Viva La France !

[hutch--]

Socialist Francois Hollande wins French presidency

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17975660

[dedndave]

if i were French, Sophie Marceau would have had at least one write-in vote   :P

[lingo]

More of the people voted to punish Sarkozy rather than to love Hollande.

"The Socialist candidate has promised to raise taxes on big corporations and people earning more than 1m euros a year."

According Newton's 3rd law: To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction, so easy: they will move abroad...

It is clear from the opinion of the bar owner Jean-Francois: 

"Our values are disappearing and we see the bad effects of immigration in the big cities. We don't want that here and Sarkozy hasn't done anything to stop it."

"We don't have enough money to take any more immigrants," he says. "Our companies are moving abroad and there's no work for French people."


"He wants to raise the minimum wage, hire 60,000 more teachers and lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 for some workers."

No money about that...

[cman]

According Newton's 3rd law: To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction, so easy: they will move abroad...

I don't know if Newton's laws apply to economics.  :bg It seems to me that corporate strategies like these only exist because they exploit consumer disorganization. In terms of economics you vote with your dollar, and  if consumers voted as carefully with their purchases as they did in political elections the cudgel of corporate relocation in retaliation for high tax rates becomes a non-issue. Consumers could simply "vote out" corporations that used these sort of tax avoidance strategies and support local businesses that contribute to their own economy.  So I guess you could say these relocation strategies could lead to the equal and opposite reaction of consumer push-back.  :bg After all , corporations only have power that the consumers give them  Just a thought..

[NPNW]

We are pretty much tied to large corporations nowadays.  In Iowa we used to garden like 75% of our fruits and vegetables. Now its less then 10% over the last 30-40 years.  Its hard to buy local when cost are higher, and it cost millions to get into business to make products. 

I do business local with service people, and some hand crafted people. Some local farmers at the farmers market, and if we had a freezer we would buy 1/4 beef or more at a time.

For example the BPI incident with Pink Slime or Beef Products Incorporated. They were one of the larger employers in Western Iowa by Sioux City. They were located in South Sioux City Nebraska. People have made a choice not to buy that product that. That is one company that makes one product as far as I know, or most of their product is this. That company is easy to hurt because its business is one product and there are lots of other alternatives to that one product.

If there were no other products, or none that the average person could afford, I'm not sure that BPI would have gotten hurt so bad.  Its a lot harder to hurt a company that dominates or makes a product that everyone wants, needs, or is required to have.  I"m not saying it can't be done, I'm just saying its a lot of work and consequences for our actions.

We are now more dependent on mass production of products to keep prices cheap... I do mean cheap... there is a huge range of quality and value out there in product selection.  Yes, we can all grow our own vegetables, grow our own beef, lamb, port, fish, etc... However, my wife won't let me... So, I'm kinda stuck going to the grocery store, or buying clothes, or putting BP gas in the car until hydrogen power vehicles become available at an affordable price. Yes, we can protest, not buy goods from companies to send a  message to them. But in the end we still spend our money on another company making a similar product that fits our needs. 

We have come to far down the road to completely go back to the old ways of doing things unless you use that passion for excellence to create the new goods and products that we can all benefit from or use to solve our problems. Somewhere along the lines though we loose sight of that and start looking at money.... If we cut a little here and a little there... or someone says its okay to make it a little cheaper... we start believing that its okay.... Soon we are selling crap and can't figure out why other countries are kicking our butt or people are boycotting our products... OR is it just the lunatic fringe and we are all lemmings going to the sea?

[NPNW]

lingo "He wants to raise the minimum wage, hire 60,000 more teachers and lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 for some workers"

Smart moves that keep all the money in France. Double the minimum wage and it doubles the spending of the poor. Double the rich and it goes into an account. Where it gets guaranteed returns from who? The Poor! The elderly spend locally. They don't want to drive. Where do most local frenchmen live? In France, so where is the money spent? Local Business's in France. If the Republicans want to help  small business's. Then retire more people early, and give a raise to the elderly. They will spend it all locally on small business's close to them.  Hiring Teachers what we are 25th, in the world in Education? Business's are complaining there aren't enough qualified educated employees. Let's cut education some more. Maybe we can get to 190th in the world out of 181 nations.

France is looking pretty good right now. I bet their economy starts picking up.

[lingo]

Voix off : "Mais le pire malheur qui puisse arriver à un milliardaire, c'est de s'expatrier. Avoir trop d'argent, en France, est mal vu. Il faut partir avec femme et enfants à l'étranger."


Daniel Hechter : "C'est vrai que j'ai subi un véritable harcèlement fiscal. Je crois que j'ai eu plus de vingt contrôles fiscaux en trente ans. Alors aujourd'hui c'est vrai j'ai gagné, j'ai eu des indemnités. Ils m'ont remboursé ce que j'avais payé. Mais les nuits sans sommeil, on ne me les a pas remboursées. Donc à un moment, trop c'est trop, et j'ai décidé de partir pour la Suisse."

