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Last updated on July 16th, 2017 at 11:39 am
The SMH’s Adele Horin, 2001:
More than a year after France legislated a 35-hour week, the economy is flourishing, unemployment is falling, consumer confidence has hit a historic high and most French say their lifestyle has improved.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, 2007:
I am at the head of a state that is in a position of bankruptcy.
I am at the head of a state that for 15 years has been in chronic deficit. I am at the head of a state that has not once passed a balanced budget in 25 years. This can’t go on.
It can – if you believe in Horinomics!
$180 for half an hour
$250 full hourGreek by negotiation.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 09 24 at 03:44 AM • permalink
Horinomics: A theory espoused by a second rate hack. It’s central premis is that Governments must spend as flagrantly as they can to subsidize as many social, pressure, ethnic or religious groups as they can find in the name of creating equality. Such magical realism does not however involve the problem of who actually pays. In this, Miz Horin points at others, especially those who drive cars and own televisions.
Further to this belief is that Australia and indeed Australians are inferior to that of the maloderous and lazy French.
- The first and last stanzas of Thomas Moores 1833 poem Translation from the Gull Language
(slightly frenchified)
‘Twas grav’d on the Stone of Destiny,
In letters four, and letters three;
And ne’er did the King of the Gauls go by
But those awful letters scar’d his eye;
For he knew that a Prophet Voice had said
“As long as those words by man were read,
The ancient race of the Gauls should ne’er
One hour of peace or plenty share.”
But years and years successive flew
And the letters still more legible grew,—
At top, a T, an H, an E,
And underneath, D. E. B. T.In short, the whole Gaul nation feels
They’re fairly spell-bound, neck and heels;
And so, in the face of the laughing world,
Must e’en sit down, with banners furled,
Adjourning all their dreams sublime
Of glory and war to—some other time.Posted by eeniemeenie on 2007 09 24 at 04:49 AM • permalink
Not for nothing was she named A Dill Horin by the lost, lamented Professor Bunyip.
Posted by walterplinge on 2007 09 24 at 04:51 AM • permalink
Funny, Mr Fillon didn’t mind spending $E15 billion on tax cuts.
Seems odd to cut your income when you’re in deficit.
I know! Why doesn’t Mr Fillon do what all idiot economic conservatives do when they get into power, flog off the country’s infrastructure at bargain prices and then refuse to spend on public infrastructure ever again because surpluses are more important than running a state that can actually grow.
Surpluses good! Deficits bad!
For example – don’t borrow money to buy a house, people! Save the $400k yourself first. Don’t borrow money to buy expand business! Save the cash first. Yup, that’s sound financial advice that successful homeowners and businesses always follow.
Meanwhile, wow. A conservative PM attacks his predecessors for public spending. I’m sure Ms Horin will be quick to apologise for having a different view when describing France of SIX YEARS AGO.
- #9
Maree, you obviously weren’t there the week I was…. seven days of this, and my French language skills are not up to conversation.
#10v – A lefty giving economics advice! What next, the Catholic Church guide to sodomy?
Stick to pestering cats, you silly twat.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 09 24 at 05:57 AM • permalink
I wonder if Hutz will bother to stick around to defend his arguments this time…
Posted by HisHineness on 2007 09 24 at 06:02 AM • permalink
#12 I’m sorry to hear about Kae, Nick and I were at Nouvelle Caledonie last year and it was tres manifique.
—Nora
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2007 09 24 at 06:05 AM • permalink
dating sites didn’t work out Mr lefty?
Adele’s into frogs, not toads, so your defending her won’t get you anywhere I’m afraid
Posted by eeniemeenie on 2007 09 24 at 06:06 AM • permalink
If it weren’t for all those cars that need replacing, France would have no economy at all.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 09 24 at 06:13 AM • permalink
This is downright irresponsible and I would urge all upstanding citizens not to read it as a matter of principle.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 09 24 at 06:20 AM • permalink
#20 Ah we were there last April.
#10 Hey Mr Leftie, how’s your cat doing?
—Nora
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2007 09 24 at 06:22 AM • permalink
Sure, that’s what you say—after the fact. With lefties it’s always a mistake after the fact.
Posted by walterplinge on 2007 09 24 at 06:31 AM • permalink
#25 Oooo, go – especially if you get the chance go by cruise ship. Nicky and I have been around the South Pacific a couple of times and it’s been a hoot! We’replanning to go on a cruise with friends to Fiji and Tonga next September.
