TCTI: Too Crazy Too Ignore
 Dave Ross

You never know what will change history

May 7, 2012 @ 8:46 am (Updated: 8:49 am - 5/7/12 )

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France has a new President, a socialist elected to undo the austerity policies that have left so many people unemployed. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

France has a new President.

Francois Hollande -- and he's an unabashed socialist. A socialist elected to undo the austerity policies that have left so many people unemployed. It appears to signal a huge change in direction for France, and maybe even the rest of Europe which was hoping budget cuts would pull it out of the recession.

And you wonder -- how a tiny change in an event a year ago might have tipped history. Because you know who was SUPPOSED to be the Socialist candidate for President? A guy by the name of Dominique Strauss Kahn -- who was France's top socialist until he let his personal stimulus program get the best of him -- and was so distracted he left his cell phone behind in a New York hotel room where he had mistreated a housekeeper.

Imagine if he'd won his party's nomination, and this had come up DURING the campaign -- could the conservative Sarkozy perhaps have survived?

But it happened when it happened, and now, instead of government austerity, and tax breaks for the wealthy -- France is on track to impose a 75 percent tax on earnings above a million Euros a year, hire more teachers, and lower the retirement age, and try a stimulus program. We'll see if it works. Just hang on to your cell phone, Mr. President.

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Comments (59)


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  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    You just admitted that Owebama is a socialist.
    May 7, 2012 12:02 pm
    QUOTE: "...instead of government austerity, and tax breaks for the wealthy -- France is on track to impose a 75 percent tax on earnings above a million Euros a year, hire more teachers, and lower the retirement age, and try a stimulus program." Exactly what Owebama is trying to get. Wow. The left actually calling him a socialist. Prepare for YOUR phone to ring, Dave. This isn't gonna make them happy.
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  • cdbtx wrote...
    And
    May 7, 2012 12:25 pm
    If it fails - do you think Dave Ross or Paul Krugman would EVER admit to it.

    Keynesian economics is all about instant gratification and appeasement.

    A classic example - Is the economy improving today? Are we out of the recession? Depends who you ask - The Obama administration insists we are. Then ask Krugman and he insist that we continue to pour Trillions into the economy and stimulus... does it actually ever end?

    Promise free food, housing, medical, education, etc... Hey, why not.. it buys you a few years to increase your wealth... dam the people.. it's all about me...me.. me..me..

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  • kata wrote...
    you can't change history
    May 7, 2012 1:10 pm
    You can only change your future. I see, in France's very near future, "the rich" finding someplace else to keep their money. At some point later in the future, if the Euro-zone hasn't completely fallen in on itself - high taxes on even the not so rich and inevitable re-nationalization to manage price controls.

    Our future can be seen in our trajectory. Both parties can't seem to stop spending what they take in. Slash military spending, tax the rich - it won't change. There is no political "ism" for sheer stupidity. The word we're looking for here is "corrupt".

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  • DesertRez wrote...
    Chuck is right though
    May 7, 2012 1:57 pm
    Obama is a terrible prez and the economic bleeding is sickening to watch, but if Romney takes the white house nothing will change. Real reformists are labeled crackpots, and the media is too busy reporting that Obama ate a dog.
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  • kata wrote...
    which do we want first..
    May 7, 2012 4:00 pm
    the bread or the circus?
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    best be the bread
    May 8, 2012 5:10 am
    we already have a circus with all these clowns using this site to insult each other instead of talking about the subject.
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  • kata wrote...
    good call
    May 8, 2012 2:00 pm
    it's likely there aren't many people who'd know how to translate a pound of wheat into something edible.
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  • SeattleD wrote...
    Bill Law writes "Intelligent people better have a good supply of food, water, and ammunition."
    May 7, 2012 6:20 pm
    Bill Law hides all that in his Peter Keller style bunker. I'm betting it ends for Bill Law just about the same way it ended for Peter Keller.
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  • Cbrew wrote...
    So funny to hear people fighting back and forth about who's ruining America when it's actually you guys
    May 8, 2012 1:15 pm
    The biggest problem America faces isn't terrorism or Chinese expansion or European Unions or any crazy thing you morons are coming up with... the biggest problem facing America is the idiots within that continue to divide our country by deciding they are right about everything and any other viewpoint is wrong, that's more socialist and communist than any idea that either party has about anything... America is far too powerful for any external source to bring it down.. It's on us to maintain the greatness of this country, people like Bill Law, and others that think the other side is criminal for having a different viewpoint than they do, that's what's going to bring this country down... Idiots like Bill Law... this country was built to allow us to change policy by voting, not by fring elements attacking the other side... this nut job and people like him are ultimately the greatest threat to this nation.
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  • mobeta wrote...
    This is what happens when you tax the rich....They leave!!!
    May 12, 2012 6:53 am
    To all my socialist liberal idiots out there. Facebook Co-Founder Saverin Gives Up U.S. Citizenship Before IPO By Danielle Kucera, Sanat Vallikappen and Christine Harper | Bloomberg – 20 hours ago.. . Eduardo Saverin, the billionaire co- founder of Facebook Inc. (FB), renounced his U.S. citizenship before an initial public offering that values the social network at as much as $96 billion, a move that may reduce his tax bill. Facebook plans to raise as much as $11.8 billion through the IPO, the biggest in history for an Internet company. Saverin’s stake is about 4 percent, according to the website Who Owns Facebook. At the high end of the IPO valuation, that would be worth about $3.84 billion. His holdings aren’t listed in Facebook’s regulatory filings. Saverin, 30, joins a growing number of people giving up U.S. citizenship, a move that can trim their tax liabilities in that country. The Brazilian-born resident of Singapore is one of several people who helped Mark Zuckerberg start Facebook in a Harvard University dorm and stand to reap billions of dollars after the world’s largest social network holds its IPO
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  • mobeta wrote...
    This is what happens when you over tax the rich.....they leave!!!!
    May 12, 2012 6:55 am
    To all the socialist liberal idiots out there. Read this from Yahoo Finance! Facebook Co-Founder Saverin Gives Up U.S. Citizenship Before IPO By Danielle Kucera, Sanat Vallikappen and Christine Harper | Bloomberg – 20 hours ago.. . Eduardo Saverin, the billionaire co- founder of Facebook Inc. (FB), renounced his U.S. citizenship before an initial public offering that values the social network at as much as $96 billion, a move that may reduce his tax bill. Facebook plans to raise as much as $11.8 billion through the IPO, the biggest in history for an Internet company. Saverin’s stake is about 4 percent, according to the website Who Owns Facebook. At the high end of the IPO valuation, that would be worth about $3.84 billion. His holdings aren’t listed in Facebook’s regulatory filings. Saverin, 30, joins a growing number of people giving up U.S. citizenship, a move that can trim their tax liabilities in that country. The Brazilian-born resident of Singapore is one of several people who helped Mark Zuckerberg start Facebook in a Harvard University dorm and stand to reap billions of dollars after the world’s largest social network holds its IPO
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