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As French Strikes Continue, Country Runs Out Of Gas
As the ongoing strikes in France against austerity continue, and see increasingly more participation, the latest development is all too familiar to all those who travelled through Athens in the summer: huge lines for gas. About 1,000 gas stations across France have run out of fuel because
strikers had blocked access to oil refineries and depots, Alexandre de
Benoist, a Union of Independent Oil Importers official, told CNN on
Monday. It gets worse: per the AP, the head of France's petroleum industry body said fuel reserves were "enough to keep us going for a few weeks." Jean-Louis Schilansky, president of the Petrol Industries Association, warned however that if the strikers continue to block fuel depots and if the nation's truckers join the movement, "then we will have a very big problem." Sure enough, truckers did join the fray on Monday, staging organized slowdowns aimed at snarling highway traffic. French TV showed images of cars and trucks on a "Snail Operation," driving at a snail's pace along the main highway between Paris and the northern city of Lille, with red union flags waving out the windows. Will Europe's little experiment with Austerity be doomed, as the continent realizes that there is no solution to the imminent insolvency of the PIIGS and soon everyone else, and should just enjoy it last months and days of the existing status quo?
More from CNN on why this is not going to end any time soon:
French workers began their latest round of strikes a week ago, protesting against government plans to raise the retirement age and institute other pension reforms. The government, which contends that France can no longer afford the earlier retirement payments, has shown no sign of backing down. Analysts say pension reform will likely be a defining moment in the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy.
Blasting Sarkozy during a CNN interview Saturday, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe accused the French president of "arrogance." But Sarkozy insists the changes are needed because rising life expectancy increases the financial burden on the pension system.
A government crisis coordination task force met for the first time Monday to discuss the fuel situation, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior said. The group, to be led by Interior Minister Brice Hortefeaux, will aim to "coordinate the action of different state departments to ensure a continuous fuel supply."
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Sunday night he would "not let the French economy be choked by a blockade of fuel.
"There will not be a shortage because we are going to make the necessary decisions ... to ensure that this country is not blocked," he said on TF1 television.
Well that should surely be welcome relief to all those who are waiting to gas up for hours.
Also, fuel may end up being the least of the country's concerns:
Meanwhile, French youth who have rallied to the cause burned tires and set up blockades Monday outside some high schools in Paris and nearby suburbs.
Students from Lycee Joliot Curie in the Paris suburb of Nanterre tried to blockade their school, with about 100 of them facing off against police.
Kids...
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Note to self: Must hoard more Remy.
IN case anyone is interested...
http://www.martinarmstrong.org/files/Nice%20Try%20but%20No%20Cigar%2010-...
Turd, please stop it.
You're scaring the ZH tourists.
Thanks Turd.
I like Martin Armstrong. He acts as if this was ever a free society.
Please Martin: "Show me the Note!"
The one that says you, I, or another (c)itizen owns jack !!!!
Oops? Can't find it?
Please refer to George F. Carlin's bit on the Owners.
The same Martin Armstrong that lost a stack of other people's money, covered it up with fraud and then continued to write authoritatively?
The man has balls.
Hello, PR-firm paid troll for some large bank!
Try to be less transparent next time. You might as well tell us you're a Nigerian princess while you're here.
So which PR firm do you work for?
Oh , That's funny I thought he went to jail because he refused to join GS and others in doing just that . Oh thats his side of the story not the Feds . Not like it ever went to trial .
B2A5DE8E-17C4-29EB-4B06-4C8A89D4ED7D 1.02.28Damn straight I'm interested! This missive is Armstrong at his finest. He's pissed off, frustrated & disgusted as he languishes in Fort Dix Federal prison. Personally, I'm tired of all these fucktard reports put out by the banksters that everyone dotes over as if they were gospel. They have no credibility creating their rubbish & it's a shame folks are mis-led by them if they bother to read the crap. I'll take the Armstrong missives anyday to the bank crap.
Martin Armstrong is in Jail for contempt of Court. Sonia Sotomayor was the Judge?? and now she is where?. Explain to me in plain English why a man who refused to hand over his 'system' gets an open ended stint in jail for contempt of Court. Rapists and child molestation creeps would be out by now while he rots in Jail - For Contempt of Court for fucks sake. You say you have a justice system but it is obvious that justice plays no part in it. Either Martin Armstrong is a Madman or he is a genius with damaging knowledge.
