I must admit, I haven't been keeping up with the Euro Zone crisis as much as I should be, but I came across this read on The Economist today, and even though it's about a week old, it was a good introductory foray into the political landscape of the upcoming French election. This...is some scary stuff.
The candidates dish out at least as many promises to spend more as to spend less. Nobody has a serious agenda for reducing France’s eye-watering taxes. Mr Sarkozy, who in 2007 promised reform with talk of a rupture, now offers voters protectionism, attacks on French tax exiles, threats to quit Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone and (at least before Toulouse) talk of the evils of immigration and halal meat. Mr Hollande promises to expand the state, creating 60,000 teaching posts, partially roll back Mr Sarkozy’s rise in the pension age from 60 to 62, and squeeze the rich (whom he once cheerfully said he did not like), with a 75% top income-tax rate.
As I read daily news of the situation improving state-side, Europe seems doomed to all depths of hell. On the verge of electing a Socialist president? How could this possibly not end up horrifically?
Are investors going to flee immediately from France's bond markets? Borrowing is already hard, but some of these numbers are so staggering that it seems like France might never borrow again!
France is bad but the worst is by far Spain. Bill Gross put it best, "greece was a zit, portugal a boil, spain a tumor...."
Unemployment hit 26% and is rising; youth unemployment is well above 50% and fast approaching 60. Further write downs for Spanish banks on loans and real estate. Deep deep deep austerity measures ahead. An absolute disaster. I don't think the news or general public in the US has a grasp on the shithole that is Europe.
Hmmmmm. I wonder. Does this follow?
Europeans can't buy shit -> Demand for Asian goods decreases (slightly) -> Shit gets cheaper relative to American goods -> American exports stall a little, too?
For the time being (and the last decades) the French have been living much better lives in average than Americans, if you take into account free time, vacation, pension age, crime and what not.
while in America the Supreme Court rules any citizen can be strip searched for misdemeanors.
Its nice to be a Canadian and I am thankful I live on the other side of the 49th parallel;)
...except that never happens. This is what Europeans get all hot and bothered about but if you aren't doing anything bad and/or Muslim then you have nothing to worry about. The government isn't going to go searching through the homes of suburban white families.
In Europe, on the other hand, the debt crisis is very real for everyone.
Oh right... it will never happen. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/nj_man_in_strip_search_case_br…
It is so great to be in America since being white and living in the suburbans is a protected group...geez how old are you?
while Obama and Congress pass NDAA and indefinite detention of citizens without due process.
That's kind of funny to read that, especially from an american.
You really think your country won't / don't have to face a fucking bad crisis ? It's not because media talk a lot about the European crisis that you don't have your own shit to clean.
Blind patriotism is akin to Religious fanatics blowing buildings up.
you are idiotic to try to compare blind patriotism to fanatic nationalism.
Religious fundamentalists, guns per capita, and the death penalty come to mind. It always fascinates me how the US is the only civilized western country that is not secular.
that said France is not that much more fucked in terms of deficit than the US, its economy is less credit driven and consumers are more prudent.
As someone who was brought up next to France and regularly spent time there, the country has changed a lot in the past few years. The EU has brought benefits to the country's economy, but the average citizen barely experiences it.
The USA is in a million times better situation than Europe. The USA has tons to cut and plenty to tax. Europe on the other hand already has a high tax rate and nearly no defense spending. Couple that with anti business employment laws and a populace used to lavish entitlements and you are fucked.
Oh, how about a negative birth rate and xenophobic citizens. Oh yeah, and Muslim immigration that is just waiting to explode out of frustration.
So yeah, the USA can be a whole lot better, but lets not make it seem like Europe is just a little worse.
[quote=TNA] Oh yeah, and Muslim immigration that is just waiting to explode out of frustration. /quote]
hmm I sense a london reference?
.
Not just London, but France, Germany, etc. Europe is all about taking care of their own, except they do not realize that they need immigrants to fuel their stagnant economy. Problem is you cannot have two tiers of society and "native" Europeans really don't like extending these wonderful entitlements to Omar and Mohammed.
And what spending can Europe cut? Almost all of their budget is for entitlements. The US is a fucking whale loaded with blubber. We also have low tax rates. We could right the ship in the blink of an eye, forgetting the fact that we have the worlds reserve currency and can just repay our debt in worthless greenbacks.
Europe is in a real bad situation. No room to cut, immigrants living in a second class existence, a labor market that cannot compete with the world and high taxes and costs of doing business. Not an enviable situation to be in.
Damn, this is so spot on. I'm half French and I am seriously crying in disbelief at what those retarded politicians are pushing for.
Cut immigration by half and hunt hallal food. Vs 75% tax rate and "fight finance"
Here is your choice. Financial crisis sir ? What is this, a new toy ?
The US is a secular nation. Separation of church and state is pretty spelled out. The 2nd amendment enshrines the right of the private citizen to bear arms. And Europe killed enough innocent people in WWII. No need for a death penalty for them.
Last time I checked the United States was secular. I didn't realize that my gay college roommate couldn't have sex with men, that my co-workers weren't getting plastered every Friday and Saturday night, or that my associates didn't drop F-bombs every other word. I wasn't aware that abortions were illegal, that divorce was impossible, or that working on the Sabbath was criminal. I wasn't aware that buying alcohol was forbade, that women couldn't vote, or that pornography wasn't a protected Constitutional right. You're right--the United States is just a theocracy, akin to Iran!
