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And the Weak Suffer What They Must?: Europe, Austerity and the Threat to Global Stability

by Yanis Varoufakis

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3301279,815 (4.14)23
""The strong do as they can and the weak suffer what they must." --Thucydides The fate of the global economy hangs in the balance, and Europe is doing its utmost to undermine it, to destabilize America, and to spawn new forms of authoritarianism. Europe has dragged the world into hideous morasses twice in the last one hundred years... it can do it again. Yanis Varoufakis, the former Finance Minister of Greece, shows here that the Eurozone is a house of cards destined to fall without a radical change in direction. And, if the European Union falls apart, he argues, the global economy will not be far behind. Once America abandoned Europe in 1971 from the dollar zone, Europe's leaders decided to create a monetary union of 18 nations without control of their own money, without democratic accountability, and without a government to support the Central Bank. This bizarre economic super-power was equipped with none of the shock absorbers necessary to contain a financial crisis, while its design ensured that, when it came, the crisis would be massive. When disaster hit in 2009, Varoufakis argues that Europe turned against itself, humiliating millions of innocent citizens, driving populations to despair, and buttressing a form of bigotry unseen since the Second World War. Here, Varoufakis offers concrete policies that the rest of the world can take part in to intervene and help save Europe from impending catastrophe, and presents the ultimate case against austerity. With passionate, informative, and at times humorous prose, he warns that the implosion of an admittedly crisis-ridden and deeply irrational European capitalism should be avoided at all cost"--… (more)
  1. 00
    Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work) in Words and Pictures by Michael Goodwin (hilge)
  2. 00
    The Establishment: And how they get away with it by Owen Jones (hilge)
  3. 00
    Unholy Trinity: The IMF, World Bank and WTO by Richard Peet (M_Clark)
    M_Clark: The Unholy Trinity takes a very critical look at the IMF and the World Bank which are also criticized by Varoufakis.
  4. 00
    The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy by Stephanie Kelton (M_Clark)
    M_Clark: The Deficit Myth explains modern monetary theory in a way that makes you question the EU's approach to sovereign debt.
  5. 00
    Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber (M_Clark)
    M_Clark: Graeber's book on debt will alter your perspective on the whole topic of sovereign debt.
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» See also 23 mentions

English (10)  Catalan (1)  Spanish (1)  All languages (12)
Showing 1-5 of 10 (next | show all)
Infuriating, riveting, full of panache and charged with righteous anger, the chronicle in this book — of the creation of the Bretton Woods global financial system, the Nixon Shock that smashed it, and the creation of the euro and its eventual crises — had me on the edge of my seat. I felt transported into Varoufakis’s head, seeing things from his eyes, with metaphors, allegories, personal anecdotes, historical narratives, sassy asides that all painted a dark, detailed picture of the massive clusterf*** that is Europe. Germany and France deluded themselves, with differing motives, into a monetary union that nips in the bud any chance of a balanced recovery from downturns. I was and am enthralled by theories like the Great Minotaur (the American deficit as the dark secret eating away at global economic harmony) and the Surplus Recycling Mechanism (lacking in the Eurozone right now, since Germany's surpluses are not recycled to deficit countries). From the very beginning, Varoufakis grounds the reader in his values of democracy and fairness that continue to propel his arguments forward and inflame his accusations against the creators of today’s European institutions and their leaders today. A great, enraging manifesto. ( )
  Gadi_Cohen | Sep 22, 2021 |
Critiques the European single currency and the political decisions that lead to its creation. Explains the difficulties generated by a financial crisis that requires political rather than bureaucratic solutions. ( )
  kiwip | Feb 5, 2021 |
Been a hard read, this one, but taught me a lot. Lots I don't understand but I shall read more and hopefully understand more. So angry...... ( )
  Ma_Washigeri | Jan 23, 2021 |
Varoufakis has produced a readable and provocative history of the EU and the Euro. His view is very critical of the Euro, understandably based upon his experience as Greece's Finance Minister, but includes some practical suggestions on how to improve things. The book should also be praised for its excellent and very worthwhile footnotes. ( )
  M_Clark | Dec 29, 2020 |
How to have your cake and eat it too, rent it out, sell it, take loan against it, ask for seconds, complain about the quality of the cake and tell the pastry chef he's fat.

This is a passionate and wholly one sided rant, full of cheap shots and bizarre autobiographical snippets. It's still a worthwhile read (maybe because of that) though I wish it offered some candour and insight into the Greek part of the collapse as well. ( )
  Paul_S | Dec 23, 2020 |
Showing 1-5 of 10 (next | show all)
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""The strong do as they can and the weak suffer what they must." --Thucydides The fate of the global economy hangs in the balance, and Europe is doing its utmost to undermine it, to destabilize America, and to spawn new forms of authoritarianism. Europe has dragged the world into hideous morasses twice in the last one hundred years... it can do it again. Yanis Varoufakis, the former Finance Minister of Greece, shows here that the Eurozone is a house of cards destined to fall without a radical change in direction. And, if the European Union falls apart, he argues, the global economy will not be far behind. Once America abandoned Europe in 1971 from the dollar zone, Europe's leaders decided to create a monetary union of 18 nations without control of their own money, without democratic accountability, and without a government to support the Central Bank. This bizarre economic super-power was equipped with none of the shock absorbers necessary to contain a financial crisis, while its design ensured that, when it came, the crisis would be massive. When disaster hit in 2009, Varoufakis argues that Europe turned against itself, humiliating millions of innocent citizens, driving populations to despair, and buttressing a form of bigotry unseen since the Second World War. Here, Varoufakis offers concrete policies that the rest of the world can take part in to intervene and help save Europe from impending catastrophe, and presents the ultimate case against austerity. With passionate, informative, and at times humorous prose, he warns that the implosion of an admittedly crisis-ridden and deeply irrational European capitalism should be avoided at all cost"--

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