France
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I don't think it's that simple, jon.
"What they can afford."
France is doing things right and are paying for it because the rest of the world dilly-dallies. France rates way above the US when it comes to addressing climate change. It has strict business regulations. It has a recycling rate of 50% (the US is a meager 6%). France cares for it's citizens by providing them with healthcare (we all know the situation in the US). None of this is cheap. But it is right.
Then there are the peculiarities of being in the EU. Their debt is not in their own currency (I don't exactly know why this matters, but I've read from several sources that it makes a difference.). As a ratio to the GDP, their debt numbers are lower than the US. There is also wealth inequality that has risen fast. High unemployment at around 8% that doesn't budge.
It seems to me that when wealth is transfered to private hands as it has done so grotesquely in the past 40 years, that wealth is not invested in the well-being of a country. It is used by the wealthy to get more wealth. If the government taxed at appropriate levels, that wealth would go into societal investment, and it would benefit everyone, not just the wealthy who continue to get wealthier. It's a bad cycle and one that needs to be halted in it's tracks. Citizens of society create wealth and it's been getting scooped up beyond the limits of decency for too long.
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No sooner had I posted above, then I see a new video today from Richard Murphy ...
Link to video -
I think the tax for high earners is already close to 60%. That may well be on the other side of the laffer curve. More than half don’t pay income tax at all.
They famously tried a wealth tax and rolled it back because the wealthy were leaving.
Those protesters/looters/nihilists are in for a surprise.
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@bernard Please watch this and tell me what you think...
Link to videoI'm all about written and spoken English, and I'm not trying to be immodest, but I do have good manners (short note to gallery, imo manners are not rules but a sensibility you develop - or don't- of how you should behave, moving on...), but after watching this channel for awhile, it occurs to me that I might actually have a lot in common with the way the French communicate.
I actually like to be direct, when I choose to be, and I, someone who views the world through a lend of English history, the English language, and London's cultural hegemony in the English speaking world, can be terse, if I'm not careful. I don't think of being terse as English or French, btw. Just bad manners.
I 100% identify with the French character in this series, not the English mirror reflection character.
This seems kind of ironic and strange to me.
I was never into France, Paris, and French culture all that much, but it's becoming more interesting to me as I get older.
I respect France's history, and its middle and working classes, their solidarity, and their willingness to stand up for themselves (e.g. now).
But it's not my history. I don't claim to fully understand it.
But it the English really act like this character, and there must be some truth in it, it's cloying. Now @andyd Please don't challenge me to a duel.
In fairness, I could never be this character. Much too put together, polished, impervious, glamourous...
Also strangely I've decided I like French cinema and I don't understand a word of it. And I'm a die hard Hollywood person.
[English character mode] Sorry for rambling on. [/ English character mode]
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@bernard Please watch this and tell me what you think...
Link to videoI'm all about written and spoken English, and I'm not trying to be immodest, but I do have good manners (short note to gallery, imo manners are not rules but a sensibility you develop - or don't- of how you should behave, moving on...), but after watching this channel for awhile, it occurs to me that I might actually have a lot in common with the way the French communicate.
I actually like to be direct, when I choose to be, and I, someone who views the world through a lend of English history, the English language, and London's cultural hegemony in the English speaking world, can be terse, if I'm not careful. I don't think of being terse as English or French, btw. Just bad manners.
I 100% identify with the French character in this series, not the English mirror reflection character.
This seems kind of ironic and strange to me.
I was never into France, Paris, and French culture all that much, but it's becoming more interesting to me as I get older.
I respect France's history, and its middle and working classes, their solidarity, and their willingness to stand up for themselves (e.g. now).
But it's not my history. I don't claim to fully understand it.
But it the English really act like this character, and there must be some truth in it, it's cloying. Now @andyd Please don't challenge me to a duel.
In fairness, I could never be this character. Much too put together, polished, impervious, glamourous...
Also strangely I've decided I like French cinema and I don't understand a word of it. And I'm a die hard Hollywood person.
[English character mode] Sorry for rambling on. [/ English character mode]
@Daniel That was fun.
The French have their rules, but who doesn't?One should never enter a shop and immediately tell the counter person that you'd like a loaf of bread (or whatever). It is considered rude not to say "Bonjour, madame" or "Bonjour, monsieur" before anything else is spoken.
Also, the French we learned in textbooks is not how French people speak in everyday life. This is part of the reason immersion is the best way to learn to converse in French. I'd love to immerse myself in French culture for at least a year but that's not likely to happen any time soon.
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Link to video
On a more serious note, I suspect in fact I know the same thing has happened in Europe.
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