The 3 best books by Yanis Varoufakis

Many of us still remember the irruption of the Varoufakis more combative in the midst of the greatest economic crisis that has been remembered since the crash of 29 (improving the global crisis of 2020 thanks to the pandemic). Definitely It was from an almost messianic vision that of that guy who raised his voice as a great orator, which Marx, to scourge lethargic condescending consciences with the monster of the economy about to devour Greece.

And that this Hellenic economist did not come to say anything new. That unbridled capitalism is unrealistic in a world of finite resources is obvious. That bags are the sin city of hopeless gamblers, is also true. That we have no solution, the third part as an inferred synthesis closes any conclusion.

But not for this reason, amid sinister obviousness, we must park promoters of consciousness like Varoufakis. He is the stereotype of a person who is convinced and determined in his life itinerary. A route before which others can turn away and even stop to listen.

The downside is that the prominence of this type of necessary spreaders is losing prominence as inertia is retaken and the roulette continues to drag us all. Luckily, his books remain ...

Top 3 recommended books by Yanis Varoufakis

The global minotaur

Over time everything decays. And even the great American empire, which until yesterday aimed to command the helm of the world forever, seems to be going into anxiety with the unpredictability of pandemics and Asian emergencies. But to know where we are it is always interesting to know what the previous plan was...

Yanis Varoufakis destroys the myth that financialization, ineffective bank regulation and globalization were the causes of the economic crisis. Rather, he sees them as the consequence of a phenomenon that was born in the XNUMXs, which he calls the "Global Minotaur." Both the Greeks and the rest of the world maintained a steady stream of tributes to the beast, sending large sums of capital to the United States and Wall Street, and making the global Minotaur the engine of the world economy.

The crisis in Europe, the debates on austerity in the face of fiscal stimulus in the US, and the clash between the Chinese authorities and the Obama administration over exchange rates are the result of an unsustainable and unbalanced system. Varoufakis exposes the options we have at our disposal to put a modicum of good sense back into an irrational system.

The global minotaur

Another reality: What would a just world and an egalitarian society look like?

We are in 2025. Years ago, after the global financial crisis of 2008, a new post-capitalist society was born, a brave new world in which the principles of democracy, equality and justice are truly rooted in the economy.

In his new book, Yanis Varoufakis, one of the political, economic and moral leaders of our time, offers us a fascinating and agile vision of this alternative reality. And it does so by drawing on the most important thinkers in European culture, from Plato to Marx, as well as the thought experiments of science fiction. Through the eyes of three characters (a liberal economist, a radical feminist, and a left-wing tech expert) we will understand what it takes to create that world, but also what the cost of doing so is.

A transformative vision that forces us to face the questions and trade-offs that are the foundation of all societies: how to find a balance between freedom and justice? How to enhance the best that humanity can offer without opening the door to the worst?

Another reality answers some of today's most pressing questions about capitalism, democracy and social justice. But it also challenges us to consider how far we are willing to go to achieve our ideals.

Another reality: What would a just world and an egalitarian society look like?

Behave like adults

What does it mean to behave like adults in the current capitalist system? Isn't the stock market a board for capricious children who only think about earning more and more money and reaching the finish line first?

The point is that there is no other choice but to play. And although the rules sometimes seem improvised, other times unfair and always debatable, there is no other choice but to assume that the world is a board of children playing with the destiny of the world. One of the few who tried to prevent countries from being pieces to play with knows a lot about all this game: Yanis Varoufakis.

During the spring of 2015, negotiations to renew bailout programs between the newly elected Greek government of Syriza (the radical left party) and the troika were going through such a difficult and confusing time that, in a moment of exasperation, Christine Lagarde , the director of the International Monetary Fund, demanded that both behave like adults.

Part of the confusion was due to the appearance on the scene of someone who was trying to change the way of analyzing the debt crisis in Greece: it was Yanis Varoufakis, its finance minister, an economist with iconoclastic ideas who walked through the European chancelleries with a leather jacket and no tie. The message that Varoufakis communicated to the institutions that negotiated with Greece was clear: the debt accumulated by his country was unpayable and it would be even more so if the austerity demanded by its creditors continued to be implemented. There was no use racking up one bailout after another with more cuts and tax hikes.

What Greece had to do was more radical and went through altering the economic ideas of the European establishment. In this fast and fascinating chronicle, Varoufakis demonstrates his talent as a storyteller and exposes his encounters and disagreements with the European protagonists of the financial crisis, in the endless meetings that took place during those months. With an unusual harshness, but also with a critical recognition of the errors of the Greek government and his own, he shows the functioning of the European institutions and their negotiation dynamics, and finally the Greek surrender that occurs after his departure from the government.

Behave like adults
rate post

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.