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Subscribe to RSSNicolas Sarkozy is trailing his socialist rival Francois Hollande. European editor James Mates reports from Paris.
Updated at 12:41 p.m. ET: PARIS -- France looked set to crown Francois Hollande as its first Socialist president in nearly two decades in an election on Sunday, marking a shift to the left at the heart of Europe and heralding a fight back against German-led austerity.
Conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, swamped by anger at a surge in unemployment during his five-year term, faced being the 11th euro zone leader to be swept from power by the economic crisis after final opinion polls placed Hollande between four and eight points ahead.
A wide margin of victory would give Hollande greater authority to pursue his promise to temper unpopular German-led austerity, which sparked protests across southern Europe last week, and refocusing economic policy on fostering growth.
In a decisive day for the recession-hit single currency area, Greece's mainstream political parties were punished in a parliamentary election for rising economic misery due to IMF-imposed spending cuts, exit polls showed.
Hollande cast his vote for the presidential runoff in the central town of Tulle, where he was mayor for seven years, shaking hands and kissing voters, many of whom he knows personally. "I am confident. I am sure," he told Reuters as he ate later in a local restaurant packed with Tulle residents.
In Paris's Bastille square, a flashpoint of the 1789 French Revolution and the Socialists' traditional gathering point for electoral celebrations, crowd barriers were already laid out in anticipation of an Hollande victory. Party supporters gathered in excitement two hours before the last polls closed, and giant television screens were erected.
French presidential election should be a nail-biter
In Tulle, Hollande supporters drove around the town honking car horns.
Sarkozy was greeted by cheering crowds when he arrived to vote at a school in an up-market Paris neighborhood near the home of his wife Carla Bruni, a former supermodel.
"We are going to win" chanted supporters as the conservative leader briefly clasped the hands of well-wishers, but the glum faces of his advisers arriving at the Elysee presidential palace in late afternoon told a different story.
With 46 million people registered to vote, polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) and closed in most places at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) and two hours later in big cities.
Interior ministry figures showed 72.0 percent of registered voters had cast ballots by 5 p.m. (1500 GMT) despite wet weather in much of the country, topping the 70.6 percent registered at the same stage of the first round on April 22.
Reliable projections of the result based on a partial count were due as soon as the last polling stations closed. Media that publish exit polls or partial results in France before then risk fines and legal action.
Hollande, a mild-mannered career politician, has held a steady lead for weeks after outlining a comprehensive program in January based on raising taxes, especially on high earners, to finance spending and keep the public deficit capped.
As much as his own program, he is benefiting from anti-Sarkozy sentiment due to the incumbent's abrasive personal style and to anger about the same economic gloom that has swept aside leaders from Britain to Portugal.
"It will be close, much closer than polls have shown," said Moana de la Maisonneuve, 41, a commodities sales manager who voted for Sarkozy but was pessimistic about his chances. "The tough thing for Sarkozy is that people are focusing on his personality, rather than his policies."
SARKOZY NEEDS MIRACLE
Despite shaving a couple of points off Hollande's lead in the last days of a frenetic campaign, Sarkozy's own aides privately acknowledged it would take a miracle for him to clinch a second term.
"I'd say he has a one chance in six," a member of Sarkozy's inner circle told Reuters on condition of anonymity before campaigning ended on Friday.
BNP Paribas economist Dominique Barbet said that uncertainty about the election outcome was extremely low.
"Both Sarkozy and Hollande would be capable managers of the French economy but Sarkozy has created too much discord ... That is why I voted Hollande," said photographer Gilles Leimdorfer.
In Athens, French overseas voters voiced hope that a Hollande victory would temper Germany's drive for budgetary discipline which many say is driving a number of euro zone countries into recession.
Meet Monsieur Caramel Pudding, likely French president
"Enough is enough. There is too much austerity," 72-year-old Maria said, voting for Hollande at the French consulate.
Sarkozy launched his campaign late and swerved hard to the right as he tried to win back low-income voters that polls show have ditched him for either the radical left or extreme right.