You know the answer - Keep on the right side of the law, that being - in front, on bended knee.
Greeks gettin' down...
Greek ex-ministers face prosecution over scandal
http://www.forexpros.com/news/general-news/greek-ex-ministers-face-prose...
Its okay - BAC just let everyone know their foreclosure process is 'sound' - so everything is fine.
rally on people.
The desperation to put a floor under financials is palpable. Citi noted on the call its securities business did about $30B of originations and the MSR portfolio is a modest $504B of which ~40% is vintage at risk
I hope they got their Armageddon packs from Costco.
No longer available from CostCo. :(
No worries.
Sarkosy and the rest of the elite will simply transfer their girlfriends back to Beverly Hills, where gasoline remains aplenty.
I'll offer him a liter of petrol and half a pack of Marlboro Reds for Carla Bruni.
I suspect you and I couldn't afford her Kleenex expenses. :>)
Never mind her Botox and (soon to seriously distort her looks) really bad cosmetic surgery--think Catwoman! http://www.awfulplasticsurgery.com/2008/11/04/the-many-faces-of-jocelyn-wildenstein/
OH..........MY............GAWD
What???
Oh Noes...Not Liv Tyler too :-(
She's a boob job away from being a "10".
Nice high-bred.
Christ, the gasoline hose has more meat on its bones than this toothpick. BTW how does she actually drive in those shoes? With the heel?
he'll CD I ride my track bike all around in my high heel bitch pumps and high heel Prada boots. it is really fun to fuck with these people.
Safe bitch heels!
france is turning into china. they are censoring out youtube video's now... this is a sociallist movement... not exactly anti government but a crying baby thats wants more milk.
pity.
meanwhile, they use a flimsy currency called the euro with images of architechure on it (no images of hero's) and have a special credit card microchip that they must have to buy and sell..
nothing macho about the euro, or a bunch of middle aaged pot bellied bald headed whiners complaining about an age 62 from 60 retirement age..
jesus christ, these people take the entire month of august OFF!
Yeah, and we should take July too !!!
If we weren't too pay for the US Empire not to collapse, we would be on the 30 hours week & 2 month vacation.
We call it productivity improvement.
Yeah we are socialists !!! And it works, if we don't waste our money to feed the Empire & french collaborators.
Get the pitchforks on the Street & f**k Wall Street !!!!
Is that a gas pump in your hands or are you just glad to see me?
Markets are taking this bit of news badly, eh?
Sarcasm off.
By the way, the federal reserve said what they were going to do and they are doing it.
Nashing of teeth and wailing at walls will not change a thing. I don't like it any more than the rest of you but I don't fight it; I embrace it.
Rich is better than poor; be it in gold or currency. Join the party boys, the punch bowl is full and Ben is on his way with more punch. Endless punch actually.
Code words for the "will" to impose some type of martial law. It's in the cards. After all, anything can be deemed a threat to the state and thus an emergency. If this happens, I give poor odds they will exit the "emergency". Or maybe I should say they, and any other country that slips into economic anarchy, will exit the Big Emergency around the time the various Central Banks exit their liquidity programs.
NEVER
That will be entertaining to watch, French martial law.
LOL, Maybe they can sharpen there focus as they did before. Will the Officer shoot his Cousin or Nephew?
A lot of folks are predicting they will go old school, or they will die.
They might just grow a pair. It'll be ugly and bloody, but it will be effective.
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
They always forget "brutality" for some reason. History remembers Lady Guillotine.
Escape The Fate-The Guillotine (with lyrics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phFGwi1dO5M
We've seen it many times before; indeed, France has, since the Revolution, and especially the arrival of the "Consul" Napoleon, before he anointed himself Emperor, oscillated between a fascist lite state and a fascist full-bore state. In relatively recent memory, the Vichy period represented the full-bore; the Gaullist state, in its various incarnations, represented the "lite." For those of you who remember May 1968, and consider de Gaulle more of a full-bore type, just remember that de Gaulle never instituted camps such as Drancy. He was hard-core, but not full-bore.
