The Econoclasts

by UnHerd

NewThe truth about the ‘AI Bubble’ & how Britain can break its assetocracyNovember 10, 2026 · 50 min

Episodes: 188
Released: weekly
Latest episode: Nov 10, 2026

About the podcast

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.

Don't forget to rate, like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes 188

The truth about the ‘AI Bubble’ & how Britain can break its assetocracy
November 10, 202650 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the conventional wisdom surrounding the current market frenzy by arguing that the AI revolution is not a bubble, reveal the …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the conventional wisdom surrounding the current market frenzy by arguing that the AI revolution is not a bubble, reveal the competitive advantages enabling China to outpace both the US and a complacent Europe in real-world robotics and manufacturing, and dissect an ambitious, progressive blueprint for the British economy designed to break the grip of financial orthodoxy, reform the gilt market, and counter systemic stagnation.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
America’s midterm illusion & Europe’s spiralling youth revolt
November 4, 202649 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the myth of the American swing voter ahead of the midterms, reveal why escalating youth riots across Europe are far more …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the myth of the American swing voter ahead of the midterms, reveal why escalating youth riots across Europe are far more dangerous than the French protests of 1968, and dissect the stagnation driving the continent toward an inevitable systemic crash.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Brazil's class war victory & AI's silent jobs crisis
October 28, 202645 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the political fallouts in Brazil and Serbia to debunk the prevailing narrative that the rise of the Right is an inevitable force …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the political fallouts in Brazil and Serbia to debunk the prevailing narrative that the rise of the Right is an inevitable force that can only be mitigated by centrist technocracy, while revealing the looming threat of a silent AI-driven hiring freeze that risks permanently locking young workers out of the economy.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The fall of Macron & Europe’s cowardly Ukraine strategy
October 21, 202642 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the catastrophic collapse of Emmanuel Macron’s ‘revolutionary centrist’ experiment in France, exposing how a decade of …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the catastrophic collapse of Emmanuel Macron’s ‘revolutionary centrist’ experiment in France, exposing how a decade of technocratic austerity and underinvestment has fuelled widespread social unrest and pushed the country to the brink of insolvency, while revealing the cowardice and hypocrisy of the EU’s current Ukraine strategy that they warn is steadily bankrupting Europe, deepening its geopolitical vassalage to the United States, and leaving the continent powerless to shape the inevitable outcome of the war.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Trump’s Russian diesel deal & France’s fatal debt collapse
October 14, 202640 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect Trump’s Russian diesel deal to expose the collapse of Western unity, while debunking the myth of French fiscal incompetence to …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect Trump’s Russian diesel deal to expose the collapse of Western unity, while debunking the myth of French fiscal incompetence to reveal why France’s €3.6 trillion debt crisis is a structurally inevitable flaw of the euro.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
France’s fiscal crisis & Europe's dangerous war fever
October 7, 202648 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the gathering financial and political storm in France, expose the self-defeating mechanics of European austerity, and reveal the …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the gathering financial and political storm in France, expose the self-defeating mechanics of European austerity, and reveal the dangerous escalation of 'war fever' across the continent, where hybrid-war narratives and NATO-Russia tensions threaten to drag an economically fragile, unprepared Europe into a devastating pre-1914 style conflict.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Europe's pre-war madness & the reindustrialisation myth
September 30, 202639 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the escalating geopolitical tensions between Western powers, Russia, and China, expose the dangerous anti-diplomacy bias within …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the escalating geopolitical tensions between Western powers, Russia, and China, expose the dangerous anti-diplomacy bias within mainstream media and centrist political establishments that pushes Europe toward a pre-war posture, and debunk the political myth that military Keynesianism and factory-focused reindustrialisation can restore high-paying blue-collar jobs in an automated age.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Germany’s political meltdown & how the Left betrayed Europe
September 23, 202643 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the systemic breakdown of German centrist politics, reveal the uncomfortable truth about Europe’s total lack of defence …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the systemic breakdown of German centrist politics, reveal the uncomfortable truth about Europe’s total lack of defence sovereignty under US hegemony, and debunk the conventional political narrative by exposing how the centre-Left bears primary responsibility for the continent’s long-term deindustrialisation and geopolitical decline.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The AI extinction myth & Europe’s tech collapse
September 16, 202645 min
In this AI focussed episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau expose the recent apocalyptic warnings from tech bosses as tricks for regulatory capture, reveal how weaponised AI and …
Show notes
In this AI focussed episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau expose the recent apocalyptic warnings from tech bosses as tricks for regulatory capture, reveal how weaponised AI and China’s robotic lead threaten stability, and dissect Europe’s failure to retain sovereignty in an era of cloud capital.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Germany's AfD surge & the death of the European project
September 9, 202645 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the political fallout from the AfD’s electoral breakthrough in Germany, debunk the establishment myth of how Hitler came to …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the political fallout from the AfD’s electoral breakthrough in Germany, debunk the establishment myth of how Hitler came to power in order to draw alarming parallels to what is happening with the AfD today, and reveal why the European Union’s current structure is inherently incapable of preventing systemic decay and the rise of ethnonationalism.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Iceland's EU rejection & the North Atlantic debt trap
September 2, 202642 min
Get your tickets for The Econoclasts Live: The world after capitalism, here: http://unherd.com/econoclastsliveIn this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the fallout of …
Show notes
Get your tickets for The Econoclasts Live: The world after capitalism, here: http://unherd.com/econoclastslive

