Varoufakis: on the death of the global Minotaur and the demise of the eurozone

I hope I’m not turning this blog into something of a Yanis Varoufakis’ fan site; but I really do find his outpourings illuminating and entertaining; not that I agree with a lot of what he says – not so much his analysis of the recent history and current state of global capitalism, but the political conclusions he draws from it all. But that’s fine. Above is another interesting talk from the professor, this time from 9 November at Columbia University in New York. As well as going into some detail regarding his metaphor of the Minotaur to explain US economic hegemony post-1971, he also exposes the eurozone for what it is – a plan to create a ‘Greater Germany’, which would protect and enhance Germany’s export-led economic model – and predicts that the 26 October agreement – supposed to ‘bail-out’ Greece and insulate other debt-ridden eurozone economies – will not preserve the euro but expedite its demise. Varoufakis may be being too pessimistic – ultimately his pessimism leads him to believe that fascism in Europe will make a comeback – but you want a public intellectual to be controversial and provocative, to suggest to us that the foundations of the civilised societies we have become accustomed to are not as firm or enduring as we think they are.