nothing more than a bailout of German and French banks. Of course Merkel and Sarkozy complied and agreed quickly. G-Pap reluctantly agreed and when he came back to Greece called for a referendum for the Greek people about the 'deal'. Then he was ousted really quickly to make way for a PM that used to work for Goldman Sachs.
There is a music video about him with,... what you always wanted to know about the germans and the finger at the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afl9WFGJE0M
Personally, I like the guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqZ2evtU0Yg
If you really want to defeat your enemies,
First drive them insane.
Strikes me he is right on course turning corrupt little fuck wits in Brussels even more insane than they have been these past 15 years.
The insanity is palpable across the western world. and I actually believe it is contagious to such an extent and that with the pure undiluted insanity of the MSM pouring more and ever deeper dives into uncharted depths of pure lunacy across the airwaves every day, I hear it, repeated in the grocery aisles, at the bars, on the street corners,
The entire planet is turning into one gigantic fucking looney bin.
Does anyone know a place I can hide for next ten years
I was posted a similar video (filmed in 2013 at the 6th Subversvise Festival) over a month ago and several other excerpts which very few commented on, but were prescient.
Thanks Tyler.
Varoufakis on quasi-currencies not controlled by ECB
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-07/greece-gambles-catastrophic-arm...
Varoufakis on what GreXit means for Europe and RoW:
"those of us who loathe the Euro the most have the greatest moral imperative to save it"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-07/greece-gambles-catastrophic-arm...
Varoufakis on IMF alliances and national investment banks
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-07/greece-gambles-catastrophic-arm...
Whoever wrote the article, hasn't followed Varoufakis long enough to know that this has always been the game plan, and still is. He hates the Euro, but he's smart enough to know what a new drachma would mean, if it's announced months in advance that its only purpose is to be devalued. For those who expected chaos and destruction in the first two weeks of the Syriza mandate, don't buy popcorn just yet. A default will happen.
Anwer to juujuuuujj: It is certainly correct to say that it is likely a plan exists that is not openly discussed and any exit from the EURO is impossible to announce in advance. However it should not take that much time to prepare a new currency and using pension cash for bridge financing is not reasonable under all conceivable circumstaces. A default within the EURO does not make much sense because it is not resolving any of Greece's problems. The only step which would improve the situation of Greece and its citizens is to leave the EURO asap and to default on all EURO denominated debt.
Varoufakis worships at the feet of the ECB. Extrapolate the future from here
During an interview on German State TV yesterday evening the Varoufuckis was confronted with this video. He claims someone created a fake with regard to the middle finger part of this video. "He feels ashamed that people believe that he would act like this." German State TV commented this morning, they will once again check the authenticity of the video. My best guess is that the Varoufuckis will step down within the next 30 days.
The Greeks still like him and that is what counts. They're not going to get rid of him.
If you like your euro, you can keep your euro...
Nothing is gonna come out of this.
Austrian banks are gold bugs' best hope now :-)
complete video
Yanis Varoufakis: The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEUWxNifJJ8
Greece is a failed state culturally and economically.
It is almost impossible to be a successful entrepreneur in Greece, struggling to prevail over the unrelenting comprehensive strangling and suffocation by the hyper-corrupt labor unions and government.
Without thriving businesses of all kinds and sizes, there will never be enough jobs for the undiminished breeding rate, and then the parasite ideologies of entitlement, unionism, socialism and communism have very fertile growing conditions.
The only long-term permanent solution in Greece, and many other similarly infected cultures, is to recycle the disease-infested hosts and repopulate with healthy free-enterprise humans.
Evidence, even more convincing coming from the USA socialist propaganda organ NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/business/30greek.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
You have written all that needs to be known about the Greek crisis. And this is why pouring more money in is just good after bad.
Or stop propping up the broken system with bailouts and put the parasites out of business.
Until the forgein "aid" stops there will be no reform, because there does not need to be as far as the elite are concerned.
15 March 2015, (Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten)
(google trans from German) http://tinyurl.com/klxtd4v
ORG http://deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de/2015/03/15/merkel-will-grexit-vermeiden-um-nato-suedflanke-nicht-zu-gefaehrden/
Exactly as I expected Mr. Schnitzelface :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zvl9N9GdraQ
Give him a break. He is talking about a hypothetical situation in which what if he give the finger to EU.
He can have it both ways. The currency makes no difference to the cost of exports. It is the cost of living in a particular country that dictates its export competitveness not the strength of its currency.
West Virginia has an export advantage of California because labour is cheaper & land is cheaper. And both state use the same currency.
Also, this is wrong "whya country devalues in the first place: to implement an external rebalancing"
No a country defaults to clear its debt. The default is the external rebalancing, not the inflation. The inflation is due to lack of trust in the currency and this is precisely why Greece CAN default and stay in the Euro
People are still talking about Grexit when here is the FinMin in the video saying loud and clear that default must happen within the eurozone. Syriza isn't ready or willing to leave the eurozone. Unless Syriza are total sellouts and evil psychopaths who laugh at the hopes the people placed in them (the jury is still out on that), then they won't obey Brussels and further impoverish the people. Default within the eurozone is the only possibility. So look for Grefault rather than Grexit. The euros will be so Gre-pissed. It will be a sight.
This guys talks pretty straight. He needs to be outted and vilified in the press so a pro-EU mouthpiece can be installed.