His aggressive rallies and promises to rein in immigrant numbers, crack down on tax exiles and make the unemployed retrain as a condition of getting benefits did not reduce Hollande's lead. Sarkozy surprised many by failing to land a knockout punch on his rival in a televised debate.
In two further blows in the last days of the race, far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who came third in the first round with 17.9 percent, and centrist Francois Bayrou, who came fifth with 9.1 percent, refused to endorse Sarkozy.
The election comes at a crucial time for the euro zone as France, Europe's No. 2 economy, is a vital partner for Berlin.
If Hollande is elected, joining a minority of left-wing governments in Europe, he wants to renegotiate a budget discipline treaty signed by 25 EU leaders in March. Berlin has made the pact a pre-condition of aid for struggling states.
The Socialist plans to visit centre-right Chancellor Angela Merkel within days of the election to discuss his ideas and hoped to speak to her by telephone on Sunday evening, Socialist Jean-Marc Ayrault, tipped as a possible prime minister, said.
France is grappling with feeble growth and 10 percent unemployment, a gaping trade deficit and high state spending that is straining public finances and was a factor in Standard & Poor's removing its triple-A credit rating.
While financial markets are warming to Hollande's growth agenda, given growing support elsewhere in Europe, analysts say he would need to reassure investors quickly about his economic plans as fears resurface over the euro zone's debt woes.
French 10-year bond yields fell to 2.87 percent on Friday, a level not seen since early October. Yet French debt could remain vulnerable to selling pressure, as markets and credit rating agencies wait to be convinced of his fiscal credentials.
While economists want Hollande to trim over-optimistic growth forecasts and impose spending cuts, political analysts fear this would be difficult with left-wing voters hoping he will raise the minimum wage and reverse a recent sales-tax rise.
Little known outside France, Hollande would soon have his diplomatic skills tested if he wins, with a Chicago NATO summit in late May and a Group of 20 summit in Mexico in late June. The former Socialist Party chief has never held a ministerial post.
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To say that Nicholas Sarkozy could not rein in unemployment in France or fix the economy of France is tantamount to saying that a drug counselor failed because a crack addict decided to stay addicted. It is a case of "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink."
The French - along with most of Europe - are addicted to their nanny state, socialistic paradigm that enables them to spend months "on holiday" and which undermines both initiative as well as the desire and ability of entrepreneurs to create businesses and the prosperity that comes from them.
That want to have the good life but they don't want to work for it. Oh well, sometimes things just have to get worse before they get better; if the French want to continue to believe that 25 percent youth unemployment is an okay trade off to keep up their grand French delusion of grandeur and comfortable way of living - well, that's there problem, not ours, and it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of people.
Our problem is that we currently have an administration that wants to bring to America what France has brought upon itself but just won't realize it is facing - financial ruin.
Time for change we can count on come 2012
Would you make that very comparison about our President - of failing to rein in unemployment or fix the economy here in America and blaming him for that very thing? Wait a minute, you're basically accusing the President of that very thing in your second to last paragraph.
Funny though, we were on our way to the financial disaster of 2008 long before our current President even took office. It took years to get to that point and it is unrealistic to expect or demand we get out of it in less time than it took to get there. It's also unrealistic and pathetic to compare the crisis in our country to the current crisis in France or any other country. Too many factors are different, but most simple-minded people are incapable of comprehending that fact.
Voters in any true democracy tend to swing the pendulum back toward the center. In the U.S., I doubt if we are ready to swing from left-center now to the extreme far-right.
He's like a runner - he won't consider it's over until the very end, but I'd say he has one chance in six
Sounds familiar? The GOP here in the US is having the same problem. The French DO have a Presidential candidate that IS A SOCIALIST. President Obama IS NOTHING NEAR THAT MAN, AND YET, THE French ARE NOT SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER AT THE THOUGHT OF HAVING A MORE BALANCED ECONOMY THAT HELPS EVERYBODY.
Americans need to educate themselves about what Socialism really is. Take a class in a community college. The investment will really benefit those that are paranoid. Many people in this country suffer from a dangerous disease: IGNORANCE.
