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Lifestyles Of The Not So Austere & Socialist: Island Villa Edition
Two weeks ago Twitter got a gift when Yanis Varoufakis posed for a Paris Match photo shoot which depicted the Greek FinMin living a not-very-austere looking lifestyle. While the pictures didn’t show Varoufakis being chauffeured around in any Rolls Royces, they did include one shot of what appeared to be a rather ostentatious picnic (with the Acropolis in the background) that contrasted starkly with the plight of the large number of Greeks who now have difficulty scraping together meals. It also came at a time when the government was actively considering borrowing money from public pension funds to make debt payments to the IMF and the ECB. At the time, we said the following:
As the Greek people live in perpetual fear of financial ruin and are subjected, on a near hourly basis, to rumors about just what kind of humiliation they may be forced to endure next in order to insure that Christine Lagarde gets the money she needs to prop up Ukraine for another couple of months, Yanis Varoufakis isn’t about to roll over and allow his people to drown in despair. On the contrary, the finance minister apparently believes the best way to restore the faith is to show the Greek people just how good life could be.
One possibly fake middle finger kerfluffle and exactly no progress with European creditors later, we discover that Varoufakis has a vacation villa that he’s willing to rent for the bargain price of just €5,000/week. For those who are interested, here’s an idea of what you’ll get for your money.
You can enjoy a dip in this very austere pool…
...enjoy a game of ping pong on the porch...
...play foosball...
...and wind down in the evening while gazing out at the Aegean...
Bonus pic: check out this awesome light…
And with that we say again: “So Greece, as you face the possibility that your salaries will be suspended and your pension funds plundered, take solace in the fact that you can live well vicariously through your elected officials.”
More from iefimerida (via Google translate):
Photographs of the interior and exterior of the house have been published in the social media of Yanis Varoufakis itself but also of his wife, Danae Stratos.
The couple especially enjoyed the home of 170 square, designed by architect Zambia Mars and has hosted a known decorating magazine.
The photos have been released on social networks provide an idea of ??the aesthetic in which the finance minister and artist wife have decorate their retreat.
In this luxurious and elegant home in Aegina designed by the famous architect Aris ham, Finance Minister says that she feels happy and complete:
"Whenever I'm here and I see the horizon, all come into their proper perspective."
Yes, the "proper perspective" which apparently is that even though a quarter of the Greek population is unemployed, nothing spoils a sunset viewed from a €20,000/month seaside villa.
And here's more from DailyMail:
According to the official listing on Boutique Athens - who sell and rent luxury apartments - the picturesque villa boasts a home cinema system and offers free WiFi to the guests staying in its spacious five bedrooms.
The glass walls in the living and dining areas give fabulous views of the beautiful landscape and sparkling blue waters below.
Many Greeks do not have enough money to put food on the table. According to a recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 17% of the Greek population is currently unable to meet their daily needs for food. Approximately 30% are living below the poverty line
For the first time in generations doctors are seeing children and adults suffering from malnutrition. Officially 26 per cent of the working population is unable to find a job although in the poorest parts of Athens, unemployment has reached 60 per cent.
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Come on, give the Greek Brutha a break. Don't hate him cuz he's smarter than you.
Showing the ECB spreadsheets full of zeroes is very stressful, and so is public speaking. One needs to unwind from constant camera coverage.
Obama spends more in one day on his jaunts than that house is worth.
What the writer failed to mention is the fact that once a month, they invite someone less fortunate to come over and play foosball with the FinMin. They even provide them with a nice dinner since they haven't eaten during the past few years.
There's only one caveat and that's that the guest must play on the red handled side of the table.
"socialism for thee, but not for me"
I don't know why anyone is surprised by this, I would have been shocked if this wasnt the case. Leftists like this are the same, all the world over, anyone expecting better out of Syriza hasnt been paying attention. Same in the US, call them what you will. 'limosine liberals', 'cadillac communists' , or, among the very rich climate change charlatans, the 'private jet progressives'. Maybe you guys can try again with 'golden dawn' in a few years. Or, you can wise up, and realize that THIS IS WHAT GOVERNMENTS DO. those who manage to claw their way to the top will always live better than you at your expense
We will never see the real opulent villas owned by his shell companies.
