Yanis Varoufakis: Capitalism will eat democracy -- unless we speak up
Yanis Varoufakis: O capitalismo comerá a democracia... a non ser que falemos claro
Yanis Varoufakis thinks we need a radically new way of thinking about the economy, finance and capitalism. Full bio
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taking it for granted.
ao dala por feito.
of flowers that it really is,
o que é en realidade,
of our society's furniture.
da nosa sociedade.
as an intransigent given.
como un feito definitivo.
begets inevitably democracy.
que o capitalismo xera sempre democracia.
and his great imitators in Beijing
e os seus grandes imitadores en Beijing,
de calquera dúbida,
to have a flourishing capitalism,
ter un capitalismo vizoso,
exenta de democracia.
in our neck of the woods,
en regresión no noso terreo,
while I was representing Greece --
estaba representando a Grecia
de ser elixido-
ministro de Finanzas,
that our nation's democratic process --
proceso democrático no noso país
coas políticas económicas
that were being implemented in Greece.
en Grecia.
vindication of Lee Kuan Yew,
maior reivindicación de Lee Kuan Yew,
friends of mine who kept telling me
que estaban sempre a dicirme
if it ever threatened to change anything.
se ameazásemos alterar algo.
for an authentic democracy.
para unha auténtica democracia.
to join me in believing again
para volver a crer
that we can dispense with democracy --
podemos prescindir da democracia,
boisterous democracy.
auténtica e estrondosa.
botadas a perder.
an interesting paradox
un interesante paradoxo
our economies as we speak.
as nosas economías.
dos picos xemelgos.
that has been casting a long shadow
que proxecta unha longa sombra
Europe, the whole world.
Europa, o mundo enteiro.
a montaña de débedas.
distinguen o seu xemelgo.
and to corporations,
e ás grandes empresas,
para investilo
that can generate the incomes
que poidan xerar ingresos
the mountain of debts
a montaña de débedas
that humanity desperately needs,
humanidade necesita desesperadamente,
in Britain and in the Eurozone,
na Eurozona,
3.4 trillion dollars
3,4 billóns de dólares
industriais, maquinaria,
and so on and so forth.
maquinaria, etc., etc.
parecen moitos cartos
cos 5,1 billóns
in the same countries,
mesmos países,
during the same period
durante o mesmo período
and bidding up house prices.
e encarecer os prezos da vivenda.
and a mountain of idle cash
e unha montaña de diñeiro improdutivo
failing to cancel each other out
sen poder anularse un ao outro
operation of the markets.
normal dos mercados.
in America, in Japan and in Europe
traballadores, dos 25 aos 54 anos,
a demanda agregada
reproduce it by not investing --
responden non investindo,
by the prophecy of the oracle
pola profecía do oráculo
his son, would kill him.
o seu fillo, o matase.
all these technologies,
tecnoloxías,
for saving planet Earth.
para salvar o planeta.
that democracy might be the answer?
que a democracia podería ser a resposta?
in which the free and the poor,
os libres e os pobres,
excluded too many.
excluía demasiada xente.
of course, the slaves.
por suposto, escravos.
of ancient Athenian democracy
antiga democracia ateniense
about ancient Athenian democracy,
na antiga democracia ateniense,
the right to free speech,
dereito da liberdade de expresión,
to political judgments
aos xuízos políticos
concerning matters of state.
sobre cuestións de estado.
democracy didn't last long.
non durou moito.
it burned out quickly.
queimouse axiña.
do not have their roots in ancient Athens.
non ten as súas raíces na antiga Atenas.
was focusing on the masterless citizen
se centrou na cidadanía sen dono
traballadores pobres,
on the Magna Carta tradition,
na tradición da Carta Magna,
a charter for masters.
unha carta para amos.