The GOP has been very successful at attacking President Obama by using scare tactics. They have proved over and over again that they are not able to come up even with an intelligent Presidential candidate to apply for the job. Around the US we have GOP Governors, backed by the Tea Party, that are acting as EXTREMISTS: Take Arizona and Wisconsin, for instance.
Do you really think that people are going to take that kind of government? Sarkozy is just getting what he deserves. Hopefully those extremist Governors in the US will get the boot as well. Especially that old hag from Arizona.She is really acting like a witch, and against women.
Socialism is great, until you run out of other people's money.
Europe (and the United States) have lost its collective mind. The idea that cutting spending and introducing austerity policies in the midst of a recession/depression makes about as much sense as treating someone suffering from hypothermia by submergining him/her in an ice bath, or taking a patient who has suffered severe blood loss and applying leeches. The reason the economic downturn is not ending and the reason that unemployment remains high is that the government is not spending enough money. The time for austerity is during economic upturns NOT downturns. You don't tell a starving person to cut back on calories and you don't withhold money from an economy that depressed. This is basic economics. And thinking that cutting taxes and deregulating the economy is all that is necessary is like saying that grocery stores don't have to abide by the fire and codes and that is all that is necessary to treat someone who is starving to death, or telling the power company that they don't have to pay their taxes will cure someone of hypothermia. We need massive amounts of government money infused into our economies and we need it soon. Hopefully, this insanity that has gripped so many Western governments will soon pass.
Irish-n-green: The founding fathers created a representative democracy because they knew that no pure democracy has ever survived on this planet beyond the point where the voters discovered they could empty the treasury.
Vince: Ahh yes, the Paul Krugman economic theory: When you are in trouble because you've spent too much, the solution is to spend more. That works all the way up to the point where your credit card is declined.
Nicolas Sarkozy is a cheap conservative on sale just like many US Republicans, Clintons, British Conservatives and some more.
One can't believe Sarkozy took monies Gadhaffi and co.
Most of these people are on pay rolls of Saudi Arabia, oil companies and their lobbyists.
Or else, without fixing economies, who will bother about Syria and Iran?
Has anyone thought that if it wasn't for the massive amount of $ our Gov has tried to pump into the system, we would be looking at a far worse senario than we have now? Companies are not hiring quickly enough or with well paying jobs to sustain people through this God awful time. What if the Gov did not pump money into the system? We would be looking like Greece, or Italy with massive amounts of people not being able to get the basics. The American economy while it is still not doing well, would be far worse if the Gov did not do what it did. I am not saying that I agree at all with the Corp. bailouts, but extending unemployment, saftey nets, anything that reaches the common man has allowed people to sustain themselves. Ask yourself this, would more jobs be offered with or without the Gov. financial assistance?
Austerity plans do nothing but ensure that the Gov and the Gov alone will recover at the expense of the people, and Gov was set up to be beneficial for the people not unto itself. Yes the deficit is a major problem that needs to be addressed, but you can't pay peter by taking necessities from the masses.
Sarkozy told the French that they need an austerity program to avoid a financial catastrophe, but the socialist Hollande said "Nonsense, we can keep spending with no problem".
Guess which one the French will elect.
Of course, when their debt crisis gets much bigger under Hollande, it will be too late to avoid that financial collapse, and when Germany decides to stop 'propping up' those big spending southern European countries, it will likely be the end of the European Union.
Hollande's policies sound an lot like Obama's policies - "The National Debt is not a problem - we need to spend ourselves to prosperity".
In America, we can print money because there is demand for US dollars. This is because decades ago people borrowed and promised to pay back US dollars with interest. Entire US dollar supply even after trillions printed is 3 trillion. Debt is 65 trillion. Everytime borrowing stops, Bernanke has to print money and he has much work to do. If Europe prints, it will cause decrease in the value of Euro and they seem to not want that. That's all.
