Monday, May 28, 2018

Yanis Varoufakis In Overdrive

In a blogpost after Varoufakis's resignation as Finance Minister, I predicted that he would remain in the public eye for a long time to come and I put the following words into his mouth: "The only thing I have not yet decided is the timing of my future publications. I do not intend to put everything out there at once. Instead, I will time my publications in such a way that they keep the flame burning for a long time."

For almost 3 years now, I have been amazed at the media's fascination with a failed Finance Minister of a small country. Time and again, and rather often, Varoufakis was able to place thought pieces in major international publications and give interviews to prominent news media. But this was nothing compared to the last 24 hours.

In the last 24 hours, I received a total of 12 alerts to publications, interviews, podcasts, etc. authored by Varoufakis. One of the publications was a very interesting article about Italy in The Guardian which was appropriately titled: "With his choice of prime minister, Italy’s president has gifted the far right!"

I am now pondering an article with the title: "With its enormous political turmoils, Italy has gifted Yanis Varoufakis!" My prediction is that Greece will turn out to have been only a warm-up for Varoufakis. Italy will give him a much broader audience and my guess is that he will play that audience better than most other commentators.

7 comments:

  1. Yanis does get some of the big picture elements correct with regards the Eurozone and EU-27. But his boundless narcissism prevents him from being a more productive figure.

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  2. "No prudent FinMin would neglect to develop a plan for Euro exit". Rather rich from an ex. FinMin who made the most feeble plan I have seen.

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  3. Thanks a lot, Klaus. Your presence on the web was highly appreciated.

    Admittedly, you helped me a lot to keep sane.

    LeaNder

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  4. Well... he failed as a minister or a leader to his ideology and his followers... anybody who follows him either for his ideology or just to hear what he says is a moron. He reminds of howard stern. For God's sake even tsipras was more successful than our blabber mouth.

    However johnis a smart puppet has a roll to play in this theatre. Thankfully not with Greece. Eu. Enjoy him and take him into your womb...

    V

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    1. Here is my statement: "I would not like to live in a world where voices of theorists like Varoufakis are not heard. At the same time, I would not like to live in a world where theorists like Varoufakis come to power."

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    2. I think this is 100% the correct sentiment. Some of Varouf's broader points on the Eurozone are absolutely correct. But the man is an outright narcissist and has none of the skills needed to govern. He missed a massive opportunity for Greece in 2015 if he took a different tact, and harmed Greece in the process.

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    3. I would support that statement, Alex. On other hand I am not too fond of using narcissist or other psychological profiles.

      My impression was, the stays with the judgement he came up with without ever looking back or for that matter questioning earlier assumptions. It's all about his profile as prophet in the end.

      Maybe he is right. Like Krugman, supporter in macro economics, or his more high profile friends in the field of economy? And it's really me, that doesn't really grasp his prophetic gift?

      Could well be. No big surprise there. ;)

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