And the Weak Suffer What They Must? by Yanis Varoufakis – review

Though heavy with egotistical bluster, the former Greek finance minister has valid points to make in this critique of the EU and global meltdown

It is easy to forget that Yanis Varoufakis spent two years as economic adviser and speechwriter to George Papandreou, the dismal socialist politician who inherited a party from his father and then, as prime minister, took Greece down the road towards its current crippled status. For the self-adoring, shaven-headed economist is far better known for his own five months of failure as finance minister, which alienated friends and foes alike yet catapulted him into heroic status on the anti-austerity left.

There are, sadly, all too few nuggets about his explosive time in office strewn around the pages of this book. Instead, “the most interesting man in the world” – according to one fawning quote on the back – has delivered a rather dull volume. It is meant to be a dazzling takedown of Europe’s fiscal crisis and its flawed monetary system by a brilliant rebel economist; instead, we get turgid analysis that would have benefited from tighter editing.

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