According to socionomic theory, bear markets come with a downturn in crowd psychology. Social mood is declining since 2000. When the crowd turns from optimism to pessimism, it is first seen in stocks, and then the rest of the economy, politics, culture. A president who is in the office during a bear market gets the blame. When markets decline, Sarkozy cannot win. The aggragate anger turns against those at the helm. Economy suffers because pessimistic people do not expand economic activities. They contract. Sarkozy's hands are tied. Google for "social mood trading stocks" to understand how the aggregate crowd psychology writes history.
Hollande's proposal to virtually double the taxes on the 'rich' (aka those who invest and create jobs) will be a good chance to test the "Laffer Curve".
With money so easy to move internationally, it should be interesting to see how much capital flees from France, and the effect on their economy/jobs.
Hollande = French Muslims and immigrants favorite. If he wins the true French people will be working for the faux French people.
i wish obama was more like hollande.i have yet to see him propose a 75 percent tax on people making over a million dollars a year.dont tax the job creators what a joke.the jobs theyre creating are in other countries not here.why should the american people give the rich a free ride.ive heard it all before.the rich will leave if we tax them.good bye bye.we will be just fine without them.its class warfare.yes it is.just as their outsourcing of 6 million american manufacturing jobs since 2006 is class warfare against the middle class.remember free trade means you get things cheaper because an american lost his job
I doubt we will hear much from the Romney campaign about France since Willard lived there to dodge the draft during Vietnam.
Hope Hollande wins big today
The Typical Right Wingers are like Mussolini , Gadafi, Asad, Hitler, They want the top 5% to prosper and the rest of us can fight there wars and die, while they stuff there money in the caymans, ask Goering
@ Roy Wilson, who wrote:
Sarkozy told the French that they need an austerity program to avoid a financial catastrophe
I think that the French are very "familiar" with the types of fellows as Sarkozy. We Americans are already VERY tired of the GOP, which is looking, in many ways, similar to the French Monarchy that caused the Revolution.
AGAIN; PRESIDENT OBAMA IS NOT A SOCIALIST. PLEASE EDUCATE YOURSELVES ABOUT WHAT SOCIALISM IS.
From e-notes-Study Smarter:
Essential Facts
Liberty, equality, fraternity! Those were the cries of the French Revolution. France had
been a powder keg for decades as wealthy aristocrats grew richer and the poor grew hungry and more desperate.
The early revolutionaries in France were influenced by the American Revolution. Thomas Jefferson was the U.S. minister to France at the time and was sympathetic to the causes of the Revolution although he condemned its violence. Jefferson even hosted a meeting of French revolutionary leaders. His support of the Revolution got him into trouble at home.
My financial advisor told me Friday to switch foreign investment to American investment because of the problems in the EU. We both agreed that If Sarkozy lost then that will probably be the beginning of the end of the EU. What money I had in international holdings got moved Friday.
Irrespond
Do you agree that Hitler was socialist?
Hitler nationalized all industry, right?
WRONG!
Hitler, though declaring industries as nationalized, only nationalized a portion to make an example to other industrialist that if they did not do as he said, they would be taken over too. Hitler actually didn't even keep most of what he took. He actually gave most of it to people who were pedged allegiance to him such as George Soros's Father when Hitler nationalized, Hungaries industries.
Socialism does not need to take over the industries, it only needs to regulate the crap out of it and make industires fearful of take over or more regulation.
Me too, I'm completely out of the EU.
It's amazing how idiotic the left is about even basic economics and human nature. When the rich were taxed to hell in England they fled, when the rich were taxed to hell in NY state they fled, when ILL raised their taxes 67%, companies fled, they never learn.
a response to Mr. IRESPOND; INANELY
Of course Obama is a socialist - he believes in "take from the thrifty and give to the shifty"
He believes in fomenting class warfare along with his socialistic party a.k.a. the Democrats. He never saw a budget sinking social program - Obama care - he didn't love. He doesn't care who he sends to the "back of the bus" or "sells down the river", just as long as he gets re-elected so he can wreak more havoc on both the country and the world with his mis-guided, based in dream land agendas.
