Posted on 12/05/2018 5:51:12 AM PST by RoosterRedux
Like the manic French Revolution, great wealth disparity drove the recent protests. This was precisely the same pattern that the French Revolution followed: for the rural country folk, they were protesting King Louis XVI’s onerous tax system that was foisted on the backs of the working-class, as the image below shows, but these anti-tax protests in 1789 rapidly devolved into something more terrible.
...
Deep changes are indeed afoot in France. No amount of temporary reversals on the part of the French government will prevent that. We are witnessing the end of the postwar French political order. The kind of changes that the French people are demanding from their government will only ever be temporary because the very system of French government is incapable of fundamentally changing its governing style. Things will get worse, not better the longer that the French elite, like Macron, remain deeply committed to the German, I mean, European Union.
Whether these changes in France’s political culture bring about the same level of bloodletting as the French Revolution remains to be seen. But it isn’t going to be pretty going forward. The age of disruption has hit France and it will not dissipate until true change at the top is embraced — and any fundamental changes to the French political system will only further weaken the turgid European Union. I’d expect more levels of unrest eventuating in the end of the Macron presidency as the months wear on.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Ping.
Even if you throw out the gas tax France is still the highest taxed country in the world. The people are fed up because it’s no longer other people’s money being taken away. Socialism meets reality.
Don’t be fooled. The French public still loves it’s Socialism, just so long as its somebody else’s ox being gored. Prior riots on this scale were a reaction to government trying to dial-down Socialism.
What do these countries do with ALL that money they take off the backs of their people? They don’t have huge defense budgets, so they’re obviously not using it to protect the citizens.
Ask not what France can do for you, but how many months out of each year you can work in her service until you can take home income.
Taxation is service to the common good. When does service become servitude? 50%? When is it slavery? 100%?
I didn’t even look what the tax burden is like in France. But people always seem to have a limit.
I spent one day in Paris.
You are exactly right....
If you want to see how modern Socialism works and what they want to bring to the USA, France is the model.
I will NEVER go back to Paris.
Sensible people such as their own Bridget Bardot who protested that they were dangerous and were destroying the French culture were fined and jailed. Idiots.
Again???? Try “Still!!” The US saved their bacon twice in the same century and got stabbed in the back for the effort. It could even be argued that we did it three times, if you count VietNam.
The latter may be due in a vague way to the arrogance of the government in general or a sense of helplessness due to the greater influence of the EU.
Some of the rural French may have thought that Macron's recent call for an EU army was so he had faceless troops that he could muster against rural Frenchmen...to enforce taxes and regulations and to prevent them from rioting in the first place.
This is a good article and you also make good points about the current French crisis. I agree with you the current crisis is almost soley taxation and socialism reaching their inevitable limits. The author is correct in that it is somewhat similar to Ancien Regime France. However, there is one huge difference. In 1789 - 1790s there was famine in France. Starvation shook French civic norms and public morality to its core.
Imo this is very similar to the 1968 French crisis which precipitated the resignation of DeGaulle’s government.
“La réforme oui, la chienlit non”
From the_donald. Reddit.
It’s important to note that the majority of protestors are middle aged, these are not college or university students, who make up the usual French protests. This is a grassroots protest. It’s been reported anywhere from 50-80% of the French support the gilets jaunes. This is NOT just about taxes.
The protests began over the new taxes imposed by Macron’s government on fuel. The taxes are viewed as punishing those who use cars and those who can’t afford to buy newer ones. The French already pay heavy taxes on fuel, along with high tolls on highways. Every car in France is required to have 2 high visibility vests (gilets jaunes). The protestors began wearing those vests while protesting.
Along with this, the cost of living is incredibly high while salaries are painfully low, especially in larger cities like Paris. The myth of government-ordered 35 hour work weeks isn’t the reality for most salaried French people. Taxes eat huge chunks of their money and the French are fed up with making the same amount in their salaries as those who don’t work at all and rely on government assistance.
Parts of France are also filled with unassimilated migrants. These migrants get government assistance as well. A large part of the French are sick of paying for migrants when French people are suffering as well. There are areas that have stopped being culturally French and cities the French avoid for holidays because of the migrant problem.
In addition to this, retired people have been lodging their dissatisfaction with their retirement pensions (one woman in a video circulating around French Facebook confronts Macron about having to live off of 500€ a month) and Macron’s reactions have been condescending across the board. He currently has about a 26% approval rating.
All of this started bubbling up a few weeks ago as the protests began with the gilets jaunes in November. The protests last weekend got violent. Statues at the Arc De Triomphe were broken; the Arc was defaced. In Marseille, an 80 year old woman was killed as she was closing her shutters. The police threw a tear gas canister at her window. While outside of larger cities, many police officers and firefighters are taking off their helmets and/or standing in solidarity with the gilets jaunes. There have been reports that they have also refused to shake Macron’s hand and have turned their backs to government officials while serving in official capacities.