Voix off : "La Suisse n'est pas un mythe, 160'000 Français y ont élu domicile et parmis eux des stars de cinéma et de la chanson. Mais rares sont ceux qui donnent les vrais raisons de leur évasion. Charles Aznavour prétend apprécier l'amabilité des gens. Isabelle Adjani trouve que l'air y est frais et pur, quant à Patricia Kasse elle y apprécie le calme et la sécurité. Les enfants d'Alain Delon sont devenus des petits Suisses pour de vrai, quant à Alain Prost il en apprécie le climat depuis des années. Mais la Suisse n'est pas un paradis réservé aux célébrités, quand on est pas star mais qu'on a beaucoup de milliards, on fait appel à des agences spécialisées pour s'expatrier et surtout pour économiser."

François Micheloud : "On offre des services aux clients, notamment les Français, qui souhaitent s'installer en Suisse, on leurs fait permis de séjours, fiscalité, maison, chiens, chats, écoles tout ce qu'il faut pour qu'ils puissent commencer leur vie en Suisse."

Voix off : "Les exigences des candidats à l'expatriation sont souvent à la hauteur de leurs fortunes. Aujourd'hui notre chasseur de milliardaires recherche une maison pour des Français richissimes prêts à débarquer. La commande est claire: 600 mètres carrés au bord du Léman, 4 chambres pour les enfants et surtout deux bateaux sur le lac pour distraire les parents."

François Micheloud :"Une fois que le client est installé on le revoit très régulièrement. Les clients ont toutes sortes de questions, ne serait-ce que pour des questions de fiscalité chaque année. Nous avons donc un espèce de service après vente qui dure en principe sur toute la durée d'installation du client en Suisse."

Agent : "Vous avez vraiment une intimité qui est assurée."


François Micheloud : "Oui. Ca c'est très important. Si les gens quittent la France quand ils sont très célèbres, c'est effectivement pour le respect pour la vie privée. quand vous croisez Schuhmacher à la poste dans son village, eh bien personne ne vient le harceler. Il peut aller faire ses courses, il peut aller dans la rue et ça c'est un privilège de pouvoir vivre en quelque sorte anonymement."

Agent : "Là vous avez la salle à manger."

Voix off : "Le ticket d'entrée dans ce club très fermé démarre à 4 millions d'Euros et pour les expatriés français rien est trop beau. Le budget est illimité, les somptueuses villas sont redécorées aux goûts des futurs propriétaires, aucun détail ne doit être négligé."

François Micheloud : "C'est vraiment une maison exceptionnelle. Avec une salle de bains comme ça, en tout cas l'épouse sera toujours d'accord. Je pense la vue l'accès, le lac ça c'est vraiment exceptionnel. Quel est le prix demandé?"

Agent : "Alors en euro ça fait environ 4'500'000."

Voix off : "Chaque année plusieurs centaines de riches français passent discrètement par ces filières spécialisées." François Micheloud : "Les Français sont sans doute les plus nombreux. Il y a plus de Français sous la juridiction du consulat de France à Genève que dans toute l'Afrique. C'est donc vraiment une destination phare pour les Français."

For those of us who did not grow up with the influence of French speaking communities, here is the Google translation.

Voiceover: "But the worst misfortune that can happen to a billionaire, is to emigrate. Having too much money, in France, is frowned upon. We must start with women and children abroad."


Daniel Hechter: "It is true that I had a real fiscal harassment. I think I had over twenty to thirty years tax audits. So now it's true I played, I had benefits. They did refund what I paid. But the sleepless nights, we do not have reimbursed me. So at some point, enough is enough, and I decided to leave for Switzerland. "

Voiceover: "Switzerland is not a myth, 160,000 French and have taken up residence among them movie stars and song. But few would give the real reasons for their escape. Charles Aznavour says enjoy the friendly people. Isabelle Adjani is that the air is fresh and pure as to Patricia Kasse she appreciates the peace and security. Children of Alain Delon became small Swiss for real, for Alain Prost he appreciates the climate for years. But Switzerland is not a paradise reserved for celebrities, when you're not star but we have a lot of billions, it uses specialized agencies to go abroad and especially to save. "

Micheloud: "We offer services to customers, including the French, who want to move to Switzerland, it is their residence permits, taxes, house, dogs, cats, schools all it takes for them to begin their lives in Switzerland. "

Voiceover: "The requirements of potential expatriates are often at the height of their fortunes. Today our hunter billionaires looking for a home for wealthy French ready to land. The command is clear: 600 square meters along the Geneva, 4 bedrooms for children and especially two boats on the lake to entertain the parents. "

Micheloud: "Once the client is installed on the reviews very regularly. Customers have all sorts of questions, if only for reasons of taxation each year. So we have a sort of after sales service, which lasts principle on the entire client installation in Switzerland. "

Agent: "You really have an intimacy that is achieved."