Get educated yourself; people who believe in government by welfare subsidy; with no accountability for either the government or the people nursing at the public teat are socialists by definition - thus, Obama is a socialist par excellence!
Hi RoyWilson. Nice to know someone else has heard of the "Laffer Curve":
From Roy's post above
Hollande's proposal to virtually double the taxes on the 'rich' (aka those who invest and create jobs) will be a good chance to test the "Laffer Curve".
Mayhap did you read Jude Wanniski's "The Way the World Works"?
Good job Dan!
The U.S. economy seems to be growing while the European economies are contracting so it seems as if Obama's stimulus package is working. The problem with Roosevelt's stimulus money in the Depression is that he didn't pour enough into it at the start which is why it persisted for so long. The Europeans have become addicted to having everything provided by the government, unlike the Americans, and now their coddled societies are going to have to learn to live with less.
The reason that Roosevelt didn't throw enough money at it was because there was no money to throw. You are correct- the Europeans are in a nanny state. However, Americans are going in the same direction and speeding along like a bullet to the final stop.
Shark in Kensian theory every $1 of stimulus will produce $1.60 in return. This flies in the face of the documented fact that Government spending renders $0.79 of real value.
We are only recovering because Republicans took the house and stopped stimulus spending. After stimulus, unemployment went up. It only started falling after the stimulus money ran out and governments were forced to lay off bureaucrats.
If the extreme socialist gets elected then France will follow Spain, who followed Italy, who followed Greece. All of them support more government control and spending. This will destroy any austerity efforts to correct the financial ruin of socialism. This will exacerbate the fall into economic ruin for all those countries and hence all of Europe. I guess the socialists will get what they deserve and by then it will be too late for them to do anything to rescue their precious society. More government, more spending, more taxes are the way to ruin for any country and yet that lesson is ignored with the self serving and ignorant populace at election time. A lesson the US is ignoring by continuing to offer up pro-big government candidates in both parties. I don't blame the president. I blame the general voter. They continually ignore the heart of the economic issues for the allure of who is more popular or what is currently PC. Educate yourself and learn that socialism is guaranteed failure when you run out of other people's money.
Now's not the time to worry for OTHER COUNTRIES! Look at the mess our corrupt Republican OIL & FINANCIAL corporate MONARCHY has caused the 99% American SLAVES & helped bring on GLOBAL ECONOMIC COLLAPSE all because of CAPITALISTIC GREED!
99% Americans, vote STRAIGHT DEMOCRATIC, the lives you save WILL be YOURS & your CHILDREN! Like MLK said, "We shall overcome"!
Oh, good grief! It's always easier to blame someone else for what we haven't accomplished in life.
rlp, why didn't you say the same to MVC's post above this one? Hypocrite much?
Just more liberal lies. It was the democratic congress that destroyed the economy, not Bush. Presidents don't pass bills, pass budgets, etc. congress does. This disaster is all on democrats watch.
Facts trump liberal propaganda every time.
Good for the French. Conservative policies don't guarantee success. They had 17 years. Time to flush!
To the French, a conservative would be anyone left of Mondale.
As an avid traveler, and just returning from Paris, I am very interested when I go to listen to other people's policies, especially how they feel about the US in relation to their own country. I was in Paris for the 1st round of elections. Many people are unhappy with their economy but almost every person I spoke with was unwilling to go without and work on a more "Americanized" model. They like their retirement and stipend. They like the many holidays they receive for the few hours overtime they might work. They, like us, don't want to pay more taxes, but they don't want things that benefit them cut, either. They blame it on the President, but it isn't the case.
Socialism, even in its most basic form, does not work. It isn't the greed of corporations alone that undermines an economy- it is the people themselves tht undermine the economy. And unfortunately, we are headed that way right now. It's like college-loan reform. It's like extending unemployment. It's like home-loan modifications. You cannot do one without affecting something else. But , when the government babysits the people and doesn't stop things before they begin, that is the issue. But to give people's money to other people without just cause, that isn't the right direction either.