—Nora
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2007 09 24 at 06:31 AM • permalink
- Infidel Tiger, I have heard of goat botherers. I have heard of sheep-botherers. Mr Leftard is a cat botherer?
Ah well, to each his own. I shoot the feral ones with a rifle. Saves the landowner’s new lambs this time of year. if Mr Leftard shoots ‘em with something else, well, even socialists have to have a hobby.What is more amusing about the poor fevered little chappie is his fervent ideological belief that the sick man economy of Europe is better than our booming one, that he has missed our explosive economic growth of the past decade, and that he forgets that it was Bob Hawke’s policy to flog off public assets.Or was he channelling someone else (or bothering cats) when the Commonwealth Bank was sold?
MarkL
anberra
There was a poster, i think it was on this site, who met a couple of old ladies who actually lived on the one of the cruise ships. As they put it, better and cheaper than a nursing home.
Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 09 24 at 07:01 AM • permalink
Just sell off all their military hardware,it’s all brand new and never been used.
And like soap in Paris, highly unlikely to be used either.
Posted by surfmaster on 2007 09 24 at 07:08 AM • permalink
- I was sitting with French friends at one of those delightful outdoor cafes. We discussed the work/life balance, and I enthused about their 35-hour working week. “It is so civilise of you” I gushed.
“Mais oui!” responded Jean-Luc and Madeline, as they reached eagerly for the last two croissants.
“And is your economy still going gangbusteurs, as when you last visited me in 2001?” I ventured.
“Things are not good in the Sarthe”, said Jean-Luc grimly. “Not good in the South?” I echoed. “No, the Sarthe, where Fillon comes from” he corrected irritably. He went on “Tell me, penguin girl, will you sponsor us to come to Australie?”
The boy(Jeremy Sear) is a simpleton and needs a simple explanation.
Tax cuts = economic growth
economic growth = increased tax revenue.
economic growth = bad for Jeremy’s business.
Posted by armageddon on 2007 09 24 at 07:15 AM • permalink
Funny, Mr Fillon didn’t mind spending $E15 billion on tax cuts.
Typical leftwing speak! Tax cuts = unneccessary spending.
Posted by Hank Reardon on 2007 09 24 at 07:17 AM • permalink
No kae, they will set the hardware on fire, just like the rest of the shiny objects. Stone age here we come……
Posted by surfmaster on 2007 09 24 at 07:17 AM • permalink
For Mr lefty an interesting set of figures here.
Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 09 24 at 07:22 AM • permalink
- I have always wondered why Australian lefties love the French. I remember back in the eighties, the standard mantra for winter breaks from Parliament by some Hawke/Keating ministers was a ‘fact finding trip to France,’ or something to that effect.
Well, I wonder where their new ‘mecca’ will be, now that they have a realistic leader in Sarkozy and a conservative government, freely and willingly elected by the French people.
Lefties’ please note: FREELY AND WILLINGLY ELECTED. So no excuses now.
Wow, personal abuse by anonymous* cowards. You know my name! You know I have a cat! You think throwing those back at me is somehow a persuasive counter-argument!
You people are a joke.
*Feel free to point out that I once blogged anonymously, and skate over the difference between criticising arguments anonymously (which is what I did) and ad hominem attacks anonymously (which is what you’re doing).
#32 – even-handedness regarding Philthy Phil, a serial liar, is impossible for Monica Retard. All Helen did was highlight the lie in which the Philster wrote that her words chilled his blood.
She was, of course smeared and Adams came out smelling like a rose instead of a piece of shit.
She also attacked board member Dr. Ron Burton.
{sorry – not much chop at linking and couldn’t find transcript]
- #53. under the whip.
I also think, the average Frenchperson/man or whatever, is probably fed up with jokes like, ‘running away faster than a Frenchman from a cap gun.’ At least now, they may have a chance to be taken seriously on the world stage, without having to blow up a boat in peaceful harbour, even though it was a Greenpeace barge.
- #39
if there is one thing leftys hate more than a rich bastard, its a rich fat bastard who not only espouses lefty principles while being rich, but more importantly hangs around like a bad smellexplain Al Gore thenPosted by eeniemeenie on 2007 09 24 at 08:00 AM • permalink
- #54 The feigned indignation is a seriously tired act Mr Lefty. This is your one and only tactic which you employ exclusively here. Bleat, wait, self-righteous indignation, repeat.