Syriza is trying to reneg on billions in fraudulent loans. Did you think the banksters woudn't fight back by any means possible?
So the guy has had some success. Did you think he'd be a crack addicted bum, living out of a dumpster? Fuck'n wise up. Your enemy is THE BANKS.
Did you think the banksters woudn't fight back by any means possible?
Absolutely.
So fuckin what he had a picnic!!
So fuckin what he has a nice looking wife!!
Would he be a better man if married to a Wookie?
I'm calling BULLSHIT!
The article is pure propaganda trying to destroy the guy and apparently lots of folks are eating it up.
If he were a libertarian Mises type sure, then what you said. But let's be real. The man claims to be a socialist, might possibly be worse. This article isn't propaganda beyond exposing the man for the hypocrit he is. That said, I still hope he turns out better than it appears.
But US socialists are all dead broke. I know this because Hillary said so.......
the money like shells missing intrinsic value like paper money?
Some more background story:
The villa actually is in his wife's name (Danai Stratou). A daughter of Faedon Stratos, former owner of the largest Greek textile factory (Peiraiki-Patraiki) which was nationanlized (today we would say bailed out) by the government back in the 80's when competition from China started to appear. The owner, needless to say, barely recorded any losses on their personal wealth. We are still paying the pensions of the now retired workers of his factory (the company was eventually terminated in the 90's).
... let's analiye this villa a bit further.
1. Sit down, you will a hard time believing, it has 1 level, called ground level
2. It has IKEA furniture outside
3. it has lighting like IKEA inside.
4. it has sea view, like 50% of all greek houses.
5. It has a pool, ahh that for sure makes it a villa, now
6. Any medium level US goverment official would not even take it as a weekend retreat.
Again, dinner pictures and this is the best you can up with while digging?
Americans like things big, so I guess you'll like my dick. They say once you go black, you never go back, but once you go Greek, the black feels too weak.
We have a winner!
Nicely put. You would qualify for a Spartan.
Yep, Yannis proved he was no "true" socialist when he married the heiress whose family owns the villa. Any REAL socialist would be groveling for crumbs with the rest of the peasants, working at a revolution instead of trying to change things from within. <s>
Leftists like this are the same
Please show us evidence how you came to the conclusion that his (or his wife's) property was amassed by government or bureaucracy graft or similar, and not by honest work.
Give me a break this fellow has written a few books and spent a good deal of time shuttling around from various teaching engagements. So what if he has a decent vacation home. I don't see the contradiction between being somewhat successful and his efforts as FinMin.
He made money through working for a living in quite well paying jobs while doing something of value; teaching.
How many Greek politicians and Bankers can claim the same?
And, in the interesto of austerity, that foosball table is jammed right up against the wall. There isn't any room for a player on the left side in that picture.
And, I think I have the necessary parts to assemble one of those lamps in my garage. Old ductwork from an air conditioning project, some tin snips, and tadaaa!
Obvioulsy the German intelligence services (BND, Bundes Nachrichten Dienst) are quite busy these days in finding dirty facts about the Greek government.
Only for the dirt I am still waiting.
Foosball!
Great game. I played loads of it during my university days.
Pull pops, toe shots, banks....
Ahhh, those were the days...
Marxism, just like the rest of the insider systems leads to a few wealthy anointed - so why are we surprised by the greek fonzie with his leather jacket is any different.
Thats the problem we have too many of these "smart guys" that lives from the people's hopes.
He's supposedly a socialist and a rich one at that. That is enough to hate.
Hoo rah for him, at least someone in his life has banked some money in Real Property vs paper contracts. The persons that think this article in news should turn in their Libertarian ID at the front counter and pick up the communist one next to it.
Don't overlook the misinformation in this propaganda piece. The villa is owned by Yannis' heiress wife's family. What a crock of shit, a new low for ZH
the Daily Mail (!) really Tylers?
What would be the odds of him ever being FinMin without his connections by marriage? How does that square with his socialist views? How did he come to run in the same circles as his future wife? Has he or his wife committed any of their wealth to help the country pay its bills or did he only confiscate from everyone else?
"Fuck it. Let's play Foosball."
Has anyone ever played Foosball sober? I never have.
Foosball in med school...played sober for (hate to admit it) 3 to 4 hours a day.
