The Econoclasts is a new podcast from UnHerd hosted by economist Yanis Varoufakis and journalist Wolfgang Munchau. While they don’t always agree politically, they are united in one conviction: the consensus is rotten. Mainstream economics has consistently failed to predict the events that shape our world, yet this broken orthodoxy still dominates policy and media. Each week, they choose two pillars of the established orthodoxy — the “settled facts” — and shatter them, cutting through the spin to connect the dots between money, geopolitics, and the real forces shaping our future.
Curated by: UnHerd (58 videos)
📰 Subscribe to UnHerd today at: https://bit.ly/4cfaeH0 In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the orthodox view that the newly established U.S. dollar swap lines for Gulf states are a charitable bailout for the Middle East, arguing instead that these facilities are a desperate signalling mechanism designed to bail out the American financial system and the petrodollar recycling machine, as the escalating war in Iran threatens to permanently dismantle U.S. economic hegemony. Watch it on the UnHerd website: https://unherd.com/watch-listen/the-us-is-quietly-bailing-itself-out/ Listen to the podcast: https://plnk.to/unherd?to=page Advertise on UnHerd @ zoe.white@unherd.com Follow UnHerd on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/unherd Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unherd/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unherd/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@unherdtv //TIMECODES// 00:00 - 01:00 - Opening: Iran war and dollar hegemony at risk 01:00 - 05:01 - Today’s topics 05:01 - 11:40 - How dollar swap lines work and who they saved 11:40 - 13:52 - Stress in the dollar system and crisis fears 13:52 - 17:00 - Signalling future Fed support and market calming 17:00 - 22:22 - Iran war paths and a permanent energy shock 22:22 - 26:54 - Trump’s strategic trap and the Hormuz blockade 26:54 - 31:03 - Europe’s energy politics and new internal divides 31:03 - 35:09 - De‑dollarisation, BRICS and a messy multipolar world 35:09 - 35:40 - Outro #UnHerd #IranWar #Trump