Hollande Elected French President – Interior Min.

[Colin Yai]

http://www.bbc.co.uk...siness-15748696 Have a bit of Fun with your mouse and click on to any Country and just see how crazy the situation is within the EU as to who owes who . IE check France out, far from rosy is it ?? Edited May 12, 2012 by Colin Yai

[geriatrickid]

Margaret Thatcher's views are once again being vindicated. She had it right all along, not that too many people want to admit that.

As UK voters flirt with doing a "Hollande" they should remember her warning and choose wisely.

[moe666]

Margaret Thatcher's views are once again being vindicated. She had it right all along, not that too many people want to admit that.

As UK voters flirt with doing a "Hollande" they should remember her warning and choose wisely.

I guess she was right unless you were one of the many people without a job when she was finished

[Colin Yai]

Margaret Thatcher's views are once again being vindicated. She had it right all along, not that too many people want to admit that.

As UK voters flirt with doing a "Hollande" they should remember her warning and choose wisely.

True Enough GK ,good old Maggie, the best PM we ever had ,they just don't make em like her these days, Fire in the hole! Edited May 12, 2012 by Colin Yai

[Scott]

An off-topic post has been removed.

[Colin Yai]

Margaret Thatcher's views are once again being vindicated. She had it right all along, not that too many people want to admit that.

As UK voters flirt with doing a "Hollande" they should remember her warning and choose wisely.

I guess she was right unless you were one of the many people without a job when she was finished

Moe ,if you notice I used the word "Meltdown" in one of my earlier posts which is in my opinion of what will happen under this newly appointed French Socialist Government , I did not grasp the word out of fresh air, but used it from what I clearly remember of the last true Socialist Government in the UK from 75 to 79 which was a total disaster for all concerned with Inflation spiking at 26.9 % and average 16% during the whole of their tenure ,Maggie took over an economy which was terminally Ill ,for anyone to exspect overnight wonders and painful decisions not to be made ,is quite frankly delving into the realms of Fantasy ,what is the unemployment rate now on a % basis in Spain and Greece alone Who both had former Socialist Govts ,Socialism I am afraid just does not work(forgive the pun) Edited May 12, 2012 by Colin Yai

[geriatrickid]

Margaret Thatcher's views are once again being vindicated. She had it right all along, not that too many people want to admit that.

As UK voters flirt with doing a "Hollande" they should remember her warning and choose wisely.

I guess she was right unless you were one of the many people without a job when she was finished

Yes, I believe she tried to put a stop to featherbedding as it is called. The fact of the matter is that she had to make some tough decisions. Sarkozy couldn't do it since he didn't have quite the same support as she did. Mr. Hollande is a throwback to the days of vacillating labour that gave in to demands for a welfare state that robbed people of any incentive to work hard. Why work hard and save when some lazy slob can sit on his rump and collect the dole? Monsieur Hollande will have fun trying to satisfy the electorate. I anticipate riots within the year.

[Colin Yai]

Margaret Thatcher's views are once again being vindicated. She had it right all along, not that too many people want to admit that.

As UK voters flirt with doing a "Hollande" they should remember her warning and choose wisely.

I guess she was right unless you were one of the many people without a job when she was finished

Yes, I believe she tried to put a stop to featherbedding as it is called. The fact of the matter is that she had to make some tough decisions. Sarkozy couldn't do it since he didn't have quite the same support as she did. Mr. Hollande is a throwback to the days of vacillating labour that gave in to demands for a welfare state that robbed people of any incentive to work hard. Why work hard and save when some lazy slob can sit on his rump and collect the dole? Monsieur Hollande will have fun trying to satisfy the electorate. I anticipate riots within the year.

GK both you and I have made a prediction and nailed our Colours firmly to the mast that the good ship "Socialism" will founder on the rocks on its "maiden voyage" for the French Electorate ,of course those who are at odds with our statements and say (or should I say think) we are writing BS why not have the courage of their convictions (as we have) and just say its going to be an unbridled Success judged on the performances of previous Socialist Govts and have done with it Edited May 12, 2012 by Colin Yai

[Steely Dan]

GK both you and I have made a prediction and nailed our Colours firmly to the mast that the good ship "Socialism" will founder on the rocks on its "maiden voyage" for the French Electorate ,of course those who are at odds with our statements and say (or should I say think) we are writing BS why not have the courage of their convictions (as we have) and just say its going to be an unbridled Success judged on the performances of previous Socialist Govts and have done with it

Not only is the ship in danger of hitting the rocks but all the lifeboats have been leased out to asylum seekers it would seem.

