Adults in the Room: My Battle with Europe's Deep Establishment

The collapse of the European Union into a collection of non-democratic institutions that threaten the sovereignty of its member states is one of the great disappointments of the past few decades. Something that history will record as being a lost opportunity no matter how the 21st century transpires. Yanis Varoufakis in this memoir of his time as finance minister for Greece observes these institutions (the so-called "troika" of the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund) from an insiders point of view. What he shows is not pretty: technocrates caught up in a hubristic game where social programs are playing cards for egos more concerned with maintaining the status quo than positive solutions. show more It’s a sobering picture which eloquently makes the case for Greece's role in the debt crisis for which the contemporary left-wing government plays the sacrificial lamb for past governments' profligacy and the extravagances of Wall Street. Just as he seemed at the time, Varoufakis comes across as honest man defamed by his party, the press, and the European economic elite. show less

Adults In The Room, by Yanis Varioufakis, in which a committed pro-EU politician explains at great depth the story of his experience with the EU and manages to display exactly why it is evil and unreformable. A book that everyone should read who wants to understand why things are like they are, and one that I used maybe a hundred or so plastic tabs to highlight bits that should be public knowledge. Give me a number between 1 and 483, I will copy that bit. What I liked best was that at the beginning he states that he recorded almost everything and took extensive notes and assigned note-takers as well. Then during the book he states quite openly when people lied to him, name, date, place. An open challenge to them to sue him. If economics show more were sane this book would have destroyed the EU and brought down the governments of at least Germany but probably most of the others too. The insane logic of neoliberal economics whereby they admit that their Fix won't work, can't work, but still won't discuss any other options; the lying; the discover that the steering group has no place in law, no standing orders, no appeal, and no elections; the outright admittance that they don't care about the actions that would cut 95% of greek pensioners off from any money at all and leave the state no ability to look after them. This is the story of a mass murder, how it happens, and the bastards who did it. It shows conclusively that the Eurogroup, European Central Bank, and IMF colluded to prevent Greece being able to recovery, and suggests that this is mostly so that Merkel didn't have to admit to lying to the German state. I will be bringing this book to every argument about European politics for many years! :D Recommended, 5/5.

As an aside, it is interesting that in the UK our far-right are anti-EU, but in many countries in the EU the far-right are pro-EU, or just soft Eurosceptics wanting a bigger slice of the pie. It can be a surprise to see that because we're not used to it! It's a reminder that the system is a stitch up that benefits billionaires and their lackeys whatever you do. Any time you're given a choice, its one that benefits them somehow.
Also, the story of Syriza is really interesting, its a story of the center left co-opting the far left, conning the public, and suffering for it electorally when they break their promises. show less

I don’t know how much of this book is accurate, but it’s certainly compelling. Varoufakis was Greece’s finance minister briefly, and tried to wring actual concessions out of the bankers in order to put Greece on a more sustainable path, instead of just more extend and pretend plus killing austerity. He didn’t succeed. Lots of nitty-gritty detail of negotiations and a sense of amazed frustration at a system that interlocked to prevent anyone from helping—and deliberately so, he suggests, at the will of Germany, which wanted to impose austerity on the rest of Europe. The negative effects of monetary unification without fiscal unification combined with the desire to pay the big banks back—which is what the loans really did, show more rather than helping the debtor country or its people—in a killing spiral; Varoufakis wanted to threaten to leave the Euro if they didn’t get real relief, because while Grexit would have been terrible for Greece, he believed it would be less terrible than staying in under austerity, forever. He lost, and Greece is still stuck in neutral, because it has no control over its currency or over its loans. show less

I realised after reading this excellent book about the Greek financial crisis that the people of the UK should not expect the EU to compromise in the slightest in their negotiations for Brexit. I think the EU is the new Soviet Union and this book confirms that.

A good case for not putting an outsider at the head at a crucial political moment. He makes a good whitewash of his own role, and it certainly appears he was less of an ass than the media painted him. He puts himself in the role of well-informed expert coming up with rational proposals; nothing of his making the finger gesture to the Europeople. There's a sense of humour ( a good Irish joke is one of the central metaphors) and confession of his tortured feelings. It is a blow by blow account of his own actions, with much jumping on motorbikes, donning leather jackets, burning midnight oil. Nevertheless, it is often hard to follow the macroeconomics (and I'm a PPE graduate). But he does give some insight into the murkiness of the show more European thing very relevant to our present difficulties: the Eurocrats combine lying, saying one thing and doing another, going back on their word, refusing to discuss the real issues, leaking, media spinning, changing deadlines - name it. What remains unclear is quite what forced Tsipras to do his volte face: is he just a wimp? Perhaps. And how he manages to hold on to office. And how Greece, even now some years later, manages to limp on in the same way. show less

I was prompted to read this book after listening to an interview by Daniel Denvir on Jacobin's "The Dig" podcast with Varoufakis and Brazilian presidential candidate Fernando Haddad at the New School in New York City. I've already read "And the Weak Suffer What They Must?" but have yet to read his latest title.

This is play-by-play of Varoufakis' six months as Minister of Finance in Greece in 2015, surrounding their third bailout.

Varoufakis' goal as finance minister was to restructure Greece's debt so that it was more sustainable. For reasons which this book does not adequately elucidate, this was not an objective of the troika. Given this scenario, Varoufakis planned on Grexit, but his prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, chickened out on show more the plan and repeated the failures of the previous administration.

The narrative is excruciating. There are moments of hope repeatedly through the text, chronically dashed. If you're interested in learning about international finance, it is a worthwhile text.

The surprising hero of the book in Bernie Sanders, who repeatedly had Greece's back. Apparently Sanders and Varoufakis recently launched an initiative called the Progressive International as a tonic to the spread of rightwing nationalism.

I'm left wondering what the Venn diagram of Varoufakis, Mark Blyth, Mary Mellor, and Andrew Ross might look like.

In conclusion, it seems we're much closer to World War III than I would have wished. Trump's election is entirely explicable given Greece's story. show less

Brilliant Greek economist gets elected to parliament so that along with the new party sweeping power, they can renegotiate the terms of the Greek bailout stemming from the 2008 world crisis. A fascinating, well-written, Shakespearean tale of what went on behind the scenes complete with drama, irony, back-stabbing and intrigue in a tale that's both intellectually and emotionally stirring.