Just remember that any French politician has to live up to the Napoleonic standard, in terms of the body politic. When you remember, with severe recoil, that Napoleon was the Hitler of his era, whose defeat in 1815 ushered in 100 years of peace--unheard of in Europe--you may begin to understand the problem set.
History isn't exactly what you read in books....
http://www.truth-it.net/rothschild_fortune.html
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War[7] (19 July 1870 – 10 May 1871) was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia.
100 years?
Really?
Everybody.
Every last French man, woman and child marching about in circles with their hands on their heads looking to surrender to one another.
Awesome!
For Sale
One slightly used MAS-36. Some dings on butt stock, only dropped once.
Any reasonable offer accepted. Will consider trade for liter of petrol ;-)
they will need those white flags to keep them warm when the lights go out.
How the pigs squeal when the trough is removed....
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-18/mortgage-buybacks-may-cost-lend...
guess this is stale and irrelevant now given BAC and C's assurances that all is well.
lol
anyone have the low down on the french pension system, like how serious are the shortfalls and where do they hit the gini curve?
..is this a case of socializing the losses?
Put simply, we need 50 billion euros to pay the pensions each month. We don't have them. Not for ten months, not for a single month.
Send Bernanke and company over, they can get you 75 billion a month before your toast gets cold
What did the CAC do today? I'm sure it must be under pressure.
pathetic. the french now get the reverse of what they wanted. gasoline inflates massively because they are blocking gas in protest of high prices. black market develops, more people get hurt. this is precisely what happens when a country keeps everyone heavily "stimulated" through govermnet "rescue" programs. pretty soon the "knowledge and means of production" are completely bred *OUT* of the system and as in greece--- all they know how to do now is protest vs produce for themselves. remember: jesus was a shepherd--- benjamin franklin was a farmer.
Jesus was a carpenter. David was a shepherd. Franklin was to be a candle maker, not a farmer. You are a fool.
deleted
franklin's FATHER was a candlemaker.
try this one on for size: On the Price of Corn, and Management of the Poor
HH , and you are being unkind, accusatory so you must be right? eh?
pamrillic,
The gospel Mark says Jesus was a "tekton" and Matthew says he was the "son of a tekton". Wikipedia alledges that the word "tekton" (Greek) meant "builder". So that would make him either a carpenter or a stonemason. There are no other references to his occupation. Other than the Roman record, apparently nothing was written about him during his lifetime. He alledgedly said; to the fishermen; "I will make you fishers of men" but nobody thinks he was a fisherman.
Jesus was a mechanic, too?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXCh9OhDiCI
Have you ever been to France? Have you ever een OUS for that matter? FYI France is a nation of farmers, duh!
Close - France is a nation of heavily subsidised farmers.
correct!
give that man a combine harvester
Mais non!
A scythe. The combine ess an Americaine machine zat ess far too productifve! Eet weel make ze price of zee cheese perfume go down!
Pathetic comment....
At least they have the guts to stand against the regime.
It's the only way to do if you don't want to take it up the ass.
Americans should learn to do so to, but that would be UNpatriotic. HA!
The US dollar shortage in global banking
~Bank for International Settlements
Understanding the global financial crisis and the stresses on bank balance sheets
requires a perspective on banks’ international investment positions and how these
positions were funded across currencies and counterparties. This special feature uses
the BIS international banking statistics to identify the cross-currency and counterparty
funding patterns for the largest banking systems, and to assess the causes of the
US dollar shortage during the critical phases of the crisis.
The current financial crisis has highlighted just how little is known about the
structure of banks’ international balance sheets and their interconnectedness.
During the crisis, many banks reportedly faced severe US dollar funding
shortages, prompting central banks around the world to adopt unprecedented
policy measures to supply them with funds. How could a US dollar shortage
develop so quickly after dollar liquidity had been viewed as plentiful? Which
banking systems were most affected? And how have funding pressures
affected lending to non-bank end users of funds?
