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'France is in need of a dose of Thatcherism'. Paris based Professorof Economics tells why France could do with its own dose of Thatcherism.
'France is in need of a dose of Thatcherism'. Paris based Professor of
Economics tells why France could do with its own dose of Thatcherism. Published: 09 Apr 2013 16:24 GMT+02:00 | Print version "..With France suffering from an ailing economy, rising unemployment and weekly strikes by trade unions protesting job cuts and austerity measures, parallels have been drawn with Thatchers Britain of the early 80s... .....ts worrying economic situation and outlook did earn it the title last year of the ticking time bomb at the heart of Europe from the Economist magazine.... Thatchers death has added fuel to a debate in France over whether the country needs the same liberal economic remedies that Thatcher prescribed for Britain, to help reboot the ailing economy.... France could definitely do with a dose of Thatcherism. The country has maxed out on state spending and has maxed out on debt. It needs a change of thinking to get back to reality and realize that there are market-based economies that are generating wealth. Many people forget that. "You just have to look at a recent report by the London School of Economics which showed that up until 1980 the UK was growing at a much slower rate than both Germany and France, but after Thatcher came to power that all switched around, with France having the slowest growth rate of the three, and Britain the fastest. Whereas Britain was encouraging privatization and making labour laws more flexible, the exact opposite was happening in France, where Mitterrand was re-nationalizing big companies, which then had to be re- privatized later, because it didnt work. They stiffened the labour market laws until we ended up with a 35 hour week. The private sector is currently being crowded out in France because around 58 percent of Frances GDP is swallowed up by state spending in national and regional governments. The public sector is taking up too much responsibility.... France is in need of the product market competition that Thatcher introduced in the UK. You need to have competitive markets because if you dont you will have high prices, high costs, less profitability and therefore you will be less competitive. Here you have monopolization all across the board, whether its hotels, banks, supermarkets - you name it..... In terms of reducing the power of the unions - yes, France could do with doing this too. ..they do carry a lot of clout. The problem with the labour unions in France is that they protect those in jobs, but there are lots of young people out there who cannot get jobs. The difference between the UK then and France now is that the economic situation in Britain made it ripe for a change and perfect for Thatcherism and it allowed her to do what she did. It was really the sick man of Europe. "France is lagging behind and is ready for a major overhaul...." |
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'France is in need of a dose of Thatcherism'. Paris basedProfessor of Economics tells why France could do with its own dose of Thatcherism.
On Apr 12, 8:59*am, ПеаБраин wrote:
remember a corporation does not work for us it works for the corporation first not rule of law: privatization is a direct assault on our constitution, democracy, and human rights: privatization that Mrs. Thatcher had*not warned them about.*Prices*did not decline proportionally to cost cuts and productivity gains. Many services were cut back, especially on the least utilized transport routes. The largest privatized bus company was charged with cut-throat monopoly practices.*The water*system broke down, while consumer charges leapt. Electricity*prices*were shifted against residential consumers in favor of large industrial users. Economic inequality widened as the industrial labor force shrunk by two million from 1979 to 1997, while wages stagnated in the face of soaring profits for the privatized*companies. The tax cuts financed by their selloff turned out to benefit mainly the rich. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/au...mussolini.html Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. Benito Mussolini Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power. Benito Mussolini "The perfect liberty they seek is the liberty of making slaves of other people." -- Abraham Lincoln http://www.alternet.org/margaret-tha...ake-life-worse |
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