So is Atlas shrugging" in France? When labor union leaders panic over taxes being too high it suggests that yes the trains may soon stop running in a matter of speaking.
People call this the new normal. Let me assure you there is nothing normal about this at all. Its the new abnormal and it wont last because as free people we wont stand for it…"
With those remarks business magnate and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes drew thunderous applause from his audience last Wednesday. Headlining the Power Up!" business and motivational seminar with Sarah Palin Rudy Giuliani and Indian-born Zig Ziglar protg Krish Dhanam Mr. Forbes was speaking before a crowd of ten thousand at the Idaho Center indoor sporting complex.
Forbes had just finished explaining why a confluence of cheap credit billions of dollars in stimulus spending lots of new taxes and government regulations and the ensuing government debt have all failed to stimulate our economy. He was confirming with his technical explanation what many of us know instinctively in our hearts: the reality that no organization- no individual or family no business no government can spend its way out of debt and re-distribute its way to prosperity.
We should all hope that Forbes is right that as free people we wont stand for it." Because if we continue to vote for politicians who viciously take expanding portions of wealth from our societys producers and selfishly redistribute that wealth to those of their choosing eventually the politicians will run out of others peoples money to redistribute and we will all suffer the consequences. The social disorder and collapse of Greece and Spain could be our future in the U.S. if as free people" we dont choose more wisely.
For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear examples abound in this present day of how not to construct a national economy. Greece and Spain qualify yes and so does Venezuela. Yet even within the last week the news from France another bureaucratic debt-laden and not-so-free-anymore part of the free world should be a wake-up call to all Americans.
After five years of service from President Nicolas Sarkozy who sought to reduce government controls of the economy and to stimulate private enterprise French voters tossed him aside last May in favor of a presidential candidate who was nominated jointly by both the French Socialist Party and Frances Radical Left Party." Francois Hollande campaigned with a set of 60 propositions - referred to as his manifesto" which included raising taxes on corporations; raising taxes on banks; raising taxes on rich" individuals; lowering the official retirement age back down to age 60 from 62; hiring 60000 new government school teachers; and establishing government subsidized youth jobs programs" in regions of high unemployment.
Today many French citizens seem horrified that shock! President Hollande is doing precisely what he pledged to do. The situation is very serious" noted Laurence Parisot head of Frances largest labor union MEDEF in an interview with the London Telegraph last week. Some business leaders are in a state of quasi-panic" he claimed as the Telegraph reported that France is sliding into a grave economic crisis and risks a full-blown hurricane as investors flee rocketing tax rates."
In less than six months President Hollande has managed to raise capital gains taxes from 34.5 to 62.2. According to Reporter Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at the London Telegraph this compares to 21 in Spain 26.4 in Germany and 28 in Britain (capital gains taxes reach as high as 35 here in the U.S.).
Mr. Parisot claims that President Hollande has yet to understand the extreme gravity" of the nations crisis." Additionally a private enterprise coalition has launched a nationwide protest movement which they call the State of Emergency For Business" claiming that President Hollandes confiscatory tax rates" threaten lasting damage to their country.
So lets be clear about whats happening in France. A major national labor union leader (Laurence Parisot) arguably a counterpart of Teamsters leader James P. Hoffa here in the U.S. is upset because a Socialist President is taking more money from the rich" and re-distributing it to others via government employment programs. Such policies would seem like a dream come true for the AFL-CIO yet the union leader in France seems to understand that the rich" in his country play a vital role in other peoples livelihoods and simply seizing more of their money is damaging for everybody. Mr. Parisot takes his criticisms further stating that aligning taxes on capital with those on wages is a profound economic error; it is scandalous that the French have been left in such economic ignorance for years" (a stinging indictment on Frances unionized public education system).
So is Atlas shrugging" in France? When labor union leaders panic over taxes being too high it suggests that yes the trains may soon stop running in a matter of speaking.
Here in the U.S. it might not be so much of a proactive shrug" right now as it is a more passive abandonment a sitting on the sidelines" waiting to see what happens" phenomenon with those who could otherwise be starting new businesses (a subtle death by a thousand cuts" perhaps). If hes re-elected President Obama will get his Francois Hollande moment" as he can allow income and capital gains taxes to skyrocket on January 1 (which he has pledged to do) and watch lower and middle income Americans reel from the infliction of Obamacare taxes and penalties.
Lets hope that Steve Forbes is right that this is not our new normal;" that we will reject politicians who are vicious with societys wealth creators; that we will choose to remain a free people" and that we will reject President Obama in November.