At the level of individual banking systems, the growth in European banks’
global positions is particularly noteworthy (Graph 1, centre panel). For
example, Swiss banks’ foreign claims jumped from roughly five times Swiss
nominal GDP in 2000 to as much as eight times in mid-2007. Dutch, French,
German and UK banks’ foreign claims expanded considerably as well. In
contrast, Canadian, Japanese and US banks’ foreign claims grew in absolute
terms over the same period, but did not significantly outpace the growth in
domestic or world GDP (Graph 1, right-hand panel). While much of the
increase for some European banking systems reflected their greater intra-euro
area lending following the introduction of the single currency in 1999, their estimated US dollar- (and other non-euro-) denominated positions accountedfor more than half of the overall increase in their foreign assets between end-2000 and mid-2007.
Taken together, Graphs 2 and 3 thus show that several European banking
systems expanded their long US dollar positions significantly after 2000, and
funded them primarily by borrowing in their domestic currency from home
country residents. This is consistent with European universal banks using their
retail banking arms to fund the expansion of investment banking activities,which have a large dollar component and are concentrated in major financial centres. In aggregate, European banks’ combined long US dollar positions grew to more than $800 billion by mid-2007 (Graph 5, top left-hand panel),
funded by short positions in pounds sterling, euros and Swiss francs. As banks’
cross-currency funding grew, so did their hedging requirements and FX swap
transactions, which are subject to funding risk when these contracts have to be
rolled over.
Taken together, these estimates suggest that European banks’ US dollar
investments in non-banks were subject to considerable funding risk. The net
US dollar book, aggregated across the major European banking systems, is
portrayed in Graph 5 (bottom left-hand panel), with the non-bank component
tracked by the green line. By this measure, the major European banks’ US
dollar funding gap reached $1.1–1.3 trillion by mid-2007.12 Until the onset of
the crisis, European banks had met this need by tapping the interbank market
($400 billion) and by borrowing from central banks ($380 billion),13 and used
FX swaps ($800 billion) to convert (primarily) domestic currency funding into
dollars.
You need to start cutting and pasting into a word processor first where you can remove the extra carriage returns. As it is now, your directly pasted text is too hard to read.
SD;
If you are in the US, you have at least two Senators and one Representative. Nothing unpatrotic about sending them a sorcher. It is their job!
Taking a scorcher up the ass in Congress?
Give me freebies, or give me death!
...Wait!
It's Unpatriotic NOT to do so...from a French point de vue.
That's why we live with being called socialist, or anything else by amercian folk.
At least, we do something from time to time.
Watching TV while eating burgers won't free american people that much.
That's fun we, french people, appear lazy to a people which democracy is crushed at such a pace with no reaction at all.
How many people on food stamps with no reaction ? The worst is american people are still proud of such a system.
THAT DOES NOT WORK ! And never did. The growth was only due to european people killing themselves & sending their gold to Wall Street to keep on.
How many free billions that way, just to be a third World country + Wall Street & Hollywood. Just enough to hide the ugly reality.
Your wealth came from outside, and outside it is now going. And still no reaction.
It needs men to keep an Empire alive. The US won the lotery in 1918 & 1945. And they already spent all that away for nothing. In beers & TV shows, just like a dumb unemployed guy.
Pathetic.
Sounds like a job for al Qaeda.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/10/17/france.terror.threat/index.html
The various public retirement systems should have been indexed to a floating standard, e.g.: "average age of death (over 50)", a long time ago - perhaps at inception. It will be painful to fix the problem.
Given this is the EU - why can't the station owners just contract with refineries in Belgium or Germany for delivery on German trucks?
Who could foresee the huge growth in life expectancy? German tanker trucks burn just like French tanker trucks.. If the poorer suburbs around Paris really get going, things will get interesting fast.
Looks to me like it is definitely going to get interesting fast. Looks like this will be TPTB's first respectable rebellion. Good thing it's happening where people have the stomach for it.
"cause they will need to escort them with German Tanks. And the last time didn't go well, had to call Patton in to sort the mess!!
I see Bundeswehr Leopards in Paris escorting fuel trucks or worse battling Leclerc's and I am going to start digging..
Sarky has to go out for a walk, any takers?
Only if the girlfriend accompanies.
Jeeeeez!!!!! Thats a hell of a thing to scroll down to...
Is that like one of those bumper sticker thingamlajiggies where he's peeing on the EU symbol? Is there a hidden meaning here, some illuminati conspiracy stuff? Will it shortly be featured on Vigilant Citizen alongside Lady Gaga and her Tartare Meat Dress?
