Varoufakis: From the mid-1970s to 2008, the US economy had kept global capitalism in an unstable, though finely balanced, equilibrium.

It sucked into its territory the net exports of economies such as those of Germany, Japan and later China, providing the world’s most efficient factories with the requisite demand. 

How was this growing trade deficit paid for?

Yanis Varoufakis 11 November 2016