It's hardly a surprise, in light of economic events. David Dayen of FDL outlines the results, and discusses consequences for the Eurozone. Paul Krugman offers a few thoughts as well.
Based on what I've read, it seems the French and the Greeks had good reasons to boot out their current governments: in France at least, the political center-right was the author of the failed austerity policy, which together with Germany it managed to impose on the rest of the Eurozone.
Turning to the coming US election, the economic disaster on Obama's watch is largely... not completely, but mostly... the fault of his Republican predecessor, GeeDubya Bush. But the instinct of any electorate seems to be to blame the party in power, and I wonder if our voters will do that.
And if Rmoney wins (or successfully steals) the election, I wonder how long it will be before we have people "dumpster-diving" for food and clothing, as we recently learned is happening in Greece.
L'Enfant de la Haute Mer (start at this link and scroll down) examines both French and Greek elections, though her accompanying graphics (cartoons?) seem not to be serving at the moment.
The frustrating thing is that we know, from actual national experience in the 1930s, how to remedy the greater part of the economic downturn... and our leaders, all of them, are doing just the opposite of what worked before, utterly ignoring the wisdom of Keynes. The "reasons" they offer for the bad policy decisions are all just plain nuts: the real reason is that under current conditions, the wealthiest of the wealthy in America are doing just fine, better than ever.
Aren't you glad we have a representative form of government? [/snark]
UPDATE Mon. about 2:00PM CT: David Dayen of FDL explains: "Hollande Issues Challenge to Germany" ... well worth your time to read.
UPDATE Mon. about 10:00PM CT: Maria Margaronis, London correspondent of The Nation, contributes "The Day After: Europe Rejects Austerity" ... again, well worth your time.
Monday, May 7, 2012
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When I saw that the Golden Dawn had made gains in Greece I smiled at the prospect of the ghosts of W B Yeats and Aleister Crowley debating in the Greek Parliament houss....
ReplyDelete.... Then I saw what a bunch of vile scumbags the Greek Golden Dawn re and the smile was wiped of my face
Shaun, perhaps it's a case of "any port in a storm" ... rather like my voting for Obama.
ReplyDeleteBut no storm warrants voting for the Fourth Reich
ReplyDeleteBrussel An Men Square:
ReplyDeletehttp://inconue.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/brussel-an-men-square-by-ioannou/
Creepy Video of Greek Neo-Nazi Party Leader (The Atlantic)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/05/creepy-video-of-greek-neo-nazi-party-leader/256834/
Greek Golden Down: 21 representatives in parliament out of 300!
jams, Enfant... well, OK, that does sound pretty bad! In America, our Nazis at least have the good taste to dress up as Republicans...
ReplyDeleteSteve,
ReplyDeleteOver here, we watched two rounds of the French election campaign very closely: Me and some like me constantly on satellite channels.
Not to say that most Greeks, especially in the second round, were more involved in French politics and less in Greek, where the ballot was meant one of wrath and punishment.
I dedicated lot of posts on French politics from the beginning of Sarkozy's office, many lately, in connection with the war in Libya
Personally politically, I am on two boats the Greek and the French, where I spent most of my adult life, I studied, worked, had a child and taught. And now time came for cartoons.
Enfant, the "BrusselAnMen Square" cartoon says a lot, doesn't it!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wish I had been born French. But the French have had their share of troubles as well, and I'd probably still spend mornings and evenings complaining on my blog, only in a different language.
Shaun, notwithstanding Godwin's Law, my comparison of American Republicans to Nazis was quite premeditated. And they're getting worse by the year.
ReplyDeleteGodwin's Law is irrelevant-----a disassembling propaganda device. If it looks like a Nazi, salutes like a Nazi and destroys democracy like a Nazi chances Are it's a Nazi, a Republican, or a neo-con Democrat
ReplyDelete