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Comment by spikels | Hacker News Reader

I find this hilarious! Despite his epiphany in the airport line he seems to have no problem deciding the economic fate of not only his entire nation but much of Europe. Now that's a false sense on entitlement!

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He's a cabinet member of a democratically elected government. It's not a false sense of entitlement when the people of Greece have actually entitled him to carry out the program that Syriza promised.

Legally yes - just like his first class ticket legally entitled him to better service. But is it right for him to have such a huge influence over the so many people both in Greece and outside. Seems like a single point of failure to me.

I'm just concerned that his unorthodox but popular views offer no new insight in how to solve the problem. If so Greece may doom its people to long term relative poverty and drag other countries along with it.

Time will tell. I wish Yanis, Syriza and Greece the best of luck. Things could still turn out OK as economic predictions are very uncertain. However the risks are clearly huge.

How is that different from other single points of failure, such as Obama, Putin, Angela Merkel, etc., influencing people both within and outside their respective countries?

There is no difference. Because of their extraordinary concentration of power all of these leaders are a source of risk. If they screw up many will suffer both inside and outside their countries.

Greece is at a critical point. I hope Yanis is thoughtful about risks of his government's aggressive tactics and unorthodox economic views.

Some interesting questions are:

- Do the benefits outweigh risks?

- Are there better alternatives?

- Is there a human nature bias to want strong leaders despite risks?

I guess it depends on whether you're Deleuzian or not.

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