Yes, buy him a one way tcket to hungary actually make that two, one for his italian mate too...
Yes, buy him a one way tcket to hungary actually make that two, one for his italian mate too...
I currently live in Paris so I can give some information to ZH readers.
Strikes in France are ordinary, but a movement of this extent has indeed never been seen since 1968. Current figures indicate that 2,500 stations have runned out of fuel, not just 1,000, on a total of 12,500 in the entire country. The supermarkets, where most fuel is sold in France, indicate that there will be nothing left at the end of the week. The only 12 refineries of the country are still in strike and will stay this way until at least Friday.
The police has started to make requisitions (the order has been given by Sarkozy himself) and deblocking oil depots by force.
The gov looks very panicked, as truck drivers have entered the strike (deblocking the depots is now useless, because nobody is here to pick up the oil).
Some cities like Toulouse, Grenoble and the suburbs of Seine Saint Denis look like civil war areas, as some "casseurs" (hoodlums) are profiting from the confusion. And there are plenty of them in France.
If the gov withdraws is project, then it is facing the same future as Ireland or Greece in less than a month. If the gov doesn't give up and so do the strikers, then the possibility could be a total paralysisation of the country and a terrible economic chain reaction. Criminals could also profit from the situation and vandalize stores, as the police will only have bicycles left to move in the country.
Very interesting. Thanks for the valuable input.
It would seem that the most likely "solution" is some form of appeasement. This would likely cause some Euro weakness and dollar strength. Just what the doctor (Benny) ordered.
Greece 2009 Deficit Could Be Revised Up To 16%: Fin Min OfflATHENS (MNI) - Greece's 2009 public deficit could be revised to 16% of GDP from 13.6%, the general secretary of the Finance Ministry hinted Monday.
These are the works of the previous government, which up to last September said the deficit was 6%," Dimitris Georgakopoulos told a Greek radio station. "And the deficit is heading towards 16%.
The official was referring to upward revisions for the deficit and debt for 2006-2009 expected to be announced by Eurostat on Friday. The initial revisions given by Eurostat in April were 0.3-0.8% for the deficit in 2009 and up to 7% for the public debt.
Since then, however, Eurostat officials have been inspecting the data, which showed that the states obligations towards hospitals, indebted public utilities and social security funds were much higher than initially estimated.
In the past few days, Greek media have reported that the 2009 debt will be revised between 14.5% and 15.5%, citing Finance Ministry sources, while the debt will be revised by 10%.
Government sources told Market News that the figures have not been finalized yet, as the process of collecting data will continue up to the last minute.
Both Eurostat and the Greek government want to close the books on the past and remove the asterisks that have been accompanying the data up to now.
But the revisions are expected to affect the 2010 and 2011 targets and a new package of austerity measures should be announced in November after the municipal elections.
According to this year's data through September, revenues and expenditure results have not reached the targets set in the loan accord signed by Greece and the EU and the IMF in May.
http://imarketnews.com/node/20958
JezzoPete, as if on cue, the USDX rallies 20 bps. Gold and ES futures sell off.
Appeasement? The French? Nah.... Never happen.
The French opened the gates to democracy in 1789 with the French revolution. They really know what it means to stand together as one.
RESPECT TO THE FRENCH! VIVE LA FRANCE!
I'm your neighbour from Belgium ;)
SD,
Do you believe that Belgium will split into two separate countries (EU statelets)?
+1789
Vive la revolution...
Could you please be more specific with regard to which "criminals" you're talking about? Are you by chance referring to the one's currently running France?
Talking about petty criminals, of course. White-collar crime is doing fine ;)
In other words, there's always a bull market in white collar crime.
That's why the stock markets are up.
just a guess but black market gasoline is usually stolen and without the police people and shops are robbed. when the shtf in teh usa it will be 10x worse but this is a taste of what it will be like.
"criminals" meaning what? Is this PC speak for Muslim immigrants or Roma?
I like riding my bike. One of the benefits of the great Slackening will be more folks on them more often. IMHO.
