20 Comments

• its a pitty that you dont have acces to the greek political scene decission makers

  • Their decisions have become irrelvant, since they decided to trade their EUR bank accounts and salaries against the sovereignity of their country.

  • It seems to me doubtful that Yanis has not been heard by Greek and other EZ decision makers. And the problem is much worse than just short term “vision” by politicians as Yanis suggests in this inteview. The problem also relates to a world view in which financial elites are the ‘masters of the universe’ and ordinary citizens are nothing. Its not just a Stockholm Syndrome in which the politicians identify with their captors – the politicians actually believe their employment is to serve their captors. As Yanis stated, none of the decision makers actually believe any of this austerity nonsense will solve anything – it seems just a plan to continue to pay bond holders and give the facture to the taxpayers as long as they can do so.

  • in one point the journalist took you wrong and repeated that the cuts are for 500 austr. dollars per week

• I don’t think the current political leadership is too thick not to understand the underlying economics of the situation (and even if they are – I’m sure there are people around them who understand it and can explain it to them). I think one must ask a different question – why, given the current economic situation and the chronicle of foretold disaster, is the current political leadership stubbornly continuing to guide the country this path? That’s a political question.

  • Because delaying a default (and selling out the country in the process) means they’re delaying their own moment of reckoning.I wish i could say this is a recipe for things ending well.

• Pretty amazing, I don’t expect much of Frank Kelly but I guess your no-bullshit commentary must have cut through the tedium of most eurozone crisis reporting.

  Well done, Professor V!

• Europe is now deliberately trying to push Greece out-

  http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jeremywarner/100014766/europe-is-now-deliberately-trying-to-push-greece-out/

  This is so true. “Nobody in their right mind would invest in Greece right now, knowing that at any moment Greece might leave the euro and that overnight, they will therefore lose half to two thirds of their money.

  Richer Greeks have adopted the same view. They are all getting their money out as fast as they can, as those of us who have been gazumped in the London property market by Greeks bearing piles of wonga know only too well.”

• Professor the ABC journalist understood 500AUD a WEEK….I guess you missed that but I would hate to go down under next time and be taunted about our lucrative minimum wages that we can’t accept having cut!!

• By not correcting the interviewer when she said 500 dollars a week you gave the impression that with cuts Greek workers would make 2000 a month-Greeks talk of monthly wage while Australians usually speak of weekly wages so Oz listeners would not regard this as a hardship.

• Nice and logical response on ABC radio. It would be interesting to hear a discussion between you and another Greek who does not want to default. I heard a Greek political commentator argue the other day that he thinks Greece should sign up to the new austerity measures. His argument was that Zarkosy will probably not get re-elected and that when the new Greece government is formed, the new Greek government should re-negotiate with the EU. This argument doesn’t make any sense to me but I’m in California and I don’t understand Greek/EU politics. Can some one who agrees with this political commentator explain this position?

• As I heard the interview, I thought I misheard, so I rolled it back, and made sure.
  The commentator, when calculating the salary cuts said “.. so the minimum salary will be cut to 500 euros per week …”

  I only wish…

• I found the link to the Greek political commentator who argued against default. It was a discussion on Aljazeera’s inside story segment between Ann Pettifor, the director of the economic think tank Prime; Matina Stevis, a Greek-born journalist for Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal; and George Kapopoulos, a political analyst and financial journalist. Ann Pettifor stated Greece should default but both of the other Greek commentators disagreed. Question: what percentage of Greeks today share the same opinion as Matina Stevis and George Kapopoulos? Here is the link to their discussion.

  http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2012/02/20122874148886993.html

  • Hey Po,
    There was a poll yesterday in the biggest greek internet portal (in.gr).63% of participants supported default, 30% taking the bailout money, the rest were on the fence.Poll size 30.000 people.There’s been a huge opinion shift in the country lately, that is not being reflected in public discourse.

• Yanis,

  Any way you can take the place of these grandstanding politicians who go on these news shows and simply antagonise the outside world rather than provide any clarity to the situation in Greece? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz–YRM9gP4

• Would the implementation of a second currency like Switzerland’s WIR in Greece somewhat help the Greek economy?

• Dear Professor Varoufakis,

  I am a Greek Canadian who came to Canada as a child 43 years ago. My family and thousands of other hard working Greeks left Greece for a better life because, as you know -there were no jobs or opportunities.

  It saddens me that my homeland is now suffering but do you think that it is because we Greeks are our own worst enemies?

  For example, look at Greek modern day pop culture and attitudes. From a Canadian perspective, it appears hedonistic and without self sacrifice. Live for today etc…

  Whatever happened to patriotism, love of family, love of elders, love of one’s brother, love for God?

  I predicted this current state of affairs when I saw the cafes 14 years ago full of people in the middle of the work day and when the beloved drachma, and Greece, became subservient to the Eurozone. Say bye-bye to the nation of Greece and say hello to the province of Greece…

  This is not the Greece I saw in 1978 and 1984. Sure, it would take 12 hours by train instead of 2 hours by car from Athens to Tripolis but the people were happy…were working…the farms were working….

  As for the Greek leadership, can you honestly say that this lot, no matter what their political stripe, have the best interests of the country in mind? The leadership class must look in the mirror and ask themeselves one question…Do I love Greece?

  God bless you and your work

  George B.
  Toronto, Canada

• get to the street yannis find the widest audience possible…meet those that invited you on the squares last summer, the occupiers of the ministries spread the rational truth that you represent

• Να πούμε λόγια άγρια, παράξενα κι ατόφια
  σάβανα και χώματα στη μούρη τoύς την ψόφιa.

• Yanis, thanks for the latest poll results. Given all the negative press, I would have thought more than 63% supported default. I wonder what the demographic makeup is of the two groups or is it pretty broad based across age, gender, education, etc.