Micheloud: "Yes. It is very important. If people leave France when they are very famous, it's actually for the respect for privacy. Schuhmacher when you cross the station in his village, well nobody comes to harass. It can go shopping, it can go into the street and that's a privilege to live somewhat anonymously. "

Agent: "Here you have the dining room."

Voiceover: "The entry ticket to this exclusive club starts at 4 million euros for French expatriates and nothing is too good. The budget is unlimited, the sumptuous villas are decorated to the tastes of future owners, no details should be neglected. "

Micheloud: "It is truly an exceptional home. With a bathroom like that, at least the wife will always agree. I think the access to the lake that's really exceptional. What is the asking price? "

Agent: "So it's been about Euro 4,500,000."

Voiceover: "Each year hundreds of rich French pass quietly through these specialized companies." Micheloud: "The French are probably the most numerous. There are more French under the jurisdiction of the Consulate of France in Geneva and throughout Africa. This is truly a destination for the French."

:bg

[vanjast]

So this means that the French are once again the most arrogant.. and they want war!!  :toothy

[clive]

Double the minimum wage and it doubles the spending of the poor.

The alternative outcome is that it doubles the unemployment of the poor. Most likely the same amount of money will just be distributed differently.

As lingo points out correctly, the rich are mobile, they will take themselves and their money where they are penalized less.

The migrant poor also understand that you send the wage earner to where the prospects for jobs and money are better. Festering where you are, subsisting on government hand outs, or make work projects, is not the path to exit.

Education is not a monetary issue, it's one of quality, and the ability to reward the teachers that do the best job, and work in the most depressed areas, not by unions protecting the useless. To spend the money where it's working, and not throwing it away. It's about changing what's being done, instead of repeating the same or doubling down on failing processes. If the whole "no kid left behind" legislation demonstrates anything it is that schools are socially advancing students incapable of succeeding at higher grade levels. Over the last 30 years the liberal touchy-feely, no one fails, spelling isn't important, teaching techniques have failed several generations of kids, and left them in a poor position to replace the elderly you seek to retire.

France is looking pretty good right now. I bet their economy starts picking up.

I'll take the other side of that bet, the crash of the Euro Zone is going to accelerate and be more destructive.

[lingo]

"As lingo points out correctly, the rich are mobile, they will take themselves and their money where they are penalized less."

Click here to read about French tax refugees.

[NPNW]

Education is not a monetary issue, it's one of quality, and the ability to reward the teachers that do the best job, and work in the most depressed areas, not by unions protecting the useless. To spend the money where it's working, and not throwing it away. It's about changing what's being done, instead of repeating the same or doubling down on failing processes. If the whole "no kid left behind" legislation demonstrates anything it is that schools are socially advancing students incapable of succeeding at higher grade levels. Over the last 30 years the liberal touchy-feely, no one fails, spelling isn't important, teaching techniques have failed several generations of kids, and left them in a poor position to replace the elderly you seek to retire.

The "no kid left behind" demonstrates that if you are stupid enough, you can use modern management processes to set a goal, give no resources and then show what a failure the teachers are. Come up with a real argument.

[hutch--]

 :bg

> and left them in a poor position to replace the elderly you seek to retire

You won't have to worry about this result either, feed 'em sh*t food from Maccas etc ... and they will be a generation that is outlived by their parents.

Is it just a sign of age that my parents generation made sure you ate properly, had shoes that fitted properly, had enough to wear so you did not freeze your arse off in the winter time and went to school so you did not end up illiterate ? We even did silly things at school like learning you 12 times tables, had to write with a pen and ink, had to learn to spell something like reasonable and even basic arithmetic. The funny part was WE were dumb alongside some of the stuff that earlier kids had to learn. I wonder if this is a case for DEvolution ?  :P

[donkey]

...had enough to wear so you did not freeze your arse off in the winter time...

Steve,

You live in freakin Australia, do they make winter speedos ? You want winter visit my part of the world in January.

[dedndave]

southern Aussies...

[hutch--]

Edgar,

Your winters are fuelled by the arctic, ours is driven by the Great Southern Ocean which delivers some very cold weather conditions in the lower part of OZ. Canada is much colder, especially higher up but its different. I run into locals from Canada and northern US who talk of nice crisp cold but they fare badly here in the Winter as the cold here rots the core of your bones. Inland southern NSW is not a nice place to live in winter. The factor seems to be the humidity, the temperature may be just under freezing but with high humidity and a high wind chill factor it goes through you real fast.

When my mum was still going I went to Tasmania and while being driven around seeing the sites ( sic ) I made the mistake of getting out of the car to walk around a lighthouse. I was wearing boots, long johns, jeans, heavy shirt, a jumper and a leather jacket and looked more or less like the Michelin man but it was still hypothermia in 30 seconds. I would not survive a winter in northern Tasmainia.  :P

Now related to your original question, the REAL MEN[tm] are the "Bondi Icebergs", they go swimming at Bondi beach in Winter early in the morning. It just happens to be the case that they are all old fellas that have enough fat on them not to feel the cold.