The French have a remarkable ability to stick their heads in the sand, and they have done it again with Macron.

Their workforce is uncompetitive with the rest of Europe especially Germany and England.  The Euro was created to give them equal pay to the Germans, but the slow deterioration of their economy will lead to more and more job losses.  FN will be in an even stronger position next time, as Macron simply won't be able to deliver ( not that he promised anything this time apart from Liberty, Equality, Fraternity).

The Common agricultural policy lasted 30 years before it fell apart, (again a sop to French farmers, who were uncompetitive ) The Euro is the next folly they have foised on the rest of Europe and the world.  At least the Poms were smart enough to stay away from it.

On 5/12/2017 at 11:28 AM, george_on_the_outer said:

Their workforce is uncompetitive with the rest of Europe especially Germany and England. 

Go on then. Stats to back it up?

Here, I'll save you the trouble: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_hour_worked

1	Norway	75.18
2	Luxembourg	73.22
3	United States	67.32
4	Belgium	60.98
5	Netherlands	60.06
6	France	59.24
7	Germany	57.36
8	Ireland	56.05
9	Australia	55.87
10	Denmark	55.75
11	Sweden	55.28
12	Austria	54.83
13	United Kingdom	51.38

The usual ignorant BS. Stick to footy, you know nothing about France, or Europe for that matter.

Most Productive Countries, 2015

Rank	Country	GDP per hour worked	Employed Population	GDP (USD)	Average work week (hrs)
1	Luxembourg	$ 93.4	405,600	$57b	29
2	Ireland	$ 87.3	1,989,400	$302b	33.5
3	Norway	$ 81.3	2,753,000	$318b	27.3
4	Belgium	$ 69.7	4,601,200	$498b	29.8
5	United States	$ 68.3	151,000,000	$18,037b	33.6
6	Denmark	$ 67.6	2,829,000	$270b	27.2
7	France	$ 65.6	27,523,000	$2,648b	28.2
8	Germany	$ 65.5	43,057,000	$3,857b	26.3
9	Netherlands	$ 65.4	8,792,000	$818b	27.4
10	Switzerland	$ 64.2	4,962,600	$506b	30.6
11	Austria	$ 60.2	4,290,700	$415b	30.9
12	Sweden	$ 59.1	4,809,700	$458b	31
13	Finland	$ 54.8	2,497,400	$225b	31.6
14	Australia	$ 54.6	11,860,000	$1,101b	32.7
15	United Kingdom	$ 52.1	31,293,000	$2,701b	31.9

here is the long term position of France v Germany and England:

https://www.google.com.au/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=ny_gdp_mktp_cd&idim=country:FRA:GBR:DEU&hl=en&dl=en

 

 

On 5/12/2017 at 11:28 AM, george_on_the_outer said:

FN will be in an even stronger position next time

Which is what everyone said about this time.

Laughable, and based on nothing except fevered imaginations, the same ones who predicted that both her and Wilders would win. There are only so many uneducated bigots to go round, and she's at her limit.

21 hours ago, bing181 said:

Which is what everyone said about this time.

Laughable, and based on nothing except fevered imaginations, the same ones who predicted that both her and Wilders would win. There are only so many uneducated bigots to go round, and she's at her limit.

There is nothing more bigoted than calling someone who disagrees with your political belifs a bigot.

11 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

There is nothing more bigoted than calling someone who disagrees with your political belifs a bigot.

Oscar Wilde?

6 hours ago, bing181 said:

Oscar Wilde?

The two most powerful countries in Europe are run by childless careerist politicians who have nothing at stake in the future.

No wonder they worry about birth rates and labour markets for the EU.

All the better to flood the place with draft dodging young Syrians.

Why would Merkel or Macron care?

Why would Socialist parasites care either-it's a system where unelected swill get to run the place.

 

2 hours ago, Biffen said:

The two most powerful countries in Europe are run by childless careerist politicians who have nothing at stake in the future.