[geriatrickid]

The trouble these days with whoever is elected is that there are no true patriots around any more. What I mean by this is someone who enacts policies out of a conviction they are right, not out of expediency, opportunism or out of a desire to hang onto power. It used to be regarded as an honour to govern and if doing the right thing sacrificed popularity so be it.

This statement says it all for me. It's why I have so much respect for former PM Thatcher. She came from a humble background, worked hard and saw discrimination first hand. She had a better grasp of the working person's problems than the Hollande types of this world. I did not agree with many of her policies, but she saw the big picture. She had a vision and knew what had to be done to get there. The deficiency of national leaders today is that they are managing on a short term basis. There is something to be said about a national leader that has gotten his or her hands dirty doing real work along the way. Right or left, the best leaders had field experience. Mr. Churchill, as flawed as he was, had it. Clement Attlee had it. Even a man I dislike, Ronald Reagan had it. Sarkozy came close and Hollande most certainly does not have it.

The Hollande regime is going to start off delivering on all of the worst qualities of the French socialist agenda. What is needed is a tightening of the purse strings, not a loosening. Every flake and his friend is going to have a hand outstretched for a freebie and it will make the money tossing politics of Thailand look minor league. The more I consider the implications the more I worry for the fate of the UK and Germany as France can do things to seriously impact the economic security of these two pillars of Europe.

[bigbamboo]

I agree it was mostly a backlash against Sarkozy but Hollande doesn't impress me as being especially scary. I know Americans tend to get their knickers in a twist over the word socialist, but this is normal stuff in Europe.

I agree this was the French people kicking against Sarkozy but I doubt Hollande will be around for the long run.

[Colin Yai]

http://www.bbc.co.uk...europe-18047618 IMHO its just a question of time before the equivalent of this is happening in France , Prophet of doom?, maybe ,but I ain't read any posts yet that says that Hollande and his cronies have the policies to cure France's many ills.! and in closeing for the Electorate to vote for a Socialist Government as the magic panacea is akin to a flock of turkeys voting for Christmas Edited May 13, 2012 by Colin Yai

[Colin Yai]

http://www.telegraph...-to-France.html I think they called it the" Brain Drain " in the "good old days" of the mid/ late 70s in the UK when people were leaving in droves to avoid the crippling income tax, it would appear this guy Hollande has learned very little from recent history , once the "honeymoon" period is over cracks will soon start to appear,Super member Big Bamboo writes this is "kicking against" Sarkozy ,he could well be correct, maybe it could prove a case of "out of the frying pan into the fire" Edited May 13, 2012 by Colin Yai

[Colin Yai]

http://libcom.org/hi...r-of-discontent Hey up , whats the fox is going on?,here,s me slagging the Socialists off at every given opportunity ,and all these views and hardly a peep of a defense from the working class left wing hero's out there ,the link just portrays the abject failure of this ill thought out political dogma ,which like so many others in the past has proved a disaster , in France's case it will fail in spectacular fashion long before Hollandes term is up. Edited May 13, 2012 by Colin Yai

[tlansford]

... Who got in with a small majority leaving guess who as the swing vote thus ensuring a disproportionate say in French policy.

interesting AP article:

http://www.theglobea...e2418022/page2/

Treating all French muslims in terms of their political activity and allegiances as a single bloc is simplistic and contrived. Perhaps the 17.9% of voters who picked Le Pen in the first round had far more of a disproportionate impact on the election.

The % voting for the FN in the first round is scary, but it is the typical politics of hate & fear which works nearly everywhere.