only surfaced when it was possible
só xurdiu cando foi posible
from the economic sphere,
política da esfera económica,
fully in the political sphere,
totalmente á esfera política,
from the political sphere,
económica e da politica,
epic struggle between the two,
loita épica entre as dúas,
colonizing the political sphere,
colonizando a esfera política,
are not what they used to be?
non son o que adoitaban ser?
has degenerated.
dexenerara.
in government today and not in power,
no goberno e non ter poder,
from the political to the economic sphere,
desde a esfera política á económica,
with capitalism.
contra o capitalismo.
a population of predators,
poboación de predadores,
the prey that they must feed on,
a presa da que se alimentan,
and cannibalizing the political sphere
e canibalizando a esfera política
that it is undermining itself,
debilitou a si mesma,
aumentando,
desvalorizándose,
to invest the cash of their corporations.
de investir o diñeiro das súas empresas.
in taking the demos out of democracy,
en tirar o demos da democracia,
of human resources
de recursos humanos
and economic spheres
política e económica
with a demos being in control,
demos ao mando,
except without the slaves
pero sen os escravos
had that idea 100 years ago
tivo esa idea hai cen anos
from the Soviet debacle
do fracaso soviético
will the working poor be reempowered,
pobres volverán ter poder,
of brutality and waste.
de brutalidade nin desproveitos.
with automata, androids, robots.
salarios por autómatas, androides, robots.
and the political spheres are separate,
e política estean separadas,
and the political spheres,
económica e política,
by democratizing the reunified sphere,
democratizando as esferas reunificadas,
a surveillance-mad hyperautocracy
obsesionada coa vixilancia
look like a documentary.
pareza un documental.
whether capitalism will survive
se o capitalismo sobrevivirá
it is spawning.
que está xerando.
by something resembling a Matrix dystopia
algo que se parece á distopía de Matrix
to a Star Trek-like society,
sociedade de Star Trek,
exploring the universe
explorando o universo
about the meaning of life
sobre o sentido da vida
high tech agora.
altamente tecnolóxica.
permitirnos ser optimistas.
instead of the Matrix-like dystopia?
en lugar da distopía Matrix?
from one job to another,
dun traballo a outro,
to work at at that time --
traballando nese momento
to work in it at that moment.
que traballan alí nese momento.
from capital, from profits,
do capital, dos beneficios
of wage labor becomes obsolete.
convértese en obsoleto.
who own but do not work in the company
que posúen pero non traballan na empresa
but do not own the company;
pero non posúen a empresa;
between capital and labor;
entre capital e traballo;
investment and saving;
entre investimento e aforro;
picos xemelgos.
political economy,
política global,
have a free-floating exchange rate,
teñen un tipo de cambio flexible,
global, digital currency,
global, dixital,
by the International Monetary Fund,
Fondo Monetario Internacional,
is denominated in this currency --
se produza nesa moeda,
to be paying into a common fund
pagar para un fondo común
to the country's trade deficit,
proporcional ao déficit comercial do país,
dun país.
to invest in green technologies,
investir en tecnoloxías verdes,
where investment funding is scarce.
onde os investimentos son escasos.
John Maynard Keynes proposed
John Maynard Keynes propuxo
the technology to implement it.
tecnoloxía para desenvolvelo.
of a reunified political-economic sphere.
reunificada político-económica.
empowered individuals,
das persoas,
to the dustbin of history
da historia
to imagine an authentic democracy.
de imaxinar unha auténtica democracia.
into a Matrix-like dystopia?
como a de Matrix?
that we shall be making collectively.
que fagamos colectivamente.
democraticamente.
in your bios as a libertarian Marxist.
como un marxista libertario.
of Marx's analysis today?
da análise de Marx hoxe?
any relevance in what I just said,
algunha relevancia no que acabo de dicir,
the political and economic is --
a política e a economía é que,
is going to create
vai xerar
refers to as secular stagnation.
denomina como estancamento secular.
from one part of the world,
dunha parte do mundo,
not only our democracies,
non só as nosas democracias,
that keen on liberal democracy.