You’re getting exactly what you want, the focal point of our attention. Much like I do with the children in my neighborhood, I will ignore your silly squealing from here on out.
- #64. under the whip.
The question for France would have to be, is it too late? I think the French could be fed up with their previous Socialist government’s immigration policies amongst a lot of other things. To this end, if Rudd wins the election, will we see a similar rush to build mosques and appease as the French and the EU in general, have done over the years. Thus bringing to the floor, what we see today.
Mr Lefty, I did criticise your argument, and it only.
By the way, is part of your argument, “Mr Fillon didn’t mind spending $E15 billion on tax cuts”, interpreted to mean everyone’s income belongs to the government, to be taxed or not as it pleases; and following your enthusiasm for taxation, do you go out of your way to make sure you’re taxed every cent possible? That’s probably best left rhetorical.
Only a leftist could equate allowing people to keep their own money (tax cuts) with “spending.”
By the way, people, lay off the mockery of MrLefty’s pets and real name. His cats are innocent bystanders in the ten-car pileup that is his political outlook, and surely the rest of the Sear family has enough problems. Also it gives him a chance to act the martyr, and I believe his doctor has already cautioned him about overdosing on smugness.
PS: entropy, actually, I believe that that kind of rich person is doted on by leftists like the rarest of orchids.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2007 09 24 at 08:22 AM • permalink
I blame the death of Marcel.
He was a gold mime.
Posted by mr creosote on 2007 09 24 at 08:24 AM • permalink
As you know, this is a conservative blog in which most contributors use names not necessarily close to what their parents inflicted upon them at birth. My experience of left wing blogs tells me that a similar situation exists there.
If you’re going to drop in and make a couple of inane comments that demonstrate the selective memory of today’s left then you should expect to cop a bit of a touch up.
As it happens, the responses to your comments are quite mild and your own, thin-skinned reaction says more about you than anyone on this esteemed, intellectually honest forum.
Regards – Jack
Posted by Jack Lacton on 2007 09 24 at 08:30 AM • permalink
- #54
Diddums Jeremy, your constant juvenile idiocy is insulting to adults and the legal profession.“criticising arguments anonymously”LOL!
Hysterical tantrums more like it.
Posted by armageddon on 2007 09 24 at 08:34 AM • permalink
Leftist ideology, as stated, disses capitalist fatcats.
As a practical matter, Leftists love capitalist fatcats and suck up to them whenever possible. That’s because once in a while you can find a capitalist fatcat who can be made to feel guilty about being one, and such can be fleeced most profitably.
As a rule, though, people smart enough to be capitalist fatcats are also smart enough to take cynical advantage of Leftist approval to build the value of their portfolio. George Soros is the best current example of that.
Regards,
Ric
I am at the head of a state that for 15 years has been in chronic deficit. I am at the head of a state that has not once passed a balanced budget in 25 years.
Can’t imagine what they’re spending money on—we all know their health care is free…
Posted by Shaky Barnes on 2007 09 24 at 08:41 AM • permalink
- Francois Bayrou, the head of the centrist Modem party
Ah, that’s the problem, they’re still using dial-up….Posted by Shaky Barnes on 2007 09 24 at 08:42 AM • permalink
- #71. under the whip.
Well, with Labours’ love fest with the UN (see Gareth Evans). Their penchant for doing whatever that organisation ‘advices,’ no matter how ridiculous and there have been some ‘doosies.’ Sheikh Kevini El Ruddni, is probably not that far of the mark. If not him, Gillard would definitely be a useful pawn. After all, she is a committed socialist. I wonder if Rudd is watching his back. Imagine the ‘Kath and Kim’ of politics as our PM and Peter Garrett as deputy PM. Their ideology is rotten, but her voice/diction and his ‘brainwaves’ are downright painful. Where will they spend their winter breaks?
Mr Lefty – why is it that you think that only governments can provide infrastructure? What’s wrong with the private sector having a go?
Posted by mr creosote on 2007 09 24 at 09:04 AM • permalink
“What’s yours is yours and what’s mime is mime.”
Posted by mr creosote on 2007 09 24 at 09:07 AM • permalink
Shouldn’t that be whorinomics?
Posted by rightwingprof on 2007 09 24 at 09:21 AM • permalink
Should I put together sentences that rime?