Exactly. France has this upswing of pork only soup kitchens because French people only want to help non Jews and non Arabs. Yah, that is tolerance.
I've said it a million times. Europe is utopia if you are gay or an atheist. Anyone else, you are not welcome.
i'd take Sarkozy over the retarded republican candidates anyday
You're one of those people that believes Obama is responsible for the energy boom aren't you?
I'm a white, upper middle class male in the United States. I love America. Things are great. You know who else loves America? My Bolivian immigrant business partner whose parents were Bolivian-educated engineers who made a better life for themselves in the cleaning business in the United States--now their sons are prospering. Ya know who else loves America? The Asian business owners who have made a good life for themselves with hair salons, Subway restaurants, 7-Elevens, etc. You know who else loves America? Ambitious, talented African immigrants who work their tales off and have carved out great new lives here. And the Indian immigrants who become engineers and doctors. And the Canadian actors and actresses and musicians who flock to the land of opportunity. And my hick, redneck college roommate who now has an engineering degree, a beautiful wife and a big, nice house in the suburbs. And the poor blacks like Herman Cain who rose above adversity and made a life for themselves. And my best friend's girlfriend's hick, redneck brothers who live in the middle of nowhere in Ohio but are internet millionaires.
I'll take poor in America over entitlement Europe all day. Why? Because I'd rather have a 1% chance of making a difference in this world than no chance. Without hope there is nothing left to live for.
Edit: these aren't isolated incidents, btw. The entire state university system in the United States is chock full of lower class and lower middle class kids who have chosen to change the trajectory of their lives.
I would argue your chances of "making the difference" (which i find overrated) are higher in canada and western europe, but hey, old myths die hard. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/us/harder-for-americans-to-rise-from-…
I would argue your chances of "making the difference" (which i find overrated) are higher in canada and western europe, but hey, old myths die hard. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/us/harder-for-americans-to-rise-from-…]
Your conclusion is the type of conclusion one gets by either 1) not reading the entire article or 2) purposely omitting a glaring fact that the article cites:
And I quote:
"Skeptics caution that the studies measure “relative mobility” — how likely children are to move from their parents’ place in the income distribution. That is different from asking whether they have more money. Most Americans have higher incomes than their parents because the country has grown richer.
Some conservatives say this measure, called absolute mobility, is a better gauge of opportunity. A Pew study found that 81 percent of Americans have higher incomes than their parents (after accounting for family size). There is no comparable data on other countries.
Since they require two generations of data, the studies also omit immigrants, whose upward movement has long been considered an American strength. “If America is so poor in economic mobility, maybe someone should tell all these people who still want to come to the U.S.,” said Stuart M. Butler, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation.
The income compression in rival countries may also make them seem more mobile. Reihan Salam, a writer for The Daily and National Review Online, has calculated that a Danish family can move from the 10th percentile to the 90th percentile with $45,000 of additional earnings, while an American family would need an additional $93,000."
I suddenly feel much better about the U.S.' financial situation. Thanks
I hate these mobility conversations. Go get an accounting degree at a cheap, public university and work hard and you will have a comfortable life. Sorry if it isn't as easy as waking up and getting a check handed to you.
America is the land of opportunity. No one ever said that opportunity would be easy.
Yes, if you are born in the same country where you're trying to make a difference. Try being a foreigner in France or Germany and please let me know how easy it is and how you are not discriminated against.
I am a foreigner in Germany and I have not been discriminated against ever since I arrived. The thing is that speaking the language is important, and being german and french harder languages to learn than english, it would be harder to perform as a non-native speaker. Now, if you speak perfect german, I dont believe you will have it harder at all in Germany than in the states, but hey,maybe you know what youre talking about better than me...
Perhaps I know what I'm talking about because I've spent a lot of time working in Europe. I've also worked with Germans and let's just say that the xenophobic and racist remarks I've heard in a casual conversation and seemed normal to them would have been highly inappropriate in the US. Not to say there's absolutely no racism in the US, but I got the impression that here people are more tolerant and accommodating regardless of your ethnicity.
I could cite a lot of anecdotes about Germany, UK, etc. but that's not the point. The point is that you were saying how you can make more of a difference in WE than in the US, which I don't find to be the case. First, if you're an immigrant, you won't have an easier time in the EU - even if you want to assume that it's a wash, my argument still holds. Second, the level of bureaucracy is higher in Europe. And third, the access to capital is harder. I don't exactly see how WE is better in any of these respects and these are the things I would compare across countries when deciding where to settle and start a business.
Exercitationem rerum nulla quaerat consequatur. Consequatur assumenda iste recusandae numquam quas vel. Labore consequatur molestias atque in voluptatem eveniet voluptatem fugiat. Unde veniam maiores ex nesciunt eveniet quos fuga. Praesentium reiciendis illo soluta autem. Voluptas voluptatem architecto omnis accusantium ut assumenda soluta.
Nihil sit ut velit et sint eligendi numquam. Enim numquam nemo nihil voluptatem est numquam libero eius. Sequi corrupti omnis qui mollitia tempore vitae omnis magni. Dolorem possimus dolorum omnis inventore enim maxime praesentium necessitatibus. Sunt quo unde ab ut iure. Non magnam earum et ut consequuntur. Suscipit magni id repudiandae ea voluptatem accusamus.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Quis enim ea repudiandae voluptatem eligendi temporibus eveniet. Quia ducimus dolor ducimus id non laborum quia. Voluptas vel sint vel id aut sed. Distinctio placeat animi necessitatibus ut et.