On Monday (December 2), there was a protest by the ambulances in Paris. They stood at Concorde with lights flashing and sirens sounding. Truck drivers have also showed their solidarity. They have also driven through Paris with lights flashing to show their dissatisfaction. Roads have been closed down by gilets jaunes and they are blocking access of oil in both ports and at stations. As of posting, over 650 stations are on a list of facing shortages or out of fuel. During yesterday’s news cycle, many truck drivers were seen disrupting broadcasts by honking in solidarity with the gilets jaunes.
On Tuesday (December 3), the French government spoke about their plans for “appeasement” of the gilets jaunes. Their offer was to postpone the start date of 3 taxes (related to fuel). This offer has been scoffed at by the gilets jaunes, who have called it “crumbs” as the taxes haven’t even been implemented yet and the offer does nothing to address the issues regarding cost of living.
Along with this, the French have begun demanding that Macron refuse to sign the UN Migration Act on December 10. This has begun appearing across the Facebook groups and events but has not been widely reported in the French media as far as I can tell.
This has culminated in everything from demands Macron step down to the creation of the 6th Republic. There are protests planned for Saturday across France. The protestors are calling the Paris protests ACT 4. They are quoting from the French National Anthem (”Aux Armes Citoyens”) and planning to protest at Bastille. The medical community is also participating in the protests on Saturday.
TLDR: This is bigger than taxes. These aren’t your usual French protests.
Edit: Thank you to the anonymous redditor who gave me platinum! And thank you to the mods for stickying this so quickly!
I think you are so wrong.
Macaroon is a socialist hiding behind a pretty face.
The rank and file Frenchmen didn't let themselves be overrun by Muzzies. They had no say in it.
The leadership did that.
I think the riots are fueled in part by that very issue.
Also feeding the flame, Rural Frenchmen heard Macron loud and clear when he said that nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. No ordinary working man wants to be controlled by some distant government over which he has no control or influence.
Macron brings to mind Obama's professorial approach to life (think Jonathan Gruber) in which untested academic theories dictate the direction of government.
Farmers and factory workers and small town merchants live in the real world and don't give a damn about academic theories.
When then, present your argument.;-)
This middle class Frog Riot is not about a tax it is way bigger than that. Don’t be fooled. This suppressed truth is scaring the hell out of the gloBULList elites!
“Le chienlit, c’est lui!”
I remember 1968; one disastrous year. But watching De Gaulle go down gave plenty of Schadenfreude. He was a world class PITA for America, Israel, & NATO. His towering arrogance was insufferable.
Paris deserves what it gets. Who would have thought that something every Frenchman is required to carry in his car would become a garment of revolution?
What typically happens in this situation with a European country and hefty tax revenue buckets...money is spent. I’ll give a few German-type of expenditures.
The Opera House in Hamburg was designed re-use of port space with around 241-million Euro set for the cost factor. Two years into the project...massive delays were occurring because of unforeseen problems with the original buildings (they had to be re-used, not torn down). So the price went to 450-million Euro. The roof ended up with a massive re-design, with another 100-million thrown into the delay and it’s issues. The customized windows? They failed the wind and stress test, more delays occurred. The final structure came to 789-million.
The Berlin Airport? Same type of deal. They were actually going to build it as a private airport deal, with two bids on the table, and a minimum amount of public money to be spent. Problems occurred with the bidding. The second bid ended with the two competitors (there were only two in the first attempt)...agreeing to one single bid (jointly). The city dumped the bid and went to a public situation....paying for it out of their pocket. The project was supposed to be started in 2006, and end in spring 2011. The project was announced as done, but the city had to admit massive failures in the design (it was a fire and safety hazard). At this point, it is 7 years late, and still non-operational. It was originally supposed to be done for around 2-billion Euro. Presently, they’ve spent 7.3-billion Euro. There was a rumor it’d open in 2019 but no one will sign their name to it, and speculation is leaning toward 2021. The planning folks for the region? They now admit that it needs another runway to handle the air traffic expected....and that the two major airports which were supposed to absolutely close when this opens...well, at least one will have to stay and get major funding to handle more traffic.
There are literally dozens of projects around the country like this....all in failure of planning and budgets.
I should add that’s just at the bulk of big spending. Cities, towns and villages have literally billions being spent on oddball things. There’s a village which spent 6,000 Euro to erect a steel tower of six feet...on a small hillside...to view the valley below. Yes, you were already above the landscape, but they felt you needed a 6 ft ‘lift’ to see more.
On the Rhine, some town took a 100,000 Euro funding vehicle to have a 10-ft deck which stretched out into the river. You already had a full view while standing on the shore, but the the steel deck was to have you out (barely) over the water.
Paved bike trails (often called bicycle autobahns) are being built from Frankfurt going south to Darmstadt. You could actually drive the 25-mile route at a high racing bike speed in about an hour. They figure when completed....near 3-million Euro as a minimum will have been spent.
Every penny collected on high taxes....is spent. There’s no doubt about that question.
People don't riot over generalized anger against some nebulous political theory or system.
They're pissed because Macaroni's gas tax was going to make their lives even more difficult.
They're angry because of the price of groceries to feed their families keep going up.
They're mad because he government has let so many foreign migrants in the country who have few skills and live off the taxpayer's largesse.
Unless you have a good counter argument, instead of just saying the poster's comment is "so wrong", I believe you are the one who is so wrong.
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