In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the fallout of Iceland’s historic referendum vote to reject European Union accession talks, reveal the widening cracks in the transatlantic financial consensus, and debate whether a European capital markets union can revive investment or simply feed a stagnant ‘rent trap.’
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
America’s debt spiral & China’s big AI bet
August 26, 202631 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the mainstream economic orthodoxy that reserve currency status grants America immunity from default, exposing how the US is …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the mainstream economic orthodoxy that reserve currency status grants America immunity from default, exposing how the US is heading towards an uncontrollable sovereign debt spiral, while exploring how China is pursuing an alternative path to escape economic stagnation through state-directed open-source automation.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The decline of the US empire - with Richard D. Wolff
August 19, 202638 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and guest Richard D. Wolff analyse the decline of US imperial hegemony, tracing how eroding global power, systemic economic instability, and the rollback of …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and guest Richard D. Wolff analyse the decline of US imperial hegemony, tracing how eroding global power, systemic economic instability, and the rollback of social democratic reforms have fuelled widespread political alienation, while offering a critical critique of mainstream economic theory and exploring the potential for a renewed socialist movement in America.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The wealth tax myth & Britain’s dangerous Rejoin trap
August 12, 202645 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk dominant economic orthodoxies surrounding wealth taxes as a quick-fix silver bullet for inequality, expose how central bank …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk dominant economic orthodoxies surrounding wealth taxes as a quick-fix silver bullet for inequality, expose how central bank policies and globalisation are stripping nation-states of their democratic sovereignty, and reveal the grim economic stagnation, debt, and regulatory traps awaiting the UK should it attempt to rejoin the European Union.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The greatest fraud in human history – with Ron Paul
August 5, 202630 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and guest Representative Ron Paul join forces across the traditional Left-Right political spectrum to debunk the conventional economic orthodoxy of central …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and guest Representative Ron Paul join forces across the traditional Left-Right political spectrum to debunk the conventional economic orthodoxy of central banking, expose the covert tax of inflationary money printing, reveal how post-2008 financial bailouts transformed free-market capitalism into a system of corporate welfare, and dissect the collusion between big tech algorithms, state violence, and the military-industrial complex that erodes individual liberty and democratic accountability worldwide.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
China’s hidden crisis & the West's dangerous wealth bubble
July 29, 202641 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau reveal the hidden macroeconomic realities behind China’s ongoing growth recession and local debt crisis, and expose how decades of …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau reveal the hidden macroeconomic realities behind China’s ongoing growth recession and local debt crisis, and expose how decades of central bank bailouts and Quantitative Easing have fuelled an inflated wealth bubble that leaves a fragile Western financial system dangerously vulnerable and dependent on US asset inflation.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The UK’s investment trap & the lie behind Western wealth
July 22, 202639 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the political delusions stalling Western growth, debunking the idea that state investment alone can revive the UK, exposing …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the political delusions stalling Western growth, debunking the idea that state investment alone can revive the UK, exposing Europe’s dangerous tech gap behind America and China, and revealing how flawed economic data hides declining US living standards.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Europe’s populist panic & China’s real free market
July 15, 202637 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the establishment’s self-defeating 'lawfare' strategy against rising right-wing populists like Marine Le Pen, and Nigel Farage …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the establishment’s self-defeating 'lawfare' strategy against rising right-wing populists like Marine Le Pen, and Nigel Farage, while debunking the myth that capitalism is synonymous with free markets by contrasting Western state-protected monopolies like SpaceX with China’s highly competitive, state-guided economic model.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The tragedy of America 250 & the truth about Ukraine
July 8, 202639 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau analyse the structural decay of American hegemony at its 250-year milestone, while exposing the corporate and political motivations …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau analyse the structural decay of American hegemony at its 250-year milestone, while exposing the corporate and political motivations behind the media's distorted Ukraine war narrative used to justify a domestic defence heist funded by ballooning public debt.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The great Brexit myth & Germany’s industrial collapse
July 1, 202639 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the popular orthodoxy surrounding Brexit, exposing the phoney statistics used to fabricate a narrative of British macroeconomic …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the popular orthodoxy surrounding Brexit, exposing the phoney statistics used to fabricate a narrative of British macroeconomic self-harm, while dissecting the existential reality of Germany's inevitable structural collapse through its automakers' loss of the critical AI and EV race to China.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The fall of Starmer & Europe's great energy swindle
June 24, 202636 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the fallout of Keir Starmer’s resignation to expose a broader Western leadership crisis, before debunking the myth of the free …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect the fallout of Keir Starmer’s resignation to expose a broader Western leadership crisis, before debunking the myth of the free market to reveal the hidden corporate swindle rigging European electricity prices - a systemic failure that is not only driving up consumer bills but starving the continent of the energy capacity needed to compete with the US and China in the AI race.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
NATO’s narrative collapse & Anthropic’s AI shutdown
June 17, 202638 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau expose the dangerous flaws of a newly hyped Trump-Iran pre-deal, reveal how Europe's aggressive shift toward wasteful defence spending …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau expose the dangerous flaws of a newly hyped Trump-Iran pre-deal, reveal how Europe's aggressive shift toward wasteful defence spending is a delusion built on exaggerated threats, and uncover a widening technological chasm where aggressive US nationalist regulations and a stagnant European mindset are combining to leave the West severely outpaced by China’s productivity-boosting integration of AI and robotics.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Germany’s historic humiliation & Britain's financial trap
June 10, 202637 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk conventional wisdom by analysing Germany’s shocking UN Security Council voting failure as a symptom of its diplomatic hubris and …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk conventional wisdom by analysing Germany’s shocking UN Security Council voting failure as a symptom of its diplomatic hubris and international unpopularity, while tearing down the illusion of British sovereignty to reveal how the United Kingdom has become a financial vassal completely trapped by its dependence on leveraged American capital.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
AI's job apocalypse & the transhumanist endgame
June 3, 202635 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the delusions surrounding artificial intelligence by examining how its recent ability to solve complex mathematical problems …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the delusions surrounding artificial intelligence by examining how its recent ability to solve complex mathematical problems signals a massive structural threat to the global labour market, while warning against the transhumanist endgame of 'Techlord' Silicon Valley elites like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, who view Homo sapiens as mere primitive hardware to be replaced by cyborgs.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Europe’s China trap & capitalism’s AI death knell
May 27, 202638 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the mainstream economic orthodoxies surrounding Europe's aggressive tariff strategy against China while simultaneously warning …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the mainstream economic orthodoxies surrounding Europe's aggressive tariff strategy against China while simultaneously warning that the rise of AI and Big Tech is not the future of market capitalism but rather its death knell, as centralised platforms trap society in a new era of techno-feudalism.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Trump's secret China truce & Labour's economic chaos
May 20, 202639 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the mainstream narratives around Donald Trump’s recent Beijing summit, reveal how the West’s geopolitical delusions disadvantage …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the mainstream narratives around Donald Trump’s recent Beijing summit, reveal how the West’s geopolitical delusions disadvantage it in a new cold war with China, and expose the flawed economic strategy of Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham as he attempts to replace a failing Keir Starmer.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The end of Starmer & Trump’s shady Iran scam
May 12, 202637 min
🔗Get your tickets for The Econoclasts Live with Hasan Piker here: http://unherd.com/econoclastsliveIn this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect Keir Starmer’s attempts to …
Show notes
🔗Get your tickets for The Econoclasts Live with Hasan Piker here: http://unherd.com/econoclastslive