The general voter still does not understand that simple formula. Let the posts from the majority of the posters on this board be your proof. It's driven by their personal greed and jealousy of success but they deny that charge by couching the denial in their false altruistic claim to provide for the less fortunate and the popular charge that the economic conservatives are callous. They want the benefits but aren't willing to work for it nor earn it so they'll steal it by electing a socialist.
Socialism rewards failure and punishes success, it is a flawed concept from the start. People by nature are free market capitalists, EBay, Craigslist, Flea markets, yards sales, lemonade stands are all examples.
The ultimate greed is stealing what you have not earned from your neighbor, the ultimate cowardice is having the government steal it for you.
Carla Bruni has lost her look?
I've long felt that our education systems are sorely lacking in economics. With the election of a socialist in France, I'd say that's true in Europe as well. I recommend a book by Niall Ferguson, surprisingly a Professor of History at Harvard University: The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. You'll read about how financial events overturned governments and monarchies. It's not so implausible that financial recklessness today will lead to bad results.
There's a modern mystique that government draws money from an endless well, that government is immune to the same financial rules that we as individuals and families must live by. The consequences of "payment past due" hit us quicker as individuals and families, but they will surely come to even the biggest of governments.
In countries where prosperity has existed for generations, human nature wants the dole to continue. Make the other guy pay for it. In countries like China and India which have not been prosperous but hunger for it, the principles of "something for something" are fiercely alive. As long as we expect something for nothing, vis a vis France and Greece, these developing nations will kick our collective rear ends when a giant "payment due" stamp is whacked onto us.
Excellent post. China is cheering prosperity, encouraging wealth. We are regulating and taxing both to death.
While western socialists are arguing how to divide the pie, Chinese capitalists are growing the pie. Now their middle class is larger than our entire population. Has everyone missed the news that China is now the #1 car market in the world?
The only difference between the socialism of socialist leaders and conservative leaders is the recipients of their largesse. To insinuate that conservative leaders are not socialist is to have your heads buried in the sand, the socialism of conservative leaders being directed toward the wealthy and corporations.
I'll be the first to admit that there are large populations of citizens, in all countries, who are fully capable of working and supporting themselves but instead they choose to sit at home and suck the tits of their governments. These citizens should have their financial and other aid taken away. Their governments owe them nothing.
Taking away aid by such freeloaders would cost votes. That's why it rarely happens.
Then why is it that the rulers of Qatar insist on redistributing their wealth by handing out free education health care, transportation and energy to their citizens along with a job paying 150k a year. They do indeed take care of them from cradle to grave. After all, as you say, the govt of Qatar owes them NOTHING
Of course our Scrooges don't quite look at it that way. THEIR mantra is I'm all right Jack, keep your hands off of MY stack
That's a pathetic response. Qatar is sitting on trillions due to oil reserves. The best way to insure a happy populace is to give free stuff. The problem is, they can afford it, we cannot.
Rest assured if Qatar ran out of oil tomorrow, they would have to suck it up and earn it. Rest assured also that if enviro-Nazi's would stop dragging their feet on exploiting our natural resources we wouldn't be in this mess.
I'm so sick of hearing about this election. I just wish it were over.
It is Mike and you are going to get sicker!
Americans like their socialistic roads, schools, police, fire departments, and military. We count on our government(s) to provide these to the masses. We have, also, decided to make a couple of community money pools (Social Security & Medicaid) to take care of some basic problems. These two "public paid-for programs" ARE, in some cases, being abused. That has to stop. BUT, the abuses in the military industrial complex are FAR larger! These have to stop! The only way, that a government can help the overall economy, is to STIMULATE DEMAND. And, yes, that means more spending. However, like the FIRST Obama stimulus, HALF of that "spending" CANNOT be tax cuts!
Our roads are built by private contractors, our schools are third world level despite first world salaries, many fire departments are private or voluntary, and the military is a necessary evil. Really, if the military is doing such a great job then there is no need to reduce their budget, right? Oops, you fail.
