Review of “Adults in the Room” by Yanis Varoufakis
theguardian.com
Review of “Adults in the Room” by Yanis Varoufakis
1–10 of 133 posts
Re: Review of “Adults in the Room” by Yanis Varoufakis
#2"The first revelation is that not only was Greece bankrupt in 2010 when the EU bailed it out, and that the bailout was designed to save the French and German banks, but that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy knew this; and they knew it would be a disaster."
The treasury departments of the French and German banks had loaded up on GGBs - Greek Govt Bonds because they yielded more basis points than eg German Govt bonds, but also had AAA rating. The AAA was culpable negligence by Moodys, S&P, Fitch rating agencies. Ignoring the credit quality implication of the discount built into the market price of the GGBs was culpable negligence on the part of the treasurers at the French and German banks. Yes, the Greek Govt was culpable too. But the Greek people are bearing years of economic pain while the French and German banks and the ratings agencies have got off scot free because Merkel & Schauble put the fix in and parked the dodgy GGBs in the ECB.
Re: Review of “Adults in the Room” by Yanis Varoufakis
#3Varoufakis is a hero to the international working class. His most recent book before this one is also excellent.
Re: Review of “Adults in the Room” by Yanis Varoufakis
#4"The first revelation is that not only was Greece bankrupt in 2010 when the EU bailed it out, and that the bailout was designed to save the French and German banks, but that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy knew this; and they knew it would be a disaster." The treasury departments of the French and German banks had loaded up on GGBs - Greek Govt Bonds because they yielded more basis points than eg German Govt bonds,…
Didn't Greece falsify data for years? That would explain the AAA ratings.
Re: Review of “Adults in the Room” by Yanis Varoufakis
#5"The first revelation is that not only was Greece bankrupt in 2010 when the EU bailed it out, and that the bailout was designed to save the French and German banks, but that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy knew this; and they knew it would be a disaster." The treasury departments of the French and German banks had loaded up on GGBs - Greek Govt Bonds because they yielded more basis points than eg German Govt bonds,…
Didn't Greece falsify data for years? That would explain the AAA ratings.
Were the banks truly deceived, or just hoping that they could cash in and be bailed out?
Re: Review of “Adults in the Room” by Yanis Varoufakis
#6Varoufakis is a hero to the international working class. His most recent book before this one is also excellent.
Why? What did he do, apart from letting the Greeks believe they could choose not to refund the debt?
Re: Review of “Adults in the Room” by Yanis Varoufakis
#7Varoufakis is a hero to the international working class. His most recent book before this one is also excellent.
Why? What did he do, apart from letting the Greeks believe they could choose not to refund the debt?
Well he fell on his blade when it became clear Greece wasn't going to default.
Re: Review of “Adults in the Room” by Yanis Varoufakis
#8Varoufakis is a hero to the international working class. His most recent book before this one is also excellent.
Why? What did he do, apart from letting the Greeks believe they could choose not to refund the debt?
He made a good case that the creditors were culpable and therefore must release Greece from its debt.
Re: Review of “Adults in the Room” by Yanis Varoufakis
#9Varoufakis is a hero to the international working class. His most recent book before this one is also excellent.
Why? What did he do, apart from letting the Greeks believe they could choose not to refund the debt?
Morally it's on those who give out loans to make sure that they can be repaid. It's wrong that Greece took these huge loans as well, but also it's wrong to suggest that they have to pay them back. Everyone has the option to default when they are unable to pay and this was clearly the situation for Greece (and probably Spain and Italy, maybe even UK soon enough).
Re: Review of “Adults in the Room” by Yanis Varoufakis
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? What did he do, apart from letting the Greeks believe they could choose not to refund the debt?
Well he fell on his blade when it became clear Greece wasn't going to default.
So quitting politics, in fact retiring, in fact bailing on Greece, to write books and give interviews to Sky is enough to make him an hero to Europe's working class?