In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau dissect Keir Starmer’s attempts to maintain power in a declining UK economy alongside the paradoxical surge in US market wealth triggered by Donald Trump’s war with Iran - a conflict that is failing to smoke out Tehran while simultaneously enriching a narrow elite of tech lords and fracking independents at the expense of the global working class.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Trump vs. Merz & how London broke Britain
May 6, 202640 min
🔗Get your tickets for The Econoclasts Live with Hasan Piker here: http://unherd.com/econoclastsliveIn this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the myth of European strategic …
Show notes
🔗Get your tickets for The Econoclasts Live with Hasan Piker here: http://unherd.com/econoclastslive

In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the myth of European strategic sovereignty and the lie at the heart of the City of London, exposing how Germany’s failure to innovate within its declining car industry leaves it defenceless against Trump’s revenge tariff assault, while the UK’s ‘finance curse’ has replaced productive industrial investment with a parasitic reliance on property speculation and shareholder payouts.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The dollar's Gulf bail-out & the end of US hegemony
April 29, 202634 min
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 …
Show notes
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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
China's AI war victory & Europe's desperate Russia reunion
April 22, 202632 min
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau pull back the curtain on the fairy tales of Western geopolitical and technological independence, arguing that Europe is sleepwalking …
Show notes
In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau pull back the curtain on the fairy tales of Western geopolitical and technological independence, arguing that Europe is sleepwalking into a decade of industrial decline and techno-vassalage because it has allowed its core innovation to be hollowed out by Silicon Valley, while simultaneously failing to acknowledge the reality that its own energy security and economic survival will ultimately force a desperate reconnection with Russia, even as China successfully weaponises Western sanctions and digital isolation to leapfrog a generation ahead in the global AI war.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

These are the latest 40 of 188 episodes. You’ll find older episodes in the podcast’s feed.

Similar podcasts

More History podcasts

Is this your podcast?

Confirm it with an entry in your feed: you get a code here, add it as podcast:txt to the channel of your feed, and we check it. Your podcast is then shown as “verified” on SoundNode.