Yanis Varoufakis: 'We are going to destroy the Greek oligarchy system' | Channel 4 News

Yanis Varoufakis, widely tipped to be Syriza’s new finance minister, tells Paul Mason what they would do if they get into government in Greece, and admits the prospect of power in Europe is “scary”.

[inquisitivechimp]

I fear what might happen to him! No politician in Greece has ever spoken such levels of TRUTH! Go Yanis go!! Zeus be with you!!

[monkeibusiness]

"I always believed that any collegue of mine who wanted to be head of department or dean should be dequalified imediatly."

This. So much this. Whoever goes into politics for power or money must not be allowed to do so or be thrown out immediatly.

[harbinger]

We need one like him in Serbia, we only have western backed oligarchs and nothing else, no job no food, no future.

[chigga]

Bravo. Good luck to the greek people to this party. I sincerely wish them all the best in dealing with such an untenable situation. Maybe there is hope for common sense politicians after all or maybe the need for more academic politicans.

[nelosw]

Wish him all the best, we need people of his calibre and integrity reluctantly taking office in Ireland!

[cashman]

I want this guy in germany. This guy seems to use his brain heavily which our german politicians seem to lack heavily.

[scnnct]

This guy is absolutely right! Incredible that it has taken so long time to hear an European minister to say these things. Most of the people have known it for years that the current Euro model simple can´t work, thanks to many of  the best economists of the world, that have been writing about it for years, like Paul Krugman and Thomas Piketty for an example. Now just remains to be seen if this guy is able to hammer some of that wisdom into the small but stubborn heads of Angela Merkel and the Troika.

[Lattentreffer]

"The good fight has to be fought regardless of costs"

[Premed]

I voted for Yanis and Tsipras' Syriza. I first met Yannis in the greek indignados movement where he was speaking to the people gathered in the Syntagma square, like the ancient times where the studends would gather around the teacher and learn from his wisdom. Couldn't have been happier with my vote. Even if they dont make it (which is very unlikely imho) they will go down fighting and with their consious clear. We are going to be proud of them no matter the outcome and the dignity of a humiliated people will be somewhat restored.
 They are playing ball on a whole different level than the previous subservient government of old corrupt politicians that have been sucking the wealth of the greek state for decades on end. I hope this is the start of something great across Europe but around the world too, people need to see that there IS an alternative to the 1% ruling the 99%. Go Syriza, go Yanis!

[Geophaser]

That's Valve's (yes, half life & portal Valve's) economist-in-residence!

[laserus]

This guy is locked on.He knows whats up and has the balls to do what it takes.And he knows who is the cause of sorrows!

[luciencolegate]

So good to see someone with some Balls. We need people like you. Wish we had  you
 in British politics

[thecount]

Finally a finance minister with a backbone. Fighting the good fight.

Yanis Varoufakis don't forget to make the system robust against corruption when you are done. So this won't happen again...

[mpera]

i´ll hope we get someone like him soon here in germany

[edfer]

We need politicians like this in Portugal. We need some party like syriza

[vonkaunaz]

"The good fight has to be fought independently of costs.."

Amen to that.
Good luck to the people of Greece in their fight against this criminal order that has been swallowing countries under the disguise of "democracy", "freedom" and "prosperity" bringing instead suffering, pain, and even grand scale destruction and death (Yugoslavia, now Ukraine).

[dimitriosales]

Once again the Greeks will lead the world with progress and taking down the Oligarch system.

[Greek]

Excellent English Mr Varoufakis.... We are waiting for the changes!

[sosalini]

a good man, very rare of people in power these days .

[antred]

As a German, I wish him luck and hope he manages to help Greece get its act back together. He certainly seems like an intelligent, reasonable man. That said, I'm getting tired of seeing people scream bloody murder at my country, calling us Nazis or accusing us of having designs on world domination.

I do not think it was smart to approve those loans in the first place, and I'm doubtful that they're doing anything except to prolong the problem. It's simply a case of throwing good money after bad. When a system is rotten to the core, it's usually best to let it crash hard and allow for a fresh start, thus enabling a saner system to replace it. Instead what these loans have done is to keep the system of corruption, government waste and inefficiency afloat. This is also the reason why I was opposed to the bank bail-outs. Years later, they're all back to business as usual, doing the exact same shady deals as before. The only thing they've learned from that crisis is risky, amoral business ethics pay off, as we'll always be there to bail them out.

Anyway, the inevitable end result of all this nonsense will in all likelihood be the same that it would have been if Greece had been allowed to go bankrupt right away: Greece will go bankrupt and leave the EU and the Euro. The only thing this incessant loan-taking will have accomplished is that a lot of tax payer money will have evaporated. Well, not strictly evaporated. It'll still exist, it'll just be property of the banks ... the banks always get their money in the end. Angela Merkel in her infinite wisdom has made sure of that by extending government guarantees for the loans taken by Greece, meaning if Greece fails to repay those loans, the German tax payer will be asked to pay the difference!

God, I can't wait for this whole EU / Euro nonsense to come to an end. I just hope it won't be too painful.