Sarkozy DonnÉ Gagnant

[Dinner]

Reagan didn't actually do much in office. He talked a good game about small government but government & regulation continually grew while he was President and it mostly grew because Reagan asked for it to grow. The same is true for Dubya.

France certainly needs to reform its economy so that it becomes more business friendly but hopefully Sarko will be more productive, consistent, and intelligent then Reagan.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by lord of the mark

Uh, raise the dead? Part the sea in half?

I guess you're right. His opponents really don't like him. That said I've continually said Sarko was the best of two choices given how screwed up the Socialists are.

[Heresson]

Sarkozy looks quite handsome sometimes. Unlike Chirac and Mitterand, Pompidou or whatever, and de Gaulle and all the french rulers for last 700 years or so.
But Royal is so sweet. Socialist, dumb, but sweet.
She annoyed me by saying that riots will break out if Sarkozy is elected - I'd vote for him just for that reason. That is no reason not to vote for him or be against him - that is a reason to be against the rioters.

[C0ckney]

well done france for electing your own version of thatcher. it may be painful at first, but in 20 years time you will look back and realise it was all worth it.

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
You need free trade to ensure each country produces what it has comparative advantage at, with resulting benefits to each country.

Really ? So how does that reasoning apply to the service industry ?

If youre going to critique that model, fine, but first learn what it is, so you dont sound so much like a fool.

What is free trade ?

[Heresson]

Thatcher did not solve the natural growth / immigration / blending problems, though

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Reagan didn't actually do much in office. He talked a good game about small government but government & regulation continually grew while he was President and it mostly grew because Reagan asked for it to grow. The same is true for Dubya.

Wrong about Reagan right abut W.

Cato Report

[Ecthy]

Government control grew under Reagan? If it did so it certainly grew to maintain the socio-economic status of the upper income groups, as opposed to the European strong state model that tries to re-distribute in favour of the lowe groups. My base is the increasing difference in wealth and income distribution in the US during the 80s.

Discuss.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

ok, i feel i need to step in here. i watched 'j'ai une question à vous poser' on youtube with nicolas sarkozy. all i have to say is that if he was american he would fit right into the US democratic party.
some interesting things:
1. wants to remove all income tax on hours worked after 35.
2. told this chick who was born in france that she was not algerian but french, in the same way that he isnt hungarian but also french
3. invited one of the person to meet with him for wine afterwards to discuss the event when he was informed that under his reign as minister of interior a policeman had called the guy racist names
4. clarified that when he said 'racaille' he didnt mean the youth/immigrants but only those who were rioting.
5. explained that he wanted to keep all of france's smart people in country. asked why four out of five of frances best young economists live abroad, why all of frances footballers move abroad, why johnny hallyday moved abroad, and why the french only wanted to bring in the poor and didnt want to keep its smart and bright. instead of copping out and blaming others and many french do, he places the blame squarely on the policies that have made them move out in the first place.

[C0ckney]

Originally posted by Heresson
Thatcher did not solve the natural growth / immigration / blending problems, though

i think those issues weren't so important then.

she did of course solve the union and economic stagnation problems however, which are very relevant to france today.

[C0ckney]

LoA (or spiff), where does sarkozy stand on europe?

[Lawrence of Arabia]

he is pro europe and wants to continue building it:
1. new treaty reforming the european insitutions on the basis of the ideas layed out on the failed constitution
2.wants to improve functioning of the euro zone
3. wants to increase european industrial cooperation
4. wants to create a european preference system where goods produced elswhere not up to environmental standards are not prefered.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

also wants to create a 'minimum service' for france's public transportation when they strike (not all workers can strike)

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Wierd. I would have thought that after the failiure of Mitterrand's anti-Thatcher experiment and suffering from chronically high unemployment especially among the youth might have tought even the most brain dead that a return to French socialism isn't the best way to solve France's economic ills.

There is very little willingness to go back to the old French socialism. Ségolène avowedly admires Tony Blair, and has made her campaign around the Scandinavian model. Most of the radical left wants a non-capitalist system (quite different from the old French socialism). The right obviously rejects the old French socialism, and part of it (Sarkozy, among others) admires the American model.

Nearly everybody knows the system needs to be fixed. Opinions differ about how to fix it.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

http://www.lefigaro.fr/election-presidentielle-2007/20070507.WWW000000924_de_a_des_voix_le_grand_ecart_des_candidats.html

some funny election results. in come communes, sarkozy got 0% of the vote =)

Donzy, the bellweather city who in all presidential elections had voted to the 10th of a percent the same as the final national result fell off and only gave sarkozy 50,29%