Project Syndicate

Created
Wed, 27/09/2023 - 18:46

Since taking over as president of the European Central Bank in late 2019, Christine Lagarde has committed three major errors that play right into the hands of right-wing populists. Now, one can only hope that these parties’ own incompetence will sink them before next year’s European Parliament elections. ATHENS – Christine Lagarde’s three blunders as president […]

The post Christine Lagarde’s Gifts to Populists – Project Syndicate appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

Created
Mon, 17/07/2023 - 20:50

The United States is experiencing an investment boom, owing to industrial policies that grant enormous subsidies – including to European firms – for investing in America, largely in green tech. Europe, meanwhile, is responding with a return to the austerity policies that caused it to fall behind the US in the first place. ATHENS – […]

The post Austerity Ruined Europe, and Now It’s Back – Project Syndicate op-ed appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

Created
Tue, 18/07/2023 - 21:48

Humanity has now developed AI algorithms capable of fully decoding a killer bug’s proteins and creating an effective antibiotic. Was there ever any doubt that conglomerates like Amazon would seize upon this opportunity to shrink workplaces along their supply chain where AI predicts a higher probability of unionization? ATHENS – Last week brought a rare good-news […]

The post New AI Germ Busters Can Also Bust Unions – Project Syndicate op-ed appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 19:08

Once upon a time, the greed of tobacco companies was channeled through libertarian outrage over the restriction of smokers’ freedom to choose cancer. Today, the outrage is serving the interests of bankers panicking at the prospect of central bank digital currencies. ATHENS – When First Republic Bank failed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation organized a […]

The post Who’s Afraid of Central Bank Digital Currencies? Project Syndicate op-ed appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 19:04

Only a comprehensive reconfiguration of property rights over the increasingly cloud-based instruments of production, distribution, collaboration, and communication can rescue the foundational liberal idea of liberty as self-ownership. Reviving the liberal individual thus requires precisely what liberals detest: a revolution. ATHENS – My father was the epitome of the liberal individual, a splendid irony for […]

The post The Strange Death of the Liberal Individual – Project Syndicate op-ed appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

Created
Fri, 26/05/2023 - 19:45
May 25, 2023 ROBERT SKIDELSKY Amid the growing excitement about generative AI, there are also mounting concerns about its potential contribution to the erosion of civil liberties. The convergence of state intelligence agencies and surveillance capitalism underscores the threat that artificial intelligence poses to the future of democracy. LONDON – With investors pouring billions of dollars into … Continue reading Creeping Toward Dystopia
Created
Sun, 09/04/2023 - 18:01

The banking system we take for granted is unfixable. The good news is that we no longer need to rely on any private, rent-seeking, socially destabilizing network of banks, at least not the way we have so far. This time the banking crisis is different. It is, in fact, worse than in 2007/8 when we […]

The post Time to Blow Up the Banking System – Project Syndicate, March 2023 appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

Created
Wed, 29/03/2023 - 04:51
Mar 28, 2023 ROBERT SKIDELSKY Inflation and growth rates are increasingly determined by global events over which national policymakers have no control. Instead of clinging to the illusion that they can control the uncontrollable, governments should use fiscal policy to protect their most vulnerable citizens from disruptive external shocks. LONDON – In 1969, the British … Continue reading Can Governments Still Steer the Economy?
Created
Mon, 23/01/2023 - 19:44

The real problem confronting European manufacturing is not the threat of factory closures. It is that, compared to the United States and China, Europe has fallen far behind in the race to accumulate, and benefit from, the cloud capital that represents the future of profit in industries like electric cars and green energy. ATHENS – […]

The post Is Europe Deindustrialising? – Project Syndicate appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

Created
Mon, 20/02/2023 - 20:56

A new cold war is upon us, but only China is in a position to push it beyond the point of no return. That moment will come when China’s policymakers cross the Rubicon and decide to wean Chinese economic growth off the US trade deficit. ATHENS – True hegemons prevail not by force but by […]

The post Will China Dump Its Dark Deal with America? – Project Syndicate appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.