Posted by mr creosote on 2007 09 24 at 09:34 AM • permalink
Confusing income with tax, typical leftist.
Exactly. Jeremy probably has the same incorrect view as most lefties, that a government is a manufacturer, i.e., it creates products for sale, where “services” are “produced”, and “income tax” equates to “sales”.
Never mind that taxes are mandated by law, I suppose because in the leftie “reality” that everyone is happy to throw much of their income at the government.
In point of fact (and I suspect Mr. Fillon knows this) governments are, at best, minimum service providers, and at worst, destructive parasites.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 09 24 at 09:46 AM • permalink
O/T, but this is a pretty funny take on Dan Rather. The notion of his lawsuit against CBS being a forgery is inspired.
(Via Powerline; lots of good things there, today)
FYI: Daily car tips, enjoy!
Governments don’t “spend money” on tax cuts. It’s not their money. They take less from me.
Posted by Ernst Blofeld on 2007 09 24 at 01:15 PM • permalink
- Paco
You forget “My name is Rather; I’m a dick.”CheersPosted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2007 09 24 at 01:28 PM • permalink
- Q: What trend poses a far bigger danger to Australian society than many of the more “popular” current threats?
A: Constant budget surpluses and tax cuts.This person’s vote is worth the same as yours.Posted by Hank Reardon on 2007 09 24 at 02:24 PM • permalink
I used to be a socialist. You’re young and I understand.
It took me many years to recognize that I was suffering from Economic Infantilism, as was the case with my cohort.
This is the tragedy of the left – many people of good intentions doomed to repeat (or try to repeat) the mistakes of the past.
Posted by Jack from Montreal on 2007 09 24 at 04:55 PM • permalink
Yeah, lay off Lefty’s cat, I happen to know it favors a deregulated market place with generous tax cuts and much needed economic reform.
Posted by Quentin George on 2007 09 24 at 04:57 PM • permalink
What I don’t get is that the Left want to pay tax for the basic necessities such as infrastructure like roads and highways, and have everyone pay for them regardless of use or non-use.
Isn’t it far more beneficial to have the private sector build the infrastructure, and have a user-pays system?
Generally, people don’t really like paying for things they never use.
#110. No the Left justify collecting the said taxes based on providing infrastructure, etc. Then go off a create a state where welfare accrues at about $2,100 a second in a country of 20 million people, spend it on that and then say that they have a mystically enlightened vision that we then need to tip in more and more cash for the infrastructure we first thought we had paid for.
Posted by Hank Reardon on 2007 09 24 at 06:20 PM • permalink
(2007-09-24) — Columbia University promised a full investigation into charges of police brutality after today’s reported Tasering of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had come to the Ivy League school to give the annual Adolph Hitler Memorial Peace and Tolerance Lecture.
Like a similar incident at the University of Florida last week, the stun-gun assault by police followed a lengthy anti-American rant by the alleged victim, and was immediately condemned by civil rights advocates.
According to eyewitnesses, Mr. Ahmadinejad was dragged from the room shouting: “Do not make to Tase myself, slang brother man.”
It was not immediately known whether the victim was legitimately attempting to exercise his freedom of speech or if, as one unnamed witness said, “he’s little more than a publicity hound and prankster who will do anything to get news coverage.”
Well it looks like the Columbia University President thought that Ahmadinejad needed to hear a few home truths:
Forced to defend his invitation to Mr Ahmadinejad, Columbia president Lee Bollinger called him a “petty and cruel dictator” as he attacked the Iranian leader, sitting alongside him, over the Holocaust and Israel’s right to exist.
Inviting Mr Ahmadinejad to speak at one of America’s leading centres of learning “is consistent with the idea that one should know thine enemy … to confront with the mind of evil,” Mr Bollinger said in his opening speech
Apparently Dinny felt a bit insulted.
OT A Student’s Guide to Hosting Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week (PDF File)
The purpose of this protest is as simple as it is crucial: to confront the two Big Lies of the political left: that George Bush created the war on terror and that Global Warming is a greater danger to Americans than the terrorist threat.
Via Gordon of Perth at Bolta’s.
- #101 – Hanyu
Goodness gracious me! That made me eject a somewhat noisy, involuntary, mirth like utterance from my mouth. If only there was a popular internet acronym to describe what took place.Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 09 24 at 09:00 PM • permalink
- FYI:
Phatty’s phalse interview story is up at our meeja watchA chilling interview with the voices in your head, Phil?
