France's Election is Today - Page 5

deflY · #41 04-22-2007, 06:52 PM

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Btw, reunification, how long is that going to be an excuse? Slovenia is a former communist country and has 6.3% unemployment.

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Probably because the living standard (...and therefore the wages and taxes) is _much_ higher in Germany. A lot of jobs in Germany have been moved to Asia or Eastern Europe. You can't really compare these two countries.

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I think that this system (where a candidate must win by a true majority) is better than our system. The guarantee of popular-ish candidates making the final running makes it much more sensible to vote for a third party candidate (since if they don't win, it's not going to change the outcome in a negative fashion, i.e. voting green is like voting Republican). Seems to make it easier for people to vote their conscience rather than vote practically, thereby bypassing some of Duverger's law.

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IMO the best way for people who want to vote their conscience is proportional representation & parliamentarianism.

Arnfinn Madsen · #42 04-22-2007, 07:20 PM

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Btw, reunification, how long is that going to be an excuse? Slovenia is a former communist country and has 6.3% unemployment.

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Probably because the living standard (...and therefore the wages and taxes) is _much_ higher in Germany. A lot of jobs in Germany have been moved to Asia or Eastern Europe. You can't really compare these two countries.

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Is it really much higher? I would think average living standard is higher in Slovenia than Eastern Germany, however I am not sure.

DVO · #43 04-22-2007, 09:05 PM

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I am with you -- hope Royal wins. The "conservative" candidate won't be able to make any real changes -- he'll merely slow the inevitable. France needs to become a serious object lesson for the world's economies -- the sooner and the more dramatic the better. Get the pain over with ASAP and get a new generation of people who have a different take on government and socialism.

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I agree. I call this the "Jimmy Carter Effect".
Elect a moron that throws your country into the toilet so that the people get pissed enough to elect a 'radical' conservative. A typical French 'conservative' makes John Kerry look like Milton Friedman. Better to let the French socialist tank France so that the French people will wake up... Then perhaps the French can elect a French version of Ronald Reagan.

France needs to hit bottom before they cure themselves...

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No way the French people wake up in the scenario described. We (the U.S.) had a history to draw upon in 1980 that the French completely lack. Never have they embraced free markets and individualism the way we had, for long stretches, prior to 1980. After the Carter debacle, we had some 60% of the population, with some vague sense of our history, ready to give it another go. The French have no such imbedded DNA.

France is in trouble.

deflY · #44 04-23-2007, 05:58 AM

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Is it really much higher? I would think average living standard is higher in Slovenia than Eastern Germany, however I am not sure.

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Unfortunately, I'm unable to find data related to Eastern Germany only, but here are some statistics that should give you a clue anyway (Source: Wikipedia. According to M$ Encarta, the data differs much more: Germany's GDP per capita is $33,210, while Slovenia only has $16,120. You can expect Eastern Germany's values to be a few % lower, but not drastically):

Germany:
GDP per capita $29,700 (2005)
GDP by sector agriculture (1.1%), industry (28.6%), services (70.3%) (2005)

Slovenia:
GDP per capita $21,500 (2005 est.)
GDP by sector agriculture (2.8%), manufacturing (36.9%), services (60.3%) (2005)

This is the economic look at the topic. You also can compare the HDI, where Germany is only a few points ahead of Slovenia...

Anyway, this is getting really offtopic now.

Arnfinn Madsen · #45 04-23-2007, 06:03 AM

Yeah, a bit off topic from the French election [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. Germany is a great country though, people respect eachother which is rare to find, more important than economic growth for well being. No reason not to have both though.

hmkpoker · #46 04-23-2007, 06:37 AM

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Yeah, a bit off topic from the French election [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. Germany is a great country though, people respect eachother which is rare to find, more important than economic growth for well being. No reason not to have both though.

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I actually find that people tend to be nicer in the slower parts of America than in the metropolitan areas. Montana is full of some of the nicest people I've ever met. Compare with New York.

Felix_Nietzsche · #47 04-23-2007, 11:14 AM

Nicolas Sarkozy - 31.1%
Segolene Royal - 25.8%
Francois Bayrou - 18.6%
Jean-Marie Le Pen - 10.5%
Other - 14%
Source: French Interior Ministry at 2300 GMT

I think Sarkozy has the edge. He will most certainly get the overwhelming majority of the Le Pen votes and if he can get 50% of the centrist Bayrou voters then he will win. Here is the math:
31.1 + 10.5 + .5(18.6) + ??(14%) = 50.9%+

But in the long run I think it would be best for Royal to win. She will foul things up to the point where even the most foolish Frenchmen will realize that they can't continue with their run away welfare state. Then Sarkozy will be elected and have a large enough majority to make major reforms...

pokerbobo · #48 04-23-2007, 11:25 AM

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Most definitely. It's a shame she's a socialist, but maybe we'd have awesome angry sex.

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You could bang her...socialist women give up the beave equally to all men. everyone gets a couple thrusts so all end up miserable in the end.

Mitterand FTW [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

hmkpoker · #49 05-06-2007, 03:45 PM

The second round was today (for anyone still paying attention), and Nicholas Sarkozy is the winner by 6 percentage points.

I'm a bit disappointed because I was hoping to see a crazy socialist chick plunge France down the poop-hole, but perhaps this is a good sign.

Felix_Nietzsche · #50 05-06-2007, 04:09 PM

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I'm a bit disappointed because I was hoping to see a crazy socialist chick plunge France down the poop-hole, but perhaps this is a good sign.

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My thoughts exactly....
4 Years of that socialist nitwit Royal and Sarkozy wins 60-40 instead of 53-47. With 60% France could enact meaningful changes. With 53-47, Sarkozy can only make small changes...