é partidario da democracia liberal.
then Marx is absolutely relevant.
entón Marx é totalmente relevante.
agora nós tamén
you are not thinking, OK?
é que non estás pensando, non?
philosopher kind of thing to say --
moi de filósofo grego...
you mentioned Singapore and China,
Singapur e China,
cea de relatores
about how the West looks at China.
acerca de como Occidente mira a China.
degree of hypocrisy.
hipocrisía.
we have a semblance of democracy.
temos unha aparencia de democracia.
as I was saying in my talk,
dixen na miña charla,
where all the action is --
onde está toda a acción
libre de democracia.
in the 19th century.
Gran Bretaña que no século XIX.
liberalism with democracy --
liberalismo con democracia,
it's like John Stuart Mill.
é como John Stuart Mill.
skeptical about the democratic process.
escéptico sobre o proceso democrático.
is a very similar process
é un proceso moi similar
during the Industrial Revolution,
durante a Revolución Industrial,
from the first to the second.
da primeira á segunda.
in the 19th century,
no século XIX,
are wondering about your experience
se preguntará pola súa experiencia
earlier this year.
a comezos deste ano.
at the first half of the year?
na primeira metade do ano?
desde un punto de vista persoal,
from a personal point of view,
to reboot the Eurozone.
para reiniciar a Eurozona.
that there was a massive --
de que habia unha enorme,
architectural fault line
fenda na arquitectura
the whole of the European Union process.
do proceso da Unión Europea.
on the basis of the Greek program --
baseada no programa grego
to manifest that denial --
que manifestou esa negación
of the Soviet Union.
that architecturally cannot survive,
estructuralmente non pode sobrevivir,
and through authoritarianism,
e a través do autoritarismo,
and catastrophically.
are you foreseeing?
the architecture of the Eurozone,
arquitectura da Eurozona,
when you were Finance Minister?
era ministro de Finanzas?
YV: Anybody who looks back --
YV: Calquera que mira cara atrás...
or of anything else for that matter,
ou de calquera outra cousa,
nun traballo,
con tanta tensión,
they're dangerous people.
é unha persoa perigosa.
was to sign the application
foi asinar a petición
on the side of the creditors
por parte dos acredores
in crushing our government,
esmagar o noso goberno,
the architectural fault lines
a catastrophic program in Greece.
marcha un programa catastrófico en Grecia.
PIB nominal.
that have been imposing this policy
que impuxeron esta política
of the discussion,
da discusión,
quite pro-European.
bastante pro-Europa.
of the European Union and the Eurozone
Unión Europea e a Eurozona
who lives and breathes Europe.
que vive e respira Europa.
the Eurozone will not survive.
a Eurozona non sobreviva.
that will be unleashed
que se desencadearán
not just for Europe
non só para Europa
economy in the world.
economía do mundo.
of the postmodern 1930's,
posmodernos anos 30,
and non-Europeans alike.
como de non europeos.
que se equivoque nese punto.
you are wrong on that point.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Yanis Varoufakis - Economist and professorYanis Varoufakis thinks we need a radically new way of thinking about the economy, finance and capitalism.
Why you should listen
Yanis Varoufakis describes himself as a "libertarian Marxist," although, he says, "It is not something that I volunteer to talk about much, because the very mention of Marx switches audiences off." He teaches economic theory at the University of Athens, where he challenges mainstream notions -- arguing that after the financial crash of 2008 we need a radically new way of thinking about the economy, finance and capitalism.
He became widely known in the first half of 2015 when, as Minister of Finance of the newly formed Greek government, he was a leading, outspoken and much-discussed figure in the renegotiations of Greece's debt.
In May 2017, Varoufakis released Adults in The Room: My Battle With Europe’s Deep Establishment, a personal account of Europe's hidden agenda and an urgent wake-up call to renew European democracy.
Yanis Varoufakis | Speaker | TED.com