Progressive Commentary Hour - 12.13.16

CONVERSATIONS WITH REMARKABLE MINDS

An in depth look at the European and American economies, the threats of free market capitalism and the economic future ahead

 

Yanis Varoufakis is an international economist, academic, former politician and philosopher who served as the Minster of Finance for Greece as a member of the radical left party Syriza from January 2015 until he resigned in July.  Earlier this year, he founded the Democracy in Europe Movement – a pan European movement devoted to reform the EU’s institutions to become more democratic. His stance against the toxic loan and austerity demands being imposed upon Greece by the European banking institutions – frequently referred to as the Troika – earned him international respect as well condemnation. Bloomberg has called him a “brilliant economist.” Business Insider: “the most interesting man in the world.” Prof Varoufakis received degrees in mathematics from the Universities of Essex and Birmingham in the UK and later a PhD in economics at Essex. Throughout his life he has been a champion of radical social and economic causes. – including involvement in the African National Congress, the Palestinian cause and the solidarity movement in Chile.  He has taught at the Universities of Sydney in Australia, Athens, the University of Texas at Austin and other schools. He is the author of about ten books appearing in English. His latest, published by Nation Books, is “And the Weak Suffer What They Must: Europe’s Crisis and America’s Economic Future.”  His website is VanisVaroufakis.eu