France takes a hard left turn

[jimpeel]

Going to be fun watching them take down the Euro to its well deserved death.

SOURCE

6 May 2012 Last updated at 19:02 ET
Socialist Francois Hollande wins French presidency

French socialist Francois Hollande has won a clear victory in the country's presidential election.
Mr Hollande - who polled just under 52% of votes in Sunday's run-off - spoke of his pride at becoming president.

Admitting defeat, centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy wished "good luck" to Mr Hollande.
Analysts say the vote has wide implications for the whole eurozone. Mr Hollande has vowed to rework a deal on government debt in member countries.

Shortly after polls closed at 20:00 (18:00 GMT), French media published projections based on partial results giving Mr Hollande a lead of almost four points. Turnout was about 80%.

Jubilant Hollande supporters gathered on Place de la Bastille in Paris - a traditional rallying point of the Left - to celebrate.

People drank champagne and chanted: "Sarko, it's over!"

Mr Hollande - the first Socialist to win the French presidency since Francois Mitterrand in the 1980s - gave his victory speech in his stronghold of Tulle in central France.

He said he was "proud to have been capable of giving people hope again".

He said he would push ahead with his pledge to refocus EU fiscal efforts from austerity to "growth".

"Europe is watching us, austerity can no longer be the only option," he said. (Yes, Mr. Hollande, bankruptcy is always the other option and never off the table. -j)

After his speech in Tulle, Mr Hollande headed to Brive airport on his way to Paris to address supporters at Place de la Bastille. His voice hoarse, he spoke of his pride at taking over the mantle of the presidency 31 years almost to the day since Socialist predecessor Francois Mitterrand was elected.

"I am the president of the youth of France," he told the assembled crowd of tens of thousands of supporters, emphasising his "pride at being president of all the republic's citizens". "You are a movement that is rising up throughout Europe," he said.

Mr Hollande has called for a renegotiation of a hard-won European treaty on budget discipline championed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mr Sarkozy.

Mr Hollande's campaign director, Pierre Moscovici, told AFP news agency that Mrs Merkel had congratulated the president-elect by phone, and that the two had agreed to work together on "a strong Franco-German relationship in the interest of Europe".

Mrs Merkel later said she had invited Mr Hollande to come to Berlin soon, AFP reported.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has also called Mr Hollande to congratulate him.

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[2minkey]

OMG how does france even exist??? they've had socialists in office before!!! this does not compute.

 

[jimpeel]

Did they have a 75% tax rate on the wealthy during Mitterrand's term as president? That is what this guy is proposing and the wealthy are looking across the channel for friendlier climes.

How about that retirement age? Lowering it from 62 to 60? More people on the dole two years sooner. In the meantime, we are talking about raising ours to keep the system solvent (an effort which will eventually fail).

Was the Euro on life support under previous French presidents?

 

[2minkey]

i don't know jim - you tell us the future.

 

[jimpeel]

The wealthy will flee. The Euro will die. France will continue to tank with higher rates of unemployment, higher rates of those on the dole, and more inflation as they are forced to return to the Franc as the coin of the realm.

 

[2minkey]

it ain't gonna make one fucking bit of difference jim. france's economy has long been of notable size but relatively "cool."

so i should cash my euros in for... US DOLLARS???

 

[Winky]

socialism has worked everytime its been tried

 

[2minkey]

so the socialist-as-all-hell by your standards french economy, as well as the german economy, the japanese economy, the british economy, the chinese economy... none of that is real? none of those are working economies huh?

 

[jimpeel]

Socialism collapses under its own weight once the takers outnumber the providers in sufficient quantity.

 

[2minkey]

ANYTHING collapses under its own weight once the takers outnumber the providers in sufficient quantity.

fixed it.

there are plenty of examples of effective, functioning socialist economies. but yes if the national character is one of infantile and amoral selfishness, there will be problems.

 

[Winky]

"there are plenty of examples of effective, functioning socialist economies"

name one

 

[2minkey]

china.
germany.
israel.

the list goes on.

all "socialist" by your definition.

you must have learned everything you know about politics and economics from john wayne's rectum. pull your head out of it.

 

[ResearchMonkey]

 

[2minkey]

um, no, the cow bell is a reminder of 70s shit rock.

 

[Winky]

Socialism is an economic system characterised by social ownership and/or
control of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy

that isn't true of
china.
germany.
israel

try again Buford

 

[2minkey]

The current economic system in China is formally titled Socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics. It combines a large state sector that comprises the 'commanding heights' of the economy, which are guaranteed their public ownership status by law,[37] with a private sector mainly engaged in commodity production and light industry responsible from anywhere between 33%[38] (People's Daily Online 2005) to over 70% of GDP generated in 2005.[39] However by 2005 these market-oriented reforms, including privatisation, virtually halted and were partially reversed.[40] The current Chinese economy consists of 150 corporatised state enterprises that report directly to China's central government.[41] By 2008, these state-owned corporations had become increasingly dynamic and generated large increases in revenue for the state,[42][43] resulting in a state-sector led recovery during the 2009 financial crises while accounting for most of China's economic growth.[44]

source.

er perhaps you'd like to look at numbers for GDP% of social program expenditures? the germans are MEGA COMMIES. talk to some germans. that live there. not the guy down your street that still celebrates hitler's birthday. megawelfare in your butt times pie r squared bitch. it's worse than california.

and the israeli's... i had a girlfriend that lived on a kibbutz. tons of state-owned shit there.

you really need to start eating your wheaties, clyde.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!

 

[ResearchMonkey]

yeah, China strong!

No problems in China, all is well.

 

[Winky]

Good to see that you understand that the inscrutable Chinese have embraced capitalism.
I don't want to make this easy for you by pointing out which countries ARE socialist.

 

[Winky]

RM is that Chinese equivalent of shovel ready jobs?

 

[Winky]