And that will mean the Martial Law for real, as the Army drivers will have to replace civilians on requisitioned trucks from requisitioned refineries, and the whole enchilada will have to be escorted and guarded heavily. Hoping that will suffice....and will not generate IED ambushes on the French highways...
I hope it cools off...for the French people's sake.
Or their Government's sake. Ironic that all the talkers about the American "sheeple" find so much to ridicule in another people willing to make a stand against their government.
Something makes me wonder if it's uncomfortable envy that's driving it.
+1
It has already been made available 10.000 from the french army to intervene in interior matters. A few month ago.
I hope it gets messy quickly, for my countries Sake. It will certainly hurt a bit. But who wants security instead of liberty does not deserves neither. And that's from an american Statesman.
We can just hope the Army will be loyal to our country & not to the foreign interests.
If not, it will be REALLY messy.
It has already been made available 10.000 from the french army to intervene in interior matters. A few month ago.
I hope it gets messy quickly, for my countries Sake. It will certainly hurt a bit. But who wants security instead of liberty does not deserves neither. And that's from an american Statesman.
We can just hope the Army will be loyal to our country & not to the foreign interests.
If not, it will be REALLY messy.
Indeed. May the young men of your military find the courage to answer to a higher moral authority.
Maybe the students need a change in tactics then.
The protests should be moved to the police stations, with the objective of blockading the police into their offices. If the police are not free to roam the countryside unmolested then they will find it harder to interfere with the protests in general.
In other words; take the fight to the police, don't let the police take the fight to you.
Any truth to the rumor that a strike has been called to protest the inability of le fraternitie to travel on the shutdown public transport system to the protest sites?
Don't think so.
If so, it is irrelevant, for there is no noise from that.
Still the all lot of the protests relies on that issue.
The most of the people want a reform. The problem is fraternité on that reform. Still the same to profit & the same to pay.
There has been strikes like that back in 95 !! needless to say, Sarkozy WILL NOT drop his pants, we know that...if he does, the 20% sympathizers he's got left would abandon him, it is not in his interest to say...oh, you don't want this reform ? okay, let's forget about it...aside from the fact that the man is definitely not a diplomat...The guy is highly unpopular, that's what the strikes are about now, it has a highly political connotation. We need a refom, no sound French person will deny that, but the reform the gvt wants to impose is highly unjust and will only serve the purpose of the richest percentile once again. On the other side, the strikes can't go on much longer as paralization of the country could have a boomerang effect with people getting tired and angry if difficulties in getting gas, going to work etc last..this could serve Sarkozy with a potential return of sympathizers. Then again, what the hell have we got to lose ??
Looting will not be severe if it comes after a loss of fuels. People start hoarding groceries at the same time. In the states it will be, canned goods and ammo.
The fun will really start when the politicians have to ride their bicycles through the streets to go to and from the National Assembly to vote on further austerity measures!
+ infinité
wihout oil the police will be useless. Now theres a good lesson for us. Defensive or offensive, oil can be used by all sides. Every army needs their supply chain. Without oil even the military is ficked.
Interesting point, that.
Does the public support this? In USA if you closed the gas stations and blocked the roads a lot of strikers would be attacked by angry motorists.
A more targeted approach would seem to be in order.
A recent survey indicates that 71% of French people support these actions.
Excellent. Then I will only be 29% sad when France starves (whether it is now or later--it is coming thanks to actions like this).
Ha!
Actions like this is the expression of freedom !
That's because Americans are mostly self centered. In France everybody stands together and realize that like you say "angry motorists" is the most selfish act possible.
You guys can just watch buy how people get beat up, robbed, shot and do nothing about it. Here in Europe, you get other reactions.
I've seen crowd go against trash like that.
Something for you guys to think about.
You are the same as your neighbour. If you help him, he'll help you.
In Texas if you kill someone, we kill you back. Similar for shootings.
From what I saw of Europe (England), the people there are totally pacified, and would simply walk the other way if they saw someone being stabbed. At best they would call the police.
Also note that throwing a tantrum, as the French are doing now, does NOTHING to help them. All it does is force the government to allow the destruction of capital to continue, a course that is certain to end in starvation, as the angry American motorist knows. If he can't get to work, how is he supposed to feed his family? Take that and multiply it by the national population, and you see the real effect of actions like this.