[Colin Yai]

... Who got in with a small majority leaving guess who as the swing vote thus ensuring a disproportionate say in French policy.

interesting AP article:

http://www.theglobea...e2418022/page2/

Treating all French muslims in terms of their political activity and allegiances as a single bloc is simplistic and contrived. Perhaps the 17.9% of voters who picked Le Pen in the first round had far more of a disproportionate impact on the election.

The % voting for the FN in the first round is scary, but it is the typical politics of hate & fear which works nearly everywhere.

Are you of the opinion that the politics of hate is just one way traffic? personally I feel that Christianity has far more to fear from Islam than Islam has to fear from Christianity . Edited May 13, 2012 by Colin Yai

[tlansford]

For those who think this election is the beginning of the end, you should know that France is doing just fine, thank you very much.

Sarko took the country in a direction that the French do not feel comfortable with. French people see the value of a social contract and do not want to adopt the American model which Sarko was quite a fan of. And while there is a population in France that is anti-immigration and racist which appreciated Sarko's not so subtle racist stance, this is a minority in France (FN voter) and most French are open and welcoming to immigration / immigrants.

If Hollande remains an adept politician, then he will be around for some time... unlike (IMO, fortunately) Sarko.

[Credo]

(snipped)

,here,s me slagging the Socialists off at every given opportunity ,and all these views and hardly a peep of a defense from the working class left wing hero's out there ,

Some of us do not have a soap box to scream from at every opportunity. I am not French. I don't really care who they elect or which direction their politicos are leaning.

The impact of French politics is not likely to affect me directly and not in the short term.

[tlansford]

... Who got in with a small majority leaving guess who as the swing vote thus ensuring a disproportionate say in French policy.

interesting AP article:

http://www.theglobea...e2418022/page2/

Treating all French muslims in terms of their political activity and allegiances as a single bloc is simplistic and contrived. Perhaps the 17.9% of voters who picked Le Pen in the first round had far more of a disproportionate impact on the election.

The % voting for the FN in the first round is scary, but it is the typical politics of hate & fear which works nearly everywhere.

Are you of the opinion that the politics of hate is just one way traffic? personally I feel that Christianity has far more to fear from Islam than Islam has to fear from Christianity .

As an American, I understand the problems with religious fundamentalism / extremism very well.

But Christianity has nothing to fear from Islam, nor the inverse. It is only the groups of people who feed their intolerance with religion who cause problems.

And the FN is not about religion, but about racism.

[Steely Dan]

Doncha just love champagne socialists. Hollande piously states he hates the rich, but let them eat cake would be more appropriate.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/world/socialist-hollande-owns-three-homes-on-the-riviera-7737519.html

France's new Socialist president owns three holiday homes in the Riviera resort of Cannes, it emerged today.

Francois Hollande, 57, who “dislikes the rich” and wants to revolutionise his country with high taxes and an onslaught against bankers, is in fact hugely wealthy himself.

[Jingthing]

I prefer champagne socialists to ... champagne plutocrats.

[tlansford]

Doncha just love champagne socialists. Hollande piously states he hates the rich, but let them eat cake would be more appropriate.

http://www.thisislon...ra-7737519.html

France's new Socialist president owns three holiday homes in the Riviera resort of Cannes, it emerged today.

Francois Hollande, 57, who “dislikes the rich” and wants to revolutionise his country with high taxes and an onslaught against bankers, is in fact hugely wealthy himself.

You must be joking.

The London Evening Standard seems to be on equal footing with The Nation. Naturally a conservative paper is not going to be kind to a socialist, but the little blip you quote is just nonsense. Any 57 year old, half-way successful manager from a long-standing French family would have assets similar to this - calling him "hugely wealthy" because he has almost 1 million € in property and an apartment in Paris is laughable.

The Standard tries to make it seem like this is an offense to the French voters - but that is just a bold-faced lie on the part of the Standard.

[folium]

Doncha just love champagne socialists. Hollande piously states he hates the rich, but let them eat cake would be more appropriate.

http://www.thisislon...ra-7737519.html

France's new Socialist president owns three holiday homes in the Riviera resort of Cannes, it emerged today.

Francois Hollande, 57, who “dislikes the rich” and wants to revolutionise his country with high taxes and an onslaught against bankers, is in fact hugely wealthy himself.

