New School Politics

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This past summer I wrote about the great hope I had in Nicolas Sarkozy to restore capitalism to France and by doing so, save its lagging economy. I had read transcripts of his translated speeches, saw him on television multiple times and read enough articles about him to feel that he was somebody who could truly enact change in that once great nation which is slowly being marginalized in the global arena. I stand here today disappointed that this man who had such great rhetoric on the campaign trail failed to live up to his promises.

Sarkozy has proven to be a protectionist in his trade policies and just as socialist, in most other policies, as the machinery he claimed he would tear down. His popularity in France has dropped 13% and, instead of sticking to his convictions, he has simply given in. This past Monday he spoke to steelworkers and declared he would save their plant from being shutdown, on Wednesday he promised bonuses to low-income pensioners and, in response to a slow down by taxi drivers, the same day ended plans to deregulate that service. All of these are far cries from his campaign days where he gained widespread support for wanting to significantly reduce government regulation and handouts, and create a more privatized economy. Obviously this is not the man the French people thought they would be getting when they overwhelmingly voted for him and gave his party a considerable majority in the National Assembly.

The biggest disappointment, however, has been his handling of the Societe General (SocGen) situation. SocGen is a major French bank that has recently experienced tremendous losses. Sarkozy has been adamant that only another French company may bid for the bank. This ignorant protectionist view will do more harm than good for SocGen and the French economy as a whole. SocGen will not get the best price if foreign companies are not allowed to bid on it, so the shareholders will be injured. The French economy will take a blow as investors who may have believed in Sarkozy’s rhetoric about opening France to globalism will realize that he is no different than previous French protectionist politicians, and invest their money elsewhere.

Popularity: 39% [?]

President Bush’s new stimulus planned, now approved by Congress, will send checks of at least $300 to over 100 million American in an effort to jumpstart the lagging economy.  For the plan to work it is necessary that citizens receiving these rebates go out and consume right away.  However such a plan is only a minor fix and will end up exacerbating the original problem that caused this recession: debt. 

The major event leading to the downward economic spiral we find ourselves in today was the subprime mortgage crisis, which essentially meant that many new lower income bracket homeowners could not pay their mortgages, leading the banks to have to foreclose.  Furthermore, Americans, as a whole, owe more money than they are taking in because of widespread ignorance about how to properly use a credit card and budget.  Our government is even having major issues with budget management as our outstanding national debt is approximately $9 trillion, with over $2 trillion of that being owed to foreign governments.  In fact, we borrowed the $168 billion for this stimulus package from China.   

At a time when the American people and government have so much debt to pay off, how does a plan help in which the government has to borrow billions of more dollars, and encourages the people to go further into debt by buying a new television, computer or DVD player?  Temporarily there will be a surge in profits and sales, but as soon as monthly payments for product with low down payments and high interest rates are due we will see how the economy does then.  My prediction is not too good. 

Popularity: 46% [?]

The Democratic Party has declared themselves the party of change in this election.  All of their presidential candidates have claimed to be more in tune with the will of the American people than their Republican counterparts.  Ironically however, the proccess through which one will be granted the Democratic Party’s nomination has a very undemocratic quality: superdelegates.Many people, including myself until recently, are not aware of their existence in the nomination process, let alone realizing how much influence they truly have.  A superdelegate is a delegate that is not bound by the results of their state’s primary or caucus.  No matter how wide the margin of victory is in their state for a particualr candidate, they are free to vote for a different one.  Superdelegates make up approximately 20% of the total amount of Democratic delegates, meaning the people only have 80% of the say, unlike the Republican party where the people are the only determining factor.Superdelegates were created in the 1970s as party leaders saw their ability to control the nomination waning.  It was a way for them to still have some power and provide a check to the people.  It is an incredibly elitist policy that defies the party’s rhetoric about standing for all of the little people in this country, and it is also the reason Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination.Superdelegates are basically made up of party leaders and long-serving elected Democrats, many of whom are intimate acquaintances of, indebted to or part of the political machine of both Bill and Hillary.  There is not any doubt who most of them will vote for when deciding between a Clinton and an unfamiliar face in Washington.  In most counts Clinton has about double the amount of superdelegates as Obama.  In this extremely close race the difference may not even lie with the American people, and, if that is the case, Hilary wins and Obama loses because of one of the qualities that has made him so appealing throughout the country, his perceived distinctness from the Washington political culture and resolve to change it.

Popularity: 31% [?]

France, which has for a long time been the most leftist of the modern industrial nations, is finally embracing the free market. The new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has vowed to disassemble the 35-hour working week, cut taxes, weaken the unions and guarantee minimum service on public transport during strikes. All of these have been key features of France’s socialist state. On Sunday, June 10, in the first round of the parliamentary elections Sarkozy received a clear mandate to carry out his reforms. His party, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), won 42% of the vote, while the next closest, the Socialist Party, only won 28%. It is believed that the UMP will end up with anywhere between 381-505 of the 577 seats in France’s national assembly. With such a majority Sarkozy will be able to free France’s economy from the shackles of socialism.

Sunday’s election also dismantled the entire left of France. The major leftist party, the Socialist Party, is in complete disarray after humiliating losses in the presidential elections and now the parliamentary elections. Also, the Communist Party, which at one time was a serious force in French politics, won only 4.3% of the vote, and the Green Party, which was expected to make a strong showing, only managed to garner 3.3%. The leftists now are in a very difficult position because if they stick to their beliefs they will continue to shrink to insignificance in French politics. Their only option at this point is to accept some free market reforms, as the major leftist parties in the UK, Germany, and other nations have.

While France still has a long way to go, it appears as if they are on their way to eliminating the socialist state which has caused economic stagnation for many years. Sarkozy has received his mandate from the people, it is now up to him to transform France into a free market economy.

Popularity: 51% [?]