No wonder they worry about birth rates and labour markets for the EU.

All the better to flood the place with draft dodging young Syrians.

Why would Merkel or Macron care?

Why would Socialist parasites care either-it's a system where unelected swill get to run the place.

 

You need to have kids now to care about the future of your country and the human race?

I guess if you assume that everyone is 100% self-interested and everyone always acts out of complete selfishness, that makes sense. That's a pretty dim view of humanity though, I certainly don't share it.

 

I agree on careerist politicians though - leaders should have more life experience than just sitting in campaign offices their whole lives waiting to knife someone for a shot at power.

3 hours ago, Biffen said:

The two most powerful countries in Europe are run by childless careerist politicians who have nothing at stake in the future.

No wonder they worry about birth rates and labour markets for the EU.

All the better to flood the place with draft dodging young Syrians.

Why would Merkel or Macron care?

Why would Socialist parasites care either-it's a system where unelected swill get to run the place.

Meanwhile, from a planet far far away ...

3 hours ago, Choke said:

You need to have kids now to care about the future of your country and the human race?

I guess if you assume that everyone is 100% self-interested and everyone always acts out of complete selfishness, that makes sense. That's a pretty dim view of humanity though, I certainly don't share it.

 

I agree on careerist politicians though - leaders should have more life experience than just sitting in campaign offices their whole lives waiting to knife someone for a shot at power.

your 2nd statement is right on the money, choke

your 1st statement however shows you are a romantic. The majority of humanity are like sheep and will follow/appease/exploit the shepherd, even ultimately turn into lemmings to crash and burn. history is littered with many examples of the depths of humanity.......and the basics haven't changed

1 minute ago, daisycutter said:

your 2nd statement is right on the money, choke

your 1st statement however shows you are a romantic. The majority of humanity are like sheep and will follow/appease/exploit the shepherd, even ultimately turn into lemmings to crash and burn. history is littered with many examples of the depths of humanity.......and the basics haven't changed

I understand why you'd reach that conclusion, there are a lot of [censored] around and for some reason many of them seem to be our leaders.

But I see it at work when my boss gives disadvantaged clients a free ride or significant discounts on services when they're down on their luck. There are good people around. They exist. We just need more of them in politics.

My point Choke.

When you have two childless, careerists running Europe for the banks, who is going to protect the citizens?

Merkel doesn't care- which is why the Turkish flag flies all over Germany.

Macron is an admirer of Merkel- and the French already have a hostile North African populace born there but not integrated.

The platform has been set for someone far more extreme than Le Pen.

Having children is not a pre-requisite to actually caring, indeed gay adoption is extremely trendy ,although I'm not sure how good it is for the child.

Having a Gigolo running France is quite fitting.

Someone who has never had to look after himself, or think for himself, an ingratiatory parasite of the banks.

Someone who still lives with Mummy.

Shows the French mindset.

Le pen is so repulsive, Nationalism so passe , patriotism is racist-so hate yourself and destroy your country-makes sense.

I don't think I'm understanding your point Biff.

Agreed that leaders should run countries for the benefit of their populace and not their financial institutions.

Agreed that careerist politicians should not lead counties. In fact I don't think 'politics' should be a viable lifetime career for anyone. The responsibility of a politician dictates that they should have some shared life experience with those they govern.

I know little about migratory patterns of Europe, so can't really comment except to say that as human beings we have a duty to look after other human beings. Now whether that takes the form of 1 million refugees or 100, I don't know - but compassion must have some place in government otherwise what's the point?

Your comment on gay adoption is ridiculous. I suspect you're attempting to troll me here.

Not sure why you keep bringing up Macron and his wife, the age gap is almost identical to Trump and his wife, but no one goes around calling him a cradle snatcher or pedo or whatever. Seems irrelevant to governing a country to me, I don't hold either one's partner's ages against them.

To your last point - I agree that the left often conflate patriotism with jingoism when accusing the right. Unfortunately, some on the right attempt to pass of jingoism as patriotism. Seems to create a loop where no one gains any advantage by having the argument.