I didn't decide to fund SS and Medicare, I had no choice. Given that I didn't, I'm going to do everything possible to get back every dime I had to put in against my will, with interest. Ask someone who is exempt if he'd like to switch over, FAT CHANCE!
"BUT, the abuses in the military industrial complex are FAR larger!" You do realize that statement totally negates your first sentance, don't you?
You gulped a gallon, didn't you! 1. You can't spend your way out of debt. 2. Money is money, if the government gets less of it that doesn't mean it disappears, it just moves to the private sector.
Somehow liberals believe the only real money is government money. If you tax cut $500 million, it doesn't disappear, it just means the private sector spends it instead of leach bureaucrats. IT"S STILL IN THE ECONOMY!!!
Remember Obama's payroll tax cut? Gee, giving more money to the people and less to government seemed to be a great idea when Obama suggested it, even when it came out of our retirement account.
Damned German Capitalist banks thought they had conquered Europe via stranglehold loans. Up yours! No damned bank should tell a country how to run its economics. I hope Spain and Italy take them for every mark they can and THEN go bust. Just keep stringing the greed is good bastards along and then WHAM!
Take a look at what happened when our credit seized, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy yet you want Spain and Italy to go through total collapse just to satisfy your rabid political point of view.
It is Greece, France, and Italy that are greedy, they financed their prosperity with debt and lived beyond their means. They have no one to blame but themselves.
Greed is good for the Upper Class. If however the Middle or Lower class views greed as good, they are low life freeloaders and are likely go to jail. WTF?
The ultimate greed is stealing what you haven't earned from your neighbor, the ultimate cowardice is having the government steal it for you. Wealth redistribution is fascism.
crazy stuff
So like, will they nationalize their banks? If so, bye bye Euro and EU! World's second biggest economy goes POOF! and its every man for himself in a newly pissed off Europe itcihng for trade wars. Not good!
Francois Hollande has won the election 52.5-53% of votes cast (rts.ch- Swiss radio/tv - like others in EU0 In France one cannot televise/air the results until polls closed. Hollande will be more like Charles DeGaulle. French Socialists are not your American Socialists. France will get out of NATO- probably also out of Euro- Greece most certainly will- Radical left 18.5%/ Communist KKE 9.5%/New Democrat 17%/Pasok 14% according to yle.fi. Europe should never have allowedf the Euro- tradezones yes- but each and every country is different and US/Clinton is to blame for Euro- Bill Clinton. US doesn't understand Europe- austerity and dicta by IMF/US Fed.Bank/World Bank assured the gravedigging of Europe- for a while it will be very nationalistic. EU will never be US of A. Languages,customs,heritage. Tradezones/EU courts/EU-CDC o.k. NATO was bankrupted by Libya big time- Afghanistan-big time,Iraq-big time for what?
The problem with nationalism is EVERY country has to trade. If they default, they will have to pay cash for everything, (gold?), nobody will loan them a dime. That will really sink their economy.
The US had to spend trillions to keep our credit from seizing, they don't have that luxury.
Rumor has it is as good as fact that Spain is going bust due to credit downgrades and spiraling lower tax revenues due to recession, deflation and austerity measures. Gold time!-- when the banks start falling like dominoes across the globe as a result
The US Treasury is hardly safe if the banks fail EVERYBODY and their brother will be cashing in T bills to pay their obligations to avoid defaults. And if interest rates spike the bonds will tank in value
And since they are COUNTING on rollovers, if that stops they will HAVE to print oodles of dollars to redeem them
No, I don't like Nicolas Sarkozy very much, but ................. Hollande is going to fix the MESS that France and the biggest part of Europe got itself into? If it were not so sad, it would make me laugh out loud!
IF Socialism is so damned discredited in Europe, THEN why are the French embracing it? Answer: they never DID have true Socialism in Europe. If they DID there would be no private capitalist banks
It is not discredited in Europe, what the hell do you think all the protesting and riots are about??? When babies get their pacifier taken away they whine, cry, and stamp their feet.
You have zero credibility when you claim they weren't socialist. Cradle to grave is the very definition of socialism.
"Off with their heads".