I wonder if the strikers are letting ambulances by?
Admittedly, the French and their govt seem to be talking at cross purposes. Sarkozy is failing to articulate that he won't kick the can down the road (to the people's benefit), and the young strikers are the very people who will be burdened by allowing the old to continue retiring at 65.
I'm no fan of the French, but their solidarity and spirit in standing up to TPTB is admirable. Whilst at University in France in the 90's, the students were upset about something, and in a day they had a gameplan and occupied an SNCF station of a main southwestern town. Students did this likewise across France, effectively paralysing the rail network. As a student in London as well, the then Tory govt was making noises to cut student grants. The student union tried to organise a rally, but no one wanted to protest because it was raining. I daresay American students are just as apathetic as the British.
When was the last time there was a million man march to DC? (honest question)
Uh . . . uhmmm . . . ah . . . well . . . damn sheeple . . . MSM . . . criminal banksters and congresscons . . . buying guns and ammo (I'm so bad) . . . uh . . . pathetic Frenchmen . . .
Talk is so damn cheap. Perhaps we've outsourced keeping it real.
I HAVE A DREAM ..... that was the good ol days folks !
Sorry, you won't get alot of impact with that reference here. MLK inspired black people and liberals. Most people with money don't see that as a cultural achievement. Neither for the earlier Labor strikes.
Oui! En zee name of solidariteee, eff one Frenchman throw a tantrum, everybodeee throw a tantrum so nobodee ever stop throweeeing ze tantrums so as to proff zat we are French sloidariteeee tantrum throwers. Unlike ze Bosch. Zey just beat ze sheet out of you before you can throw ze tantrum. Sil vous plait, please pass ze Cheese flavored Wine. Merci.
Estupide Americaines
I just don't understand how stopping people from driving helps them. Now they can't work, go to the doctor, it seems like a selfish act by the strikers to me. Cultural difference, I suppose.
It is too dangerous to go on strike in the private sector, for the Unios are very weak in France. You would be fired quickly. Even more now, with the youth on short terms contracts.
Then, blocking the transports allows to paralyse the production, without the private sector to go on strike.
It's like going on general strike without anyone to do it.
It is the best way, as long as we have the patience to respect the law while we protest.
I hope soon it will be understood Unios are effective only when it turns to illegal action.
So you're saying the French people are standing together demanding that the government continue paying into a welfare system they can no longer support? It's amazing to me that even on a site like ZH how many people are under the delusion that government transfer payments are only a matter of "will", that somehow basic economic principles like looking at national income versus outgo never enters into their thinking.
Self centered? Not good neighbors?
We were good enough neighbors to help you all out in WWII when you had your tits in the wringer.
I was waiting for this :)
So did I.
Actually some, and soon much more, know we should not have been freed.
The point in being freed is to be free, not to change the master. US go home & f**k yerself.
In the end, we have lot more in common with germans, spaniards and italians than Anglo-Saxons. It would have been better for us to lose that war. I'm sure the nazi totalitarism would have crashed trough the 60's or 70's.
in 2010, that means we lost at leat 40 years.
As we say, hindsight is a bitch.
This clearly demonstrates how many brain-washed people are in the USA.
Thank goodness the American government has not bankrupted its national pension, the Social Security Trust.
Oh, wait a moment. I got that wrong.
Too bad the American government has also bankrupted its national pension, the Social Security Trust.
This is good for the euro currency especially as this mentality spreads to other euro zone countries [end sarcasm]
The point is, is that even with QE, the dollar may strengthen against the euro which will hurt /dx.
Obiously a negative for the U.S equity market and commodites to include /gc, /si
I don't think France alone would cause a material impact but if these types of protests cause contagion in other eurozone countries than that could cause a significant impact. Don't see this happening except maybe Greece.
Violence is starting to spread in Spain (43% unemployment for youth under 25).
Italy & Portugal are moving a bit. Iceland already sent a f**k to the system. Irish people understood they got nothing with reforming. For the ones wo don't play this game still are covered by the CBE. Germans sure won't be glad to pay for everyone... England is broke.
Belgium is no more a country. Last elections in Netherland & Sweden saw a surge on extremism.