Agreed the platform is set for more extreme right-wing politicians than Le Pen - which probably means there will be a leftist reaction as well. That's a terrible thing for political discourse as political parties move further and further away from each other, leaving no room for a viable middle ground for people to vote for. We'll end up with violent protests by both extreme sides and most of society sitting in the middle shaking our heads.

I hate being lumped in the with the socialist feminazi crowd, and I try to resist categorising those on the right as homophobic rednecks. However, those are the stereotypes that each extreme wing will attempt to cast the others as, because they both know fear wins votes. The more they do, they harder it will be to resist pigeon-holing the other side when attempting to have a discussion.

On Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 11:06 AM, Choke said:

 

Not sure why you keep bringing up Macron and his wife, the age gap is almost identical to Trump and his wife, but no one goes around calling him a cradle snatcher or pedo or whatever. Seems irrelevant to governing a country

For mine it is not the age gap but the fact she was his teacher and the timing of the beginning of their relationship.

On 17/05/2017 at 0:34 AM, bing181 said:

Oscar Wilde?

Some bigots shine out like shafts of gold, when all else around is dark.

 

13 minutes ago, hardtack said:

Some bigots shine out like shafts of gold, when all else around is dark.

A skit for the ages that one.

On 17/05/2017 at 6:59 AM, Biffen said:

The two most powerful countries in Europe are run by childless careerist politicians who have nothing at stake in the future.

No wonder they worry about birth rates and labour markets for the EU.

All the better to flood the place with draft dodging young Syrians.

Why would Merkel or Macron care?

Why would Socialist parasites care either-it's a system where unelected swill get to run the place.

 

Angela Merkel - German

Theresa May -British

Emanuel Macron - France

Paolo Gentlin - Italy

Mark Rutte - Holland 

Stefan Lofven - Sweden

Nicola Sturgeon - Scotland 

None have children. I don't for a second say you need children to be a good leader or a better person but there is a real pattern in Europe.

It's funny how all those people wanting to save the planet for the next generation in climate talks have no offspring themselves. Perhaps politics not planet saving is more important to them?

Anyway Europe and its union are on the way down and all you will hear about in the msm is how they hate Trump. I wonder why?

Julie Bishop commenting on Trumps assessment of Mrs Macron-"you're in great shape".

Julie is jealous,and typically,all the press can concentrate on is his sexism.

What do people expect of a  bilionaire septagenarian New Yorker? Some pu55y whipped nancy?

Shut up Bishop-you're job is to get the coffee and watch your PM de jours' derriere.

What a nothing,nobody time server.

 

On Mrs Macron herself ,I wish her the best.

Her toyboy BF has just woken up to the fact that 5 billion Muslimen will be knocking on the door by the year 2100.

 

 

 

Edited July 16, 20178 yr by Biffen

On 13/07/2017 at 1:53 PM, Wrecker45 said:

Angela Merkel - German

Theresa May -British

Emanuel Macron - France

Paolo Gentlin - Italy

Mark Rutte - Holland 

Stefan Lofven - Sweden

Nicola Sturgeon - Scotland 

None have children. I don't for a second say you need children to be a good leader or a better person but there is a real pattern in Europe.

It's funny how all those people wanting to save the planet for the next generation in climate talks have no offspring themselves. Perhaps politics not planet saving is more important to them?

Anyway Europe and its union are on the way down and all you will hear about in the msm is how they hate Trump. I wonder why?

i thought Sweden had all but purged men from government?

They must conduct government policy in a spa ,high on E.

They don't breed because their job is more important to them-their choice-but easy to see why they appease every little group in order to stay there.To the detriment of Europesthan.

On 19/05/2017 at 6:41 PM, Wrecker45 said:

For mine it is not the age gap but the fact she was his teacher and the timing of the beginning of their relationship.

Macron's wife couldn't hold a job at the AFL. No matter how fit Trump thinks she is.