Posted on 02/24/2016 10:44:38 PM PST by Citizen Zed
Lower taxes, fewer labor rules, less state: in a country famed for its attachment to a protective social model, economic liberalism is the surprise trend among aspirants for France's 2017 presidential election.
For decades, the French center-right eschewed the free market policies of Margaret Thatcher, sticking to the tradition of a strong dirigiste state and a generous public health and welfare system funded by high taxes.
Now a neoliberal economic platform is the one issue on which a growing field of candidates for the center-right Republicans' primary planned in November all agree.
This ideological shift is not confined to the right.
Socialist President Francois Hollande is pressing ahead with disputed labor reforms to give employers more scope to lay off workers and cut costs and has pegged his own re-election bid to his success in bringing down unemployment.
His most popular cabinet member, Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron, is a former investment banker who converted Hollande to supply-side economics and has openly attacked Socialist totems such as the 35-hour week and public sector jobs for life.
That leaves far right leader Marine Le Pen as the only top candidate espousing old style statist economic policies.
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.reuters.com ...
Night and day difference.
Good for the Frogs.
Indeed, Classical liberal ie. Free Markets and small govt.
Frederic Bastiat would be proud.
There is a company in France called Simplex. They went bankrupt in about 1992 and ceased production. But in France, they were not not allowed go out of business. They have no employees, and haven't produced anything in 25 years. The parts are now collectors items as they were, with a couple of notable exceptions fairly high quality stuff
And so their “far right” leader is for a statist economy.
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