Time to go the way of Tezza Lane?
- 120 – Radio news reported that Madandajarhead scored a laugh when he informed his audience “There are no homosexuals in Iran.”
Men who make young boys and goats nervous, yes. But NO homosexuals.Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 09 24 at 10:43 PM • permalink
It all started in a 500 watt radio station in Fresno California. It was there that I began my amazing ascent to the major conglomerate that sits before your monitor today. It was there, in that tiny radio station, that I read that first info ad for veggie burgers.
I started out modestly, of course, with single entree delights from a pushcart on Blackstone Avenue. Given my natural brillance at all things that doesn’t involve correct spelling it wasn’t long before I was selling Che Burger Combo plates on that warf thing in SF.
Heard any good jokes recently?
#126 – “There are no homosexuals in Iran.”
I saw plenty of homo-sexuals in Iran. Most of them were stoned, too.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 09 24 at 11:03 PM • permalink
Jeremy knows economics like his cat knows trigonometry.
Seriously, if Howard and Costello were the fiscal conservatives they purport to be they’d slash tax rates and simplify the Act, reducing the need to minimise and get rid of the costs of compliance and recovery- they’d probably find that revenues would actually increase, to the detriment of assorted lawyers, accountants and other bottom feeders.
Not gonna happen though- I’m always cynical when lawyers get elected and go on a legislation spree- it’s not as if they’re creating an income stream for themselves and their kind, it’s all for our benefit.
Is there a more amoral, venal and self-serving profession?
- Fat Chap’s Crap Chat
Try saying that ten times quickly!Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 09 25 at 01:06 AM • permalink
Funny, Mr Fillon didn’t mind spending $E15 billion on tax cuts.
Seems odd to cut your income when you’re in deficit.
#29, lingus4, described Mr Lefty as an idiot and added,
Confusing income with tax, typical leftist.
#43, armageddon, described Mr Lefty as a simpleton and added,
Tax cuts = economic growth
economic growth = increased tax revenue.
economic growth = bad for Jeremy’s business.
#45, Hank Reardon, merely wrote,
Typical leftwing speak! Tax cuts = unneccessary spending
and Mr Lefty considers all this personal abuse.
Now I would describe myself as economically illiterate but even I know that governments don’t make money. They only spend it. The more the government taxes citizens and companies the less they have to spend buying goods and services, the less is the demand for goods and services, the less is the demand for workers to produce said goods and services, the smaller becomes the tax base, the larger becomes the segment of the community dependent on government welfare payments and the less tax money the government has to fund these welfare payments.
Mr Lefty, if I (being an economic illiterate) know this much and you don’t then, in reference to you and in relation to this matter, “idiot” and “simpleton” are not ad hominems.
the ultimate flaw of the thinking of the Left is to take the wealth of wealthy nations for granted. The money just rolls in, and it needs to be taken from those greedy capitalists. There’s no sense that policies affect the total amount of wealth: the only problem in their minds is how to get their hands on the cake and carve it up, so that everyone can live the high life.
Posted by daddy dave on 2007 09 25 at 05:53 AM • permalink
#126: There are no homosexuals in Iran.
Mandela killed them all.
That’s the first time I’ve scene that quote.
Are there any more I can have a peak at?
Bye the weigh, does anyone know how to make orange peal? Is it like being the bell of the ball?
Posted by mr creosote on 2007 09 25 at 06:19 AM • permalink
#125 – time for Hanyu to explain to Media Watch about whether it is offensive or not to call someone Pumpkin.
Posted by mr creosote on 2007 09 25 at 06:24 AM • permalink
- 139 – Lefties believe in the money tree, which produces virgin banknotes by the fistful, in much the same way as young children believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny.
Work, according to the same thinking, is a cruel invention of the ruling classes. Designed only to keep the unruly masses occupied, it has no other meaning or value.Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 09 25 at 07:34 AM • permalink
Ash, you can get the tree at Bunnings, no problem. Unfortunately – as any good Marxist will tell you – to make it fruitful you have to fertlise regularly with the blood sweat and tears of the proletariat. Dynamic Lifter just won’t cut it.
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 09 26 at 12:44 AM • permalink
#143 How do I get my hands on one of these “money trees”?
instigate a socialist revolution.
Posted by daddy dave on 2007 09 26 at 06:55 AM • permalink
Je t’aime.