May 9, 2007
ROUSSEAU, E ARE HERE:
The French Election and Globalization (James Pethokoukis, 5/08/07, US News)
Hey, it looks as if even the French don't believe in the French economic model, the one that has given them sluggish economic growth of 1 percent (2003), 0.5 percent (2004), 2.1 percent (2005), and 1.2 percent (2006) over the past four years and a current unemployment rate of over 8 percent. What other conclusion can be drawn, after all, from the crushing victory of Nicolas Sarkozy over Sègoléne Royal in last weekend's French presidential election?Morgan Stanley analyst Eric Chaney explains that Sarkozy won "by arguing that a break in the management of the economy was necessary, that the 'French model' did not work anymore, that France should learn from other European countries which have achieved full employment, and that the election of the president should be a 'referendum for reforms.' This makes his election all the more important for France: If Sarkozy lives up to his promises, this could be the beginning of long-overdue structural reforms for the French economy."
Sarkozy-nomics: more-flexible labor markets, lower taxes, deregulation, smaller government. But the two megatrends underlying the Sarkozy victory are 1) an aging population that makes leviathan social welfare states financially untenable and 2) globalization that is forcing countries to optimize their economies to make them more competitive.
Posted by Orrin Judd at May 9, 2007 10:37 PM
Globalization places the economy in the hands of the consumer and takes control from the central planners and collectivist protectionists, public and private. Therefore globally, it provides a wider distribution for the "greater good".
Posted by: Genecis at May 10, 2007 6:04 AMP.S. You might think the "Progressives" would embrace it as a form of global redistribution of individual purchasing power. I guess the individual part of it worries them as it represents a dilution of their potential for power.
Posted by: Genecis at May 10, 2007 6:09 AMI think it is more just 'rage against the machine'.
The anti-global crowd doesn't like economics, doesn't like capitalism, and doesn't really like itself. They are afraid or almost everything.
Posted by: jim hamlen at May 10, 2007 7:33 AMTwo or so years ago, we took in a stray kitten who found our 70# Husky/Shepherd mix a most wonderful canine begging all the attention it could get from the dog even as the cat grew into maturity. The dog however, could care less and was most of the time annoyed by the silly thing.
Well our big dog has now passed and the new puppy on the scene can't get enough of the cat - who could care less about the pup and is annoyed by the newcomer.
So it goes...modern liberalism is now about protecting its own turf and to heck with the greater good if it threatens staked out territory. Globalization was that threat, battle over, labor cooked. The new battle is upon us as the lefties have moved into government unions and public employment where there is no threat to their turf. Bill Clinton was the catalist.