Do Indy readers know what goes into the Sindy's business section?
I do wonder, because one of its business writers sticks it to Sego in a most unIndy-like fashion:
"The French economy has crawled along at a growth rate that has averaged half that of the UK's in recent years. Unemployment is stubbornly high, and even after a recent recovery, remains nearly twice the UK's. All this despite the extraordinary act of generational theft that is being committed daily by the French pension system, which is funding current consumption by inadequately providing for the future. Not to mention incredibly high government spending - 43 per cent of GDP, while national debt is now equivalent to 70 per cent. Income tax and national insurance, too, are frighteningly high...brain drain...appears to be accelerating...Royal's famous "100 Point Plan" seems more like "100 Ways to Make Things Worse"....Spending too high? She'd spend even more...Businesses have a lot to fear".
Crikey. He's right though.
"The French economy has crawled along at a growth rate that has averaged half that of the UK's in recent years. Unemployment is stubbornly high, and even after a recent recovery, remains nearly twice the UK's. All this despite the extraordinary act of generational theft that is being committed daily by the French pension system, which is funding current consumption by inadequately providing for the future. Not to mention incredibly high government spending - 43 per cent of GDP, while national debt is now equivalent to 70 per cent. Income tax and national insurance, too, are frighteningly high...brain drain...appears to be accelerating...Royal's famous "100 Point Plan" seems more like "100 Ways to Make Things Worse"....Spending too high? She'd spend even more...Businesses have a lot to fear".
Crikey. He's right though.
Labels: France
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on Sunday, February 25, 2007 at 4:13 pm.
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I would be savouring the predicament that our garlic reeking enemies over the ENGLISH CHANNEL are suffering if we were not in the same boat thanks to the cycloptic misanthropic buffoon, oh and the house trained chimpanzee that gave him a job.
Cycloptic, guv? Surely one can see quite well with only one mincer? Never done Nelson, Dayan etc. any harm.
// I doubt Sharko will be much better than Wendy. After all, he's been in the Gubbamint since (erm) belle lurette, Chirac's been there even longer, and unemployment's still high. (Specially among those who won't travailler.)
But Hamish Mcrae does his best to rectify things in the same section. His logic is amazing:
"The Ségo project, by contrast, with its sharp increase in the minimum wage, the promise of more labour market regulation, higher taxation and so on, would seem to run exactly counter to what is needed...But this seems to me to be too simple. As far as M. Sarkozy is concerned, it is not at all clear the extent to which he could indeed push through reforms, even with a decent majority in parliament...As for Ms Royal, she might be more flexible in office than she has appeared in her campaign...Ms Royal might be more trusted to get reforms through...I think it would be wrong to write off her programme until it is put into practice."
Incidentally, I'm watching Sarko on (French TV channel) M6 right now. He's putting on that creepy soft 'candidate' voice he uses in contrast to tough 'Interior Minister'. Apparently M6 have done a poll that suggests 65% of the French see him as having presidential stature, and 73% see him as competent. But 86% see him as authoritarian, 74% as too ambitious, 57% think he divides the country, and only 50% think he's sincere. The next few months will be fun.
Trust you C to notice something I had missed.
I love the way the French call their pay as you go pension system "solidarity between the generations".
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