I did something similar but playing 8 and 9 ball on the tables in the common area. I had classes that were either early morning or mid-afternoon. Lot of time to kill. I got pretty damned good, too.
How about Hacky Sack? Please tell me you at least toked up before playing hacky sack or I'm going to assume your college experience was dismal.
He may need to install turrets.
I don't get it. Was he supposed to give everything to the poor upon becoming finance minister?
Austerity for thee, but not for me.
Is that a yes?
It's important to remember while watching pro wrestling that most of the performers remain friends outside of the ring. Pompoms are also available on Amazon.com.
"Austerity for thee, but not for me."
that's a perfect nonsense; the guy was employed most of the time outside Greece. Guess that's how it goes with "libertarians" these days...
I start to doubt there are any libertarians on this site anymore, at least since half a year. imo akak was the last one
having said that, Varoufakis is the finance minister of a radical left party in power. one that like to talk about future wealth taxes
and yet, tourism is a key industry for Greece. this kind of villas are part of this infrastructure, the equivalent of a very small factory elsewhere, as hotels, restaurants, etc.
The villa = small factory? Idjit!
it's capital that generates revenue (through rent). plenty of Greeks have something like that, as well as Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, French, etc.
No. Some are just more equal than others.
I am by no means defending him personally. I am just surprised by the implication that he should feel guilty of his wealth or that it should be confiscated in the name of equality. Having said that, the rooftop photoshoot was abnoxious and inconsiderate.
hy·poc·ri·sy
h??päkr?s?/
noun
the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.
synonyms: dissimulation, false virtue, cant, posturing, affectation, speciousness, empty talk, insincerity, falseness, deceit, dishonesty, mendacity, pretense, duplicity
And since the villa belongs to his wife's family, he has to make them sell everything too.
It looks like a concrete bunker with a pool. He might be needing such a structure later.
ex nazi pill box covering the beach useless for airbourne assaults.
I'm pretty sure the top 10% in Greece are just as well off, and insulated from what's happening to the rest of society, as they are here.
Mental picture: He's swimming around in his pool, sipping some wine, eating a few olives and asking "what ARE the poor people doing?" in his best Thurston Howell the Third voice.
I don't know about 10% definitely the 0.1%.
Well it is Greece. Let's see slum pictures of Greece.
Take a plunge in my hypocrisy infinity pool and let everyone else's problems wash away under a golden sunset.
Gold is accepted for all lettings.
I'm no fan of the guy ... but in all fairness he came into power a couple of months ago, so nobody can accuse him of pilfering from the people to live a life of luxury. Obviously, the guy was smart enough to save and invest his money.
George ... The Greek ... From Canada
A ping pong table AND a fussball table? Such a profligate!
So spill it without all the snark.
What exactly is the issue ZH's TD has with YV's personal property?
I'm not seeing any issue for YV here. Educate me.
Dude, it's just the ZH "Two Minutes Hate" article. It'll be over soon.
Yeah, compared to what politicians in most countries possess, none of these hit-pieces have shown me anything particularly egregious. Remember Yanukovych's mansion?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10656023/In-pic...
I don't think anyone believes Varoufakis is or ever was a socialist, Marxist or otherwise. And this property, as another commenter states, was from well before he took public office and probably not even financed with any of his money.
How exactly would a few dozen ministers at his level forfeiting their assets improve the economic and demographic situation of an entire nation-state? It's one thing to expose hypocrisy and possibly ill-gotten wealth, another to imagine it has any relevance. When has confiscating assets ever worked in the favor of the average person? If the state held an estate sale, every Greek would get about 1 cent and no one would learn a damned thing.
How about the fact his party was elected on a solid stance of altering the financial construct of the country, only to have folded at every turn, WHILE continuing to live the high life.
Sure they might get A scrap thrown to them, if only to save some media face. But the initiative to first deceive the Greek people, and subsequently crush them has been rather successful so far.
Get the program?
"How about the fact his party was elected on a solid stance of altering the financial construct of the country, only to have folded at every turn, WHILE continuing to live the high life."
That is the problem of the fools who believed in Syriza's election platform/rhetoric.
Agreed. Any faith placed in any political system is waste of energy. My problem is that whenever one of these types enters the stage they tend to exit with personal gains without delivering anything to the public they USED for support. Fukin parasites. Every. Single. One of them.