Still counting the reasons for the USE to explode soon.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, pictured in Potsdam on Saturday at a conference of younger members her …
by Audrey Kauffmann Audrey Kauffmann – Sun Oct 17, 11:50 am ETBERLIN (AFP) – Germany's attempt to create a multi-cultural society has failed completely, Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the weekend, calling on the country's immigrants to learn German and adopt Christian values.
Merkel weighed in for the first time in a blistering debate sparked by a central bank board member saying the country was being made "more stupid" by poorly educated and unproductive Muslim migrants.
"Multikulti", the concept that "we are now living side by side and are happy about it," does not work, Merkel told a meeting of younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party at Potsdam near Berlin.
"This approach has failed, totally," she said, adding that immigrants should integrate and adopt Germany's culture and values.
"We feel tied to Christian values. Those who don't accept them don't have a place here," said the chancellor.
"Subsidising immigrants" isn't sufficient, Germany has the right to "make demands" on them, she added, such as mastering the language of Goethe and abandoning practices such as forced marriages.
GO MERKEL.
Wonder when we might expect OUR President to say something like that? Maybe a quarter to NEVER?
Multiculturalism is a TOTAL failure. Diversity is WORTHLESS.
It is all nothing more than the devisive-speak of the power elite in this country, among the media and financiers.
Nailed it: divide and conquer.
Celebrating "diversity" means celebrating division.
A more rational approach would be to celebrate those things all humans have in common...but that would make the underclass cohesive and powerful.And that is certainly not endorsed by TPTB.Divide and enslave is the modern act by TPTB.
My best wishes to the French people, I hope they throw off the shackles.
And Merkle is right.Completely.
Germany could try to assimilate its immigrants, or pay them to go home, but the US is too multicultural at its core, with too large and widely disparate Anglo, Hispanic and African cultures to even imagine that assimilation could be possible. We're stuck with diversity, like it or not. But we don't have to maintain the bs pretense that diversity is some kind of advantage. It isn't. It's a challenge.
I think we are diverse in heritage-but we all want success (and a majority of Americans will sacrifice for success). In that sense, we have some common ground. There are some who do not understand sacrifice and believe that is someone else's problem. This type of individual occupies a stripe running through all heritages. All countries would be better off without this type of individual. We need to remember that diversity is not the problem. The bad mentality of unwillingness to contribute and narcissism IS the problem.
without challenge what good is life? we will be stronger for having been challenged . or succumb.
People's ability to live peacefully with those from other cultures relies more on access to resources and prosperity than it does anything else. Meaning that people get along when they're all rich and start hating each other when they're not. Germans wouldn't give a shit about Muslims if the larger economy wasn't such crap. Same goes for France/Roma, U.S./Mexicans, and every other nation with xenophobic tendancies towards a group of immigrants living within their borders.
Shouldn´t Inspector Closeau take care of this mess ?
So does this mean France won't be ahead of the US on the 2010 list of wealthiest (per capita) nations?
:)
What this should teach us is that a crisis simply will not jolt the populace into reality. Not one French striker is saying, "Hey, I guess our demands were unsustainable, and the government isn't actually a magical infinite horn of plenty. We should adjust our way of living to the way reality actually operates." No, when the government spends two generations carefully inculcating in its citizens a childlike, dependent, naive faith in its omnipotence, once reality catches up to the government's promises, this is what happens. The citizens don't wake up. There's not a peaceful reform. They get angry and demand what was promised to them. They don't care that what was promised doesn't exist. They demand it, and they believe the simple fact of their demands and threats of violence will cause what they want to simply spring forth from the wellspring of government abundance.
Teaching people that the government is the source of prosperity and fortune may make for good politics in the short run, but in the long run, it could lose you your head.
Enter Monsieur Guillotine, stage right...
+1 - well said.
They'd better be careful or the Sark will send them to bed without supper.
This is just crap...it's absolutely not what we think. You obviously don't understand the dynamics there.
This is just crap...it's absolutely not what we think. You obviously don't understand the dynamics. We are demanding a just, democratically planned, debated reform and it is absolutely not the case.
This is just crap...it's absolutely not what we think. You obviously don't understand the dynamics. We are demanding a just, democratically planned, debated reform and it is absolutely not the case.