Hollande is typical of "Les Enarques", graduates of ENA, France’s hyper-selective civil-service training college set up by de Gaulle, and continues to supply the French political and administrative elite. Two of the three previous French presidents (though not Sarkozy, hence his lack of support within the civil service) and seven of the ten previous prime ministers were

énarques.

They sit on parliamentary benches, they populate ministeries

, and they get hand-picked to run France’s public, and even private, companies.

Rather like the predominance of Oxford & Cambridge graduates in the UK or Yale/Harvard types in the USA.

Edited May 13, 2012 by folium

[folium]

Doncha just love champagne socialists. Hollande piously states he hates the rich, but let them eat cake would be more appropriate.

http://www.thisislon...ra-7737519.html

France's new Socialist president owns three holiday homes in the Riviera resort of Cannes, it emerged today.

Francois Hollande, 57, who “dislikes the rich” and wants to revolutionise his country with high taxes and an onslaught against bankers, is in fact hugely wealthy himself.

You must be joking.

The London Evening Standard seems to be on equal footing with The Nation. Naturally a conservative paper is not going to be kind to a socialist, but the little blip you quote is just nonsense. Any 57 year old, half-way successful manager from a long-standing French family would have assets similar to this - calling him "hugely wealthy" because he has almost 1 million € in property and an apartment in Paris is laughable.

The Standard tries to make it seem like this is an offense to the French voters - but that is just a bold-faced lie on the part of the Standard.

Don't be mean, LES has gone from being owned by the Hitler-loving Daily Mail Group to now being the plaything of ex-KGB agent and businessman Alexander Lebedev.

Anyway the 2 apartments owned by Hollande worth 120,000 euros approx each must be tiny as that amount of money in the south of France would be lucky to buy you a cupboard!

Bottom line is that Hollande, like all politicians, will say whatever gets him elected. Given the current financial situation it is quite likely that his freedom of action will be severely curtailed and his election promises will evaporate or be slipped onto the back burner.

[tlansford]

Doncha just love champagne socialists. Hollande piously states he hates the rich, but let them eat cake would be more appropriate.

http://www.thisislon...ra-7737519.html

France's new Socialist president owns three holiday homes in the Riviera resort of Cannes, it emerged today.

Francois Hollande, 57, who “dislikes the rich” and wants to revolutionise his country with high taxes and an onslaught against bankers, is in fact hugely wealthy himself.

You must be joking.

The London Evening Standard seems to be on equal footing with The Nation. Naturally a conservative paper is not going to be kind to a socialist, but the little blip you quote is just nonsense. Any 57 year old, half-way successful manager from a long-standing French family would have assets similar to this - calling him "hugely wealthy" because he has almost 1 million € in property and an apartment in Paris is laughable.

The Standard tries to make it seem like this is an offense to the French voters - but that is just a bold-faced lie on the part of the Standard.

Don't be mean, LES has gone from being owned by the Hitler-loving Daily Mail Group to now being the plaything of ex-KGB agent and businessman Alexander Lebedev.

Anyway the 2 apartments owned by Hollande worth 120,000 euros approx each must be tiny as that amount of money in the south of France would be lucky to buy you a cupboard!

Bottom line is that Hollande, like all politicians, will say whatever gets him elected. Given the current financial situation it is quite likely that his freedom of action will be severely curtailed and his election promises will evaporate or be slipped onto the back burner.

We'll see where the policies go - there are the elections for the assembly in June first. But given that the property values across France doubled since 2000, the LES is off the mark, period. The guy is not hugely wealthy.

Now Mitt Romney, on the other hand, ...

[Steely Dan]

Doncha just love champagne socialists. Hollande piously states he hates the rich, but let them eat cake would be more appropriate.

http://www.thisislon...ra-7737519.html

France's new Socialist president owns three holiday homes in the Riviera resort of Cannes, it emerged today.

Francois Hollande, 57, who “dislikes the rich” and wants to revolutionise his country with high taxes and an onslaught against bankers, is in fact hugely wealthy himself.

You must be joking.

The London Evening Standard seems to be on equal footing with The Nation. Naturally a conservative paper is not going to be kind to a socialist, but the little blip you quote is just nonsense. Any 57 year old, half-way successful manager from a long-standing French family would have assets similar to this - calling him "hugely wealthy" because he has almost 1 million € in property and an apartment in Paris is laughable.

The Standard tries to make it seem like this is an offense to the French voters - but that is just a bold-faced lie on the part of the Standard.

Ah, the source police are back in lieu of any coherent argument. Incidentally if your keyboard can't stretch to a pound sign I'd better put you straight on that 1 million pounds not euros. Incidentally I expect the Euro to collapse within 2 years. Massive social unrest in Spain and Italy where the government has not ruled out calling the army in.

[Colin Yai]

(snipped)

,here,s me slagging the Socialists off at every given opportunity ,and all these views and hardly a peep of a defense from the working class left wing hero's out there ,

Some of us do not have a soap box to scream from at every opportunity. I am not French. I don't really care who they elect or which direction their politicos are leaning.

The impact of French politics is not likely to affect me directly and not in the short term.

Credo, I am not slagging the French off one bit ,just Hollande who could well adopt Socialism in its purest form as the magic panacea to cure Frances many Ills ,so (with respect) instead of getting into personality's, if you condone Socialism why not just say so and of course you only comment on topics that effect you directly is that correct?. Edited May 14, 2012 by Colin Yai

[Credo]

Ok. I am 100% in favor of socialism....as long as I am on the receiving end, not the giving end.

[Colin Yai]

Ok. I am 100% in favor of socialism....as long as I am on the receiving end, not the giving end.

Ahh yes you have just described Socialism to a T , you want to receive all the goodies but not contribute to them, nice one!

[tlansford]

Doncha just love champagne socialists. Hollande piously states he hates the rich, but let them eat cake would be more appropriate.

http://www.thisislon...ra-7737519.html

France's new Socialist president owns three holiday homes in the Riviera resort of Cannes, it emerged today.

Francois Hollande, 57, who “dislikes the rich” and wants to revolutionise his country with high taxes and an onslaught against bankers, is in fact hugely wealthy himself.

You must be joking.

The London Evening Standard seems to be on equal footing with The Nation. Naturally a conservative paper is not going to be kind to a socialist, but the little blip you quote is just nonsense. Any 57 year old, half-way successful manager from a long-standing French family would have assets similar to this - calling him "hugely wealthy" because he has almost 1 million € in property and an apartment in Paris is laughable.

The Standard tries to make it seem like this is an offense to the French voters - but that is just a bold-faced lie on the part of the Standard.

Ah, the source police are back in lieu of any coherent argument. Incidentally if your keyboard can't stretch to a pound sign I'd better put you straight on that 1 million pounds not euros. Incidentally I expect the Euro to collapse within 2 years. Massive social unrest in Spain and Italy where the government has not ruled out calling the army in.

The source is always important and yours is biased, not objective.

And yes, £ or not quite 1.2M € - either way, what you brush off as an incoherent argument is just a normal fact in France. Any reasonably successful 57 year old Frenchman would have some houses/apartments outside of Paris - maybe purchased, maybe from the family inheritance. But it won't raise any eyebrows in France no matter what the LES would like to say. Additionally, property prices doubled in the last 15 years in France. Go figure that someone would try to make a big deal out of this...

The entire article is trying to make a normal French life sound extravagant which would maybe work for sympathetic conservative souls who don't know anything about France - he has 3 bank accounts - normal. One is with the "global giant" Société Générale - same as me and 100's of thousands of other French, and the other with the Postal Bank ! What a hoot!! . Lives with his "lover", ... well, that is a point where I typically feel sorry for the poor English, and it might explain the irritation of the editorial... but again, "Paxing" civil unions are normal here. The it turns out that of the 3 holiday homes in Cannes mentioned at the start of the article, 2 are just apartments, and at the values given, I am now curious to know just how small they are. Prices in Paris are now 10,000€/sq meter and Cannes can't be far from that.

Source police - or just critical reading. Either the author knows nothing of France, or he is deliberately lying. In either case, the author is not interested in the truth.