5000 drachmas maybe but 5000 euros...nevah
Good for him. He got off his ass in his life and bought hard assets.
Now if there was a bowling alley I'd be shocked.
Congratulations for being the unknowing lapdog and doing the job the mainstream media and the European apologists want you to by slandering this guy. Thought you guys at ZH were more clever than to fall for that hook line and sinker. You do realize that the Europeans who want to keep this charade going just long enough to retire on their fat pensions are trying to do everything in the book to get rid of Varoufakis right? And you're just obliviously helping them along thereby assisting the very EZ system you've been so critical of.
it doesnt look all that great to me either. That light is probably a Lowes special. 49.99 on your Lowes credit card. No payments for 2 years
Agreed.
We expect better from ZH than this gutter-snipe crap.
Varoufakis's cleaning lady for finmin! Unless she has a villa.
welcome to the next feudal era in human history!
Pay the rent suckers!!!
(fyi, the rent is too damn high)
Poor Ben Bernanke couldn't even get a mortgage.
It probably sits empty most of the time.
it's good to be the king, or the FinMin.
So, the villa is owned by Yannis' heiress wife. Guess he should have insisted she divest herself of her family's wealth before he married her. What a piece of shit hit piece from neoliberal propagandists who will do anything they can to take down somebody who stands up against austerity measures, whose continued failure are ignored by the elites who loot sovereigns. Gotta wonder who is buttering ZH's bread sometimes...
http://ppesydney.net/more-and-lots-of-it-neoliberal-resilience-in-the-fa...
why stoke the class envy?
China Officially Requests Yuan in SDR
http://thebricspost.com/li-vows-reforms-to-help-yuan-be-worlds-5th-reser...
This story is just bait to keep us hitting keys at one another... no thanks, it's just NOT newsworthy.
Besides the pool and view, the other pictures and the only one I've seen inside doesn't look impressive.
"Many Greeks do have enough money to put food on the table".
Which is the result of the EURO experiment, which is exactly why they need this guy who is potentially going to get the Greeks OUT OF THE EURO.
Unless smear jobs like this discredit their party enough to allow a more Euro-friendly regime back in, so the Greeks can get fucked in the ass for a little longer.
Do you see what happens, Larry?
take another red pill, will you? the "experiment" has less to do with that debt then nearly anything else. Like The Squid, fake accounting by the government, Greek banks, foreign banks, etc. etc.
you don't need a shared currency to get into this kind of mess, and having an own currency so that it can be trashed would hurt normal people even more, in Greece
It's obvious that Mr. Varoufakis has kicked the big boys where it hurts, because those big boys are pulling out all of the stops to smear him and "take him down" in the press. So whatever he's doing, I humbly suggest he keep doing it, because it's getting results.
I have my own reasons for being grateful for the emergence of Mr. Varoufakis on the global stage. I've been looking for a new swear word for a long time now, and "VarouFAKIS" is just perfect. Try it on for size, take it out for a test run next time you stub your toe, you'll see...
"ostentatious picnic"?? You would have to be a real peasant to think those pics were anything out of the ordinary. I cannot BELIEVE how people are fed this BS by the media. It's like the sky is blue, but they keep saying it's green.
Hold on, Varoufuckthis is getting a pretty hard time, don't forget:
Papaconstantinou stands accused of removing the names of three of his relatives from a catalogue of some 2,062 suspected tax evaders.
Or this
Papandreou's mother allegedly held a secret bank account with 500 million euros (542 million U.S. dollars) in Switzerland. Allegedly Hahahaha.
There are far more deserving candidates, who have screwed the Greeks for a lot longer.
I'm not for or against him or Greece.
But put fork in him, he's done!
Not sure what the deal is here, is he supposed to be poor because he's Greek? Is this the world socialist website? I sure hope none of you who have jumped on the bandwagon here have any money at all, for fear of being a total hypocrite.
Villianize, demonize, marginalize...he challenges the exceptional, indepensable elites.
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Dear God!! How humiliating it must be to own a foosball table in such a state of dis-repair. Can't this couple afford new grips? Maybe they should try crowdfunding to repair that crap.
