‘Capitalism is dead. Now we have something much worse’: Yanis Varoufakis on extremism, Starmer, and the tyranny of big tech

www.theguardian.com ‘Capitalism is dead. Now we have something much worse’: Yanis Varoufakis on extremism, Starmer, and the tyranny of big tech

In his new book, the maverick Greek economist says we are witnessing an epochal shift. At his island home, he argues it’s now the ‘fiefdoms’ of tech firms that shape us

‘Capitalism is dead. Now we have something much worse’: Yanis Varoufakis on extremism, Starmer, and the tyranny of big tech::In his new book, the maverick Greek economist says we are witnessing an epochal shift. At his island home, he argues it’s now the ‘fiefdoms’ of tech firms that shape us

Solarpunk technology @slrpnk.net

‘Capitalism is dead. Now we have something much worse’: Yanis Varoufakis on extremism, Starmer, and the tyranny of big tech

www.theguardian.com /world/2023/sep/24/yanis-varoufakis-technofeudalism-capitalism-ukraine-interview

87 12

worldnews @sh.itjust.works

Interview - ‘Capitalism is dead. Now we have something much worse’: Yanis Varoufakis on extremism, Starmer, and the tyranny of big tech

www.theguardian.com /world/2023/sep/24/yanis-varoufakis-technofeudalism-capitalism-ukraine-interview

2 0

You're viewing a single thread.

60 comments

At his island home
... is where he lost me. He can call back when he has to choose between electricity and rent.
- This is a weird take. Just because someone is (or has been) successful he can't speak about or for socialism?
  You can't be successful and a socialist? Is that it? That's a very narrow and simply wrong view which has resulted in a lot of damage in societies which adopted it.
  Socialism needs succes stories. Otherwise, what's the point? Mediocrity for all? That will never fly or become popular.
  
  He was also the financial advisor of sorts at Valve, the company that takes a 30% of all their pc game sales.
  
  20% after the initial $50 million. The same company that has used that revenue to revolutionize Linux as a gaming platform. Same company that helped fix graphics api integrations. Same company that actually cares about their consumers and the gaming ecosystem?
  
  Pretty sure all those things happened after Yanis left, so I don't think it's fair to contribute those changes to him.
- Isn't this the former finance minister of Greece? Not just some guy.
  
  Yup. He's the guy who told the rest of Europe that Greece shouldn't have to pay back their bailout loans. You know, the ones other countries have paid with their own taxes. That's a great way to get very popular in your own country, and being hated by the rest of the continent.
  The island home might be a result of his time at Valve (the company that has the biggest share of pc game distribution, Steam - which takes a 30% cut on all sales). I don't think it was funded by people's tax money.
  
  Pretty sure he argued that Greece shouldn't have to use the bailout loans from other countries to pay back banks, but instead can use it to invest them in public infrastructure to rebuild their economy. Instead the EU forced them to use those loans (said taxes) to pay back rich companies, and to cut their investments in social programs to put the country into an even deeper mess.
  
  Please educate yourself before talking about other people's countries
  
  Care to elaborate? I didn't say anything about other countries, just about Yanis and some of the claims he made.
  Here's the perspective from one European country: Greece needed a bailout, our country loaned them 14 billion euros, and pretty much directly after accepting the money, Mr. Varoufakis told the creditors he didn't want to pay it back.
  If you have a different perspective, please elaborate, because "educating oneself" is too broad a directive.
  
  You can start by watching a few Greekonomics videos that are very objectively pointing out the way you are enslaving our country for your benefit and pinning the blame on us. You are piling us up on debt and enforcing rules against the people and small businesses, making it impossible for any real growth to happen when none of the simple people have enough money to spend on new businesses and goods. You are supporting the politicians that are in favor of your measures, because the Greek people work like dogs to create value that you will reap, and the government and rich class get to keep the change.
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  a few Greekonomics videos
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
  
  I don't have time to watch a few videos right now, but I'll take a look later.
  Can you explain how, by agreeing to take a loan, the other party is responsible for piling a debt upon you? If I go to the bank to get a loan and then don't pay it back, it's not the bank who is the asshole, it's me for agreeing to a contract I can't or have no intention of fulfilling.
  I get being upset with your government who agreed to a deal you might deem shitty, or with the party who offered the deal in the first place. But to take the money, yell "fuck you, I'm not gonna pay you back", and then claim the other party are the wrong for giving you a deal you agreed to just seems very fucked up to me.
  
  First off, I'll start with the fact that PASOK ruined the country by spending massive loans with ridiculous irresponsibility, that's Greece's fault not Europe's.
  After that, Greece was now filled with debt it couldn't pay off. Obviously not wanting to go bankrupt, the only way forward was taking another loan in order to "breathe air into the economy". However, the Bailout Programmes actually did everything but that. By forcing Greece to put massive taxes on people and businesses, cutting wages and pensions, worsening work conditions, cutting social spending, the people were brought to their knees unable to get up. When no one has money, it's only natural that innovation completely stops, no one risks opening a business, banks don't risk giving out loans, and society crumbles while the common folk starve.
  You might ask, was it a mistake, was the IMF stupid? Not at all. They were very successful in mitigating their own risks from Greece going bankrupt or leaving the Eurozone, mainly in erasing their dependency on Greek bonds. They never cared about our country or them getting their money back, they just cared about keeping us in a depression as long as their banks stay unaffected.
- Man, people like you would have dismissed Engels for the same reason.
  
  And they should have because Engels was not only a Capitalist with contradicting class interests to our-
  But a lot of his shit is just terrible, for example "oN aUtHoRiTy", the "book" that really shows Tankies can't read.
  Engels should be dismissed the fuck out of.
- Google “how many islands in Greece” and bathe in light of knowledge .
  
  Maybe make your point yourself, instead of asking people to Google it for you?
  
  The point is that Greece is a fucking island lmfao
  
  I googled "how much does a Greek island home cost?" instead, it told me they are as cheap as 3 million euros, and I don't think that includes the house or other facilities.
  I'm not sure I get your point.
  
  I Google better and find a detached house for 250k euro on a Greek island. It's the 4th results on a Greek real estate website for the region I didn't have to look far
  
  Fair enough. I'll admit I didn't try very hard in trying to figure out what point they were trying to make and only went with the first result. Judging by their refusal to elaborate, I think I made the right call by not trying harder.
  
  You’re doing a great job of making yourself look very silly.
  
  I suppose that's one way of not answering the question.
- To be fair, rich (and effectively retired) people have more time to think about larger issues, whilst the rest of us are trying to make enough for rent and food. So while one can make the argument that he is out of touch, one can also argue that if it were up to the single parent working two jobs to think about global issues and write books about them, it probably wouldn't happen.
- Remind me, was Marx a part of the struggling proletariat?
  The answer is no, he was a human being that cared about others besides him and his own.

60 comments