France will embrace Socialism … we’ll see how it works out

From the BBC, we are reminded of Francois Hollande’s campaign promises after he was elected president of France yesterday.

He’s the candidate of the “young people” in France.

The Socialist candidate has promised to raise taxes on big corporations and people earning more than 1m euros a year.

He wants to raise the minimum wage, hire 60,000 more teachers and lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 for some workers.

Good luck with that.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

19 Comments

  1. kateinmaine on May 7, 2012 at 9:11 am

    laissez les bons temps rouler. . .



  2. phil on May 7, 2012 at 9:31 am

    I wonder, does Francois Hollande have a ‘stash’?? Y’know, free food, free housing, and of course, free education!



  3. gillie28 on May 7, 2012 at 10:11 am

    Ok, here’s some gossip: Hollande dumped his “partner”?of 30 years, and mother of his four kids?(she is a socialist politician in her own right), for a fiery, feminist journalist, affectionately known as the Rottweiler.? He owns a?2 million?dollar apartment in one of the swankiest arrondisements in Paris (Neuilly – also Sarkowsy’s neighborhood) and a holiday place on the Cote D’Azur.? As the French say, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”? We call them “les millionards rouges” – socialist/communist millionaires.
    The former President Mitterand was his idol?(his wife and mistress both attended his funeral – vive l’amor).? French millionaires are heading for the exits….but, where to go?? The UK conservative party just lost hugely in recent local elections; Merkel’s party in Germany is looking weak – heads up for the US, you may be getting an inpouring of ze reeech Francais!

    A kind of scary sideline to all of this political upheaval and austerity measures in Europe is that the far right (and I mean REAL far right, a la fascism, not Tea Party) is growing gang-busters.? They did very well in both French and Greek elections.?



  4. Erik Blazynski on May 7, 2012 at 10:18 am

    not really a stretch for France



  5. Tim-in-Alabama on May 7, 2012 at 11:32 am

    It’s a shame we lost a pro-America president in Sarkozy, and one who clearly saw Barack Hussein Obama for what he is.



    • johnboy111 on May 8, 2012 at 11:19 am

      the price of wine and brie will going up soon?????



    • Dimsdale on May 11, 2012 at 10:34 am

      From a pro American president to a faux ?bama president.



  6. sammy22 on May 7, 2012 at 2:40 pm

    Like this is the first French President from their Socialist party? We beat up on the French after 9/11 even w/o a Socialist President.



    • Dimsdale on May 8, 2012 at 12:49 pm

      Whether hard core or soft core socialist, you are still socialists.
      ?
      Is it too impolitic to call the “cheese eating surrender monkeys” anymore (a la The Simpsons)?? Maybe “cheese eating socialist monkeys” might be more apropos….? 😉



  7. Benjamin Less on May 7, 2012 at 6:52 pm

    Well the problem lies in the Chaban delMas vs. Mitterrand era.? There you had the Right v. the Left in a clear view where France was being absorbed in western identity.? Mitterrand stepped out and decided to take the “individualistic” path for France and not acquire the western methodologies. ?? He centralised on arts, science and internalisations of the “mission statement” of France.? It’s not what’s happening now.? This is very bad for France to turn this direction when their debt and dependency is so high on the european community.



  8. RMagnano on May 7, 2012 at 7:34 pm

    Socialism has not worked any where else, what makes the voters think it will work in France?



  9. dairyair on May 7, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    “The Socialist candidate has promised to raise taxes on big corporations and people earning more than 1m euros a year.
    He wants to raise the minimum wage, hire 60,000 more teachers and lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 for some workers.”
    BUT, he didn’t single-handedly? take out a dangerous terrorist, did he?? Otherwise, they could be brothers from another mother.



  10. ricbee on May 7, 2012 at 11:32 pm

    ?They’ll be sorry,just like the Obamites here were.



  11. winnie on May 8, 2012 at 5:47 am

    Yep, good luck with that.? I think back on the French exchange student who stayed with us for a few months back in 2001 who went apetit after the 9/11 attacks — saying we deserved it because we Americans think we’re “the police of the world”.? Needless to say, he was not with us for long.? I picture him voting for the socialist and cheering for all the empty promises.? No, I am not a Francophile.



  12. JBS on May 8, 2012 at 9:38 am

    Europe is one big soap opera.



  13. gillie28 on May 9, 2012 at 3:59 am

    Update: Greek political parties are unable to form coalition governments.? The only one who has a real chance is the far-left leader…He will “null and void” austerity agreement with EU (in return for huge bucks to keep govt going).? Then “Tsipras said he?d like to nationalize the banks permanently, restore all salaries and pensions to their previous higher levels and bring back collective bargaining rights.”??

    Why doesn’t the EU just kick Greece out???? It?has always been a liability and if they don’t want to be in, what’s the point of pouring good money after bad?? Not a fan of EU anyway, but they just don’t have any common sense, AND they’re increasing their budge in Brussels.? Mini-UN.???



  14. gillie28 on May 9, 2012 at 4:00 am

    Sorry, that wasn’t too clear.? He will null and void agreements with EU which were made in exchange for big bucks…..



  15. Dimsdale on May 9, 2012 at 11:42 am

    I see a lot of similarities between ?bama’s promises and Hollande’s.?
    ?
    Hmmm, what could be the common thread?



  16. gillie28 on May 11, 2012 at 6:55 am

    Here’s an interesting tid-bit concerning French business: there are almost 2.5 x’s as many companies with 49 employees, than with 50.? The reason is that if a company has 50+ employees, it has to jump through all kinds of bureacratic and union hoops including: creating three worker councils, introducing profit sharing, and submitting restructuring plans to the councils if the company decides to fire workers for economic reasons.?? Company owners will form new companies rather than add employees to existing ones.? Three cheers for bureacracy and unions!



square-francois-hollande

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