Varoufakis lived in Oz and worked at UT in Austin, he comes from an affluent family and married well. He should pay tax in Greece and probably does. The rich rich Greeks live in London run companies through Luxembourg and evade Greek taxes.
Just how many Congressmen are millionaires and how many are like Aaron Schock ?
The writer of this article needs to get a life.
This is not a luxury villa, just a converted farm house. Doesn't the writer know that most Greeks - yes most - have 2nd or 3rd family houses on the islands? They usually have been in the family forever. By the looks of it only the pool was recently added. Big deal.
The house probably sleeps 8, so that's €90 p/p p/night. Very normal.
Remember this guy never wanted this job. He was pretty much railroaded into taking it. Unfortunately things haven't gone well so the personel attacks begin. He just walk away from the bullshit and enjoy his lis comfortable life and beautiful wife like he wanted too. He did not get his wealth by ripping off the Greek people, the Troika did that. The focus should not be on this guys life which existed well before he begrudgindly agreed to take just about the shitiest job in the world.
Foosball and limp dickery, it's all in the wrists.
Doesn't look that nice but I guess it's all relative. You wouldn't catch a US plutocrat staying in a place like that.
Show us Bloomberg in his Bahama's w/our bud Corazined's Place's just for comparison please
Weren't most of you cocksuckers going to great lengths to defend the man last week?
Doesn't look that gret to me ............and the rent seems excessive
I have no idea what this is supposed to prove. Can you spell it out for me Tyler step by step? Was he not supposed to marry a woman who owned such a house? Or was he not supposed to take the job as Finance Minister? Or is there some plank of his party's platform with which he is not conforming? And while you are at it, can you explain why when the rent is listed as 2000-5000/week, you say 5000/week?
One thing is for sure, ZH is increasingly fucked up and immature. Drudge giving you lessons on how to be media douchebags? Come on fight club! Let's get it on! SHIT IT OUT TYLERS.
This kind of article is an embarrassment to the once-fine site that was ZH. Give the guy a break! He's been a highly successful and, one would assume, highly paid academic for many years. Why shouldn't he have amassed some wealth during that time? What was he supposed to do - give it all away? Or maybe the new socialist ZH doesn't believe in private property any more, and are advocating that all wealth should be confiscated by the state "for the good of all"?
Again, sheeple...
Google "Wayne Madsen" to see what he reveals about Veryfuckup...
Spoiler Alert... A globalist who was chosen for the job, as a trojan horse.
Guess we've been so abused collectively, that this kind of a kyke seems like the norm now.
Tells us more about Madsen than Varoufakis. According to Madsen, Varoufakis worked for a video game company that has some relation to Microsoft; therefore, he's a shill for the Gates Foundation. lol. Who are Madsen and you shilling for? That's the real question.
Right, Varoufakis was hired in 2012 to oversee the software distribution platform Steam for the *evil* computer game development company Valve. Since the guys who started Valve in 1996 used to work for Microsoft, his ties to evil globalist Bill Gates are perfectly clear to wingnut Madsen. lol. This guy's dots are random.
Now that is interesting - I really don't give a shit what his house looks like. That being said - the wife is hot so I'm ok with those other pics
The question is not how he is living, but how he affords how he is living.
If he is living off his personal saved wealth, then that's his business.
If he is living high on a public salary while the public struggles to eat, then the public should find a meal at his house.
Not really. Socialist say that the rich need to pay for the poor. But they, the rich, never end up doing much paying...
Awesome! LMMFAO
Only 5 K Euros a week and it's got WIFI!
Fuck, put me down for two weeks, got a lady friend that had never been to Greece.
And I'll be able to stay in touch with the peons here at ZH...
They are all the fucking same.
The socialist fag probably spins the bars when playing.
That place is no Camp David - which tax payers pay for. That place is no Kennebunkport and not worth what Kerry's yacht runs. Been a looooong time since anyone hit the WH without a lot of wealth and better digs. Go after the actions not the man
Varoufakis worked at Valve and earned every dime he has, should he fake poverty like a hypocrite? The only finMin actually doing something to end austerity and the Internet hate machine still manages to put dirt on him. Meanwhile the Troika really enjoys the fact that the only anti-bailout government in Europe is being attacked by the anti-bailout crowd.
Holy crap that brothah got foosball! I'm outraged!