Former Finance Minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis, at the New School “YOU CAN SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER, OR YOU CAN BE ON THE INSIDE”

To a crowd of 800 last night at the New School NYC with another 100 or so in an overflow room, the former Finance Minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis, who said “NO” to the bankers on taking another “tranche” of a loan spoke about his surprising popularity. SCEPA is the economic policy research arm of the department of economics at The New School for Social Research. Made possible through a generous gift from Irene and Bernard L. Schwartz, SCEPA is distinct from other economic think tanks by its location within The New School. In the heart of New York City, both the university and center are part of a network of leaders dedicated to progressive and innovative education and ideas.

Y.V. talked about, as a physicist,, “Why would you study the history of physics, it’s full of errors, just read Aristotle’s, Physics, It’s pathetically inaccurate”. He went on to say that studying the history of physics is “something you do when you’re 93, just before you kick the bucket”. “ECONOMICS IS NOT A SCIENCE,, AT LEAST IT’S NOT A NATURAL SCIENCE. In Economics we forget to lose truths that previous generations understood better”. “HEILBRONER WAS COMMITTED TO THE IDEA THAT THE ONLY WAY TO APPROACH ECONOMICS WAS THROUGH THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND ANALYTICS BUT, ALL TOGETHER”.

The problem in today’s world, before we say anything sensible about capitalism and democracy, “WE NEED TO RETURN TO BASICS DON’T WE? WHAT DO WE MEAN BY CAPITALISM? WHAT DO WE MEAN BY DEMOCRACY?” YV says he speaks to economists and journalists all the time and they are unfamiliar as to what is capitalism. When you ask them what capitalism is, “They’re Lost. They assume they think that they know”. They regurgitate the story of markets. “As if capitalism is all about markets”. “IF YOU ASK THEM ABOUT DEMOCRACY, THEY ARE COMPLETELY LOST”. He asks the audience to spend time with him in contemplating those 2 concepts. He said he has a reputation known as the “Finance Minister of the Radical Left Wing Government of Greece, of a country who’s state was bankrupt and in debt to the tune of 400 billion $, I TRIED TO BE MODERATE” in his first meeting of Europe’s finance ministers, “I was a rookie”, and was allowed to go first to present his agenda in Brussels. “I UNDERSTOOD THAT THEY WERE QUITE PEEVED THAT I WAS THERE. I WAS A LIVING AND BREATHING INCONVENIENCE. I tried to show an understanding of that. THE ONLY REASON I AM HERE IS BECAUSE OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF GREECE. Greek went bankrupt in 2010, together with the Greek ruling elites, decided to COVER BANKRUPTCY UP by extending to the Greek State the LARGEST LOAN IN HUMAN HISTORY, under conditions that, with mathematical precision, The (stringent?) of our GPD by 28%, the Grapes of Wrath Magnitude and dimension”. “THE PEOPLE OF GREECE DECIDED TO SEND SOMEONE LIKE ME TO SAY TO YOU WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO THIS ANYMORE”. “We’re not going to take another loan to pretend we’re repaying our debts under conditions we continue to shrink our income and to sink our country deeper and deeper into depression”.

What Yanis presented was something that would “normally come out of the mouth of a Wall Street Bankruptcy lawyer. If the debt is unsustainable, there’s no reason to pretend that it’s sustainable, that we need to restructure it and rethink the loan agreement. This is what bankruptcy lawyers do, downtown here, everyday. They restructure loans so that the creditors get something back.

“YOU MUST HAVE BEEN THE ONLY PERSON NEGOTIATING WITH CREDITORS THAT DID NOT WANT THEIR MONEY BACK”, Yanis said a friend said to him. “Because creditors want to restructure your debt”.

Yanis said to his colleagues “I’m here to participate wit you, a joint project of rebooting the Greek economy. To bring about a recovery which is necessary to produce an income from which you get your $ back.

Things didn’t go too well after that. For the video of the talk,, please check soon my youtube channel, APRIL WATTERS

An Economics student of the New School from Norway who had a chance to debate with Yanis Varoufakis.

Yanis signing books and engaging in discussion with the crowd after the event.

Here is the Full Video of Yanis’ Talk,, Please support in the link in the video

“YOU MUST ACCEPT OUR FALSE PROGRAM TO BE CREDIBLE”

Author: Cat April Watters

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