Ok, not football at all, but it matters, eventually.

[Sniffer999]

Great posts Spaldy. I think it's fair to say we agree !!

[Monaco_Totty]

MT,

If you have not checked out on the thread yet. I know you are an expert on France.

Wondered if you could give this yank some perspective on how a coalition between the right wingers and left wingers could work. No expert on France but it seems they hate each other and have very little, if anything in common, other than a dislike for Macron. Someone's going to have to be in charge and I don't see how they agree on someone. Am I missing something?

I do hope that whatever plays out the farmers and blue collar workers get a better shake. The current regime seems bent on destroying that class of people.

Phew Spaldy, interesting times, as the French sure know how to use the streets to demonstrate their feelings.
The no confidence motion, brought by leftist lawmakers in the French National Assembly, came amid a standoff over a 'draft austerity' budget that had sought to save 60 billion euros ($63.5bn) through spending cuts & tax rises in hopes of reducing the gaping deficit.

Earlier this week, PM Barnier opted to use a constitutional measure known as article 49.3 to pass a social security financial bill. The rare constitutional measure allows a government to pass legislation 'without' parliament?s approval but also gives MPs the chance to challenge that decision by presenting a no confidence motion.

With the crucial support of Marine Le Pen of far-right National Rally (who now have a majority of 331 MPs in the 577 member chamber) they voted to oust the Government.
Le Pen, is preparing to run for French president in 2027 & offers some serious clout throughout France with her modernist far-right monetary ideas & is a keen to see France leave Europe in a Frexit type of scenario.

Le Pