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2007-04-16 Europe
Christopher Hitchens: France now the most conservative country in Europe
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Posted by trailing wife 2007-04-16 18:00|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Hitch I'll wait to see the mass deportations in Paris.
Posted by Icerigger">Icerigger  2007-04-16 18:22||   2007-04-16 18:22|| Front Page Top

#2 What's the word 5089?
Posted by Shipman">Shipman  2007-04-16 18:47||   2007-04-16 18:47|| Front Page Top

#3 More on what will impact the election from MSNBC:

French flee stagnant economy
Clusters of migrant workers mount the train’s crowded carriages, leaving their families and filing across the border to work at jobs more plentiful and lucrative than at home. These hungry young men and women are not from lands riven by war or financial ruin, but from France — one of the world’s richest countries, and straining to stay that way. Their knapsacks bear laptops or bottles of champagne, and their transport of choice is the Eurostar train, zipping them beneath the English Channel to London, a city radiating growth and opportunity.

Some 2.2 million French people are believed to be living abroad today — half of whom are under 35, and half of whom don’t plan to return to France until retirement. This globalized electorate is attracting candidates’ attention, in a campaign where France’s shrinking role in the world economy is among voters’ greatest preoccupations.

Half of French households live on less than $1,990 in income per month. Unemployment hasn’t fallen below 8 percent since 1984. Public debt has quintupled since 1980 to fund a welfare state that more people depend on for survival. Imports are spiking and fueling a ballooning trade deficit. France was among the top 10 richest countries per capita a generation ago — today’s it’s slipped to 17th place.

France is now on the cusp of change, choosing a new president who will be expected to yank the state-dependent economy out of its doldrums — but probably won’t. Some of the freshest economic ideas are coming from Francois Bayrou, a champion of the average guy riding on disillusionment with the left-right paradigm. Bayrou, polling in third place, would allow businesses to hire two employees free of payroll taxes and social charges for the first five years — a shocking proposition here. But he would govern by consensus, a formula certain to bury bold reform.
Posted by trailing wife 2007-04-16 19:13||   2007-04-16 19:13|| Front Page Top

#4 Some of the freshest economic ideas are coming from Francois Bayrou, a champion of the average guy riding on disillusionment with the left-right paradigm.

Yup - another advocate of the *Third Way* gets lionized by the media. What a crock.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2007-04-16 20:09|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com]  2007-04-16 20:09|| Front Page Top

#5  France now the most conservative country in Europe

Huh? It's the Danes who are in the fight. It's the Danes who are pushing back on the those seeking the subvert their culture. It's the Danes who've stood by America. Actions speak far better than words.
Posted by Procopius2k 2007-04-16 21:09||   2007-04-16 21:09|| Front Page Top

#6 LUCIANNE Poster > demographics? > FRANCE will be a MUSLIM/ISLAMIZED NUCLEAR POWER in Europe in 1-2 years.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-04-16 21:22||   2007-04-16 21:22|| Front Page Top

#7 The article did say the most conservative major country in Europe, Procopius2k, but I had to shorten the headline somehow. It's the very last sentence of the article. Then too, French conservatism isn't like American -- in fact I have to wonder if current Danish behaviour isn't actually pretty radical in modern European terms.
Posted by trailing wife 2007-04-16 21:35||   2007-04-16 21:35|| Front Page Top

23:53 Brian H
23:50 Silentbrick
23:44 gorb
23:34 Zenster
23:31 trailing wife
23:29 RD
23:27 RD
23:27 newc
23:23 trailing wife
23:20 mrp
23:16 trailing wife
23:13 Hyper
23:10 Icerigger
23:08 WTF
23:04 RD
23:03 Zenster
23:00 mrp
22:58 gromgoru
22:58 Icerigger
22:56 Galactic Coordinator Elmaving4888
22:54 RD
22:53 trailing wife
22:40 JosephMendiola
22:38 Barbara Skolaut









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