Hollande the Pres of France

[Rudy Tamasz]

Is it good or bad for Europe? I'm slightly confused. His program sure sounds attractive to a lot of people. One thing I don't understand though, is how he's gonna bankroll his social programs, job creation etc.

[odykas]

RIP Merkozy

Long live Merkhollande :

[F1boat]

I am happy for Hollande and I think that people in Europe, in the local elections in UK and Germany, in Greece with their radical parties, in France with Hollande, they said that your plan can't be austerity only, with no jobs and people committing suicides because of the crisis... people elect governments, not Wallstreet!

[Malbec]

France, among other countries, is in deep debt because of spending much more than they took in. So let's see.....increase your spending and tax the heck out of everything (but still take in less in tax then you spend).....yep, give it a couple of years and it'll fix everything.

Hollande's only real change to Sarkozy's fiscal commitments is that he wants to balance books by 2016 instead of 2015 so I wouldn't expect major changes. He's refused to backtrack on Sarkozy's reforms too. I also think that a rapid cut in spending in one of Europe's biggest economies is going to have a major negative impact on growth throughout the region so not I'm not too bothered that he's going to slow the pace of the cuts by a year or so.

Although I tend to be sceptical of French left-wingers I think Hollande is pragmatic and won't rush into major policy reversals. Where I think he'll be very different from Sarkozy is that I think he'll be far less proactive in major incidents like Libya or the Euro crisis.

Frankly Sarkozy made himself unelectable, not through his economic policies but because of his swerve to the far right on immigration issues and because of his bling-bling personality better suited to a tinpot African dictatorship.

[Mark]

France, among other countries, is in deep debt because of spending much more than they took in. So let's see.....increase your spending and tax the heck out of everything (but still take in less in tax then you spend).....yep, give it a couple of years and it'll fix everything.

The problem is, as is happening in the UK, you cut and cut and put taxes up, you end up killing your own economy, put yourself into recession and and up making the defecit worse, not better.

As ever the correct course is the least exciting one, no drastic cuts, no drastic spending, just being sensible -- unfortunately being sensible isn't 'sexy' and doesn't get you the headlines.

[Rudy Tamasz]

I am happy for Hollande and I think that people in Europe, in the local elections in UK and Germany, in Greece with their radical parties, in France with Hollande, they said that your plan can't be austerity only, with no jobs and people committing suicides because of the crisis... people elect governments, not Wallstreet!

No austerity, fine. Who will foot the bill?

To keep living a high life you have two options. One is the inflationist model where you stimulate growth through consumption. But this is exactly the model that has been in place for the last twenty years or so and brought European economies to the brink of collapse. Using it to fix the economy is like using a shot of heroine to cure a drug addiction. Another option is to tax the heck out of the wealthier. That is, if you catch them before they board their private jets and land for good in numerous tax havens around the world. I honestly don't see economies can become healthier without austerity measures.

[Mark]

Please.... Let's not turn this thread into "WAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA LIBERALS", not that anybody has any idea what that term even means

[Mark]

'Liberals' might mean something to Americans, but whatever it is, it's not the same in Europe, so I'd avoid using that term.

[Malbec]

One thing that most liberals and many of everyone else seems to forget, to their eventual regret, is that the one inviolate rule of economics is TANSTAAFL.

It would appear that as a former economist who has vowed to wipe out the deficit Hollande is not one of them, so I'm not sure who your comment refers to.

[Gregor-y]

Did Sarkozy make a fairly naked appeal to FN supporters just before the election? And did Hollande do anything similar? If anything I'm happy to see trying to move to the right (at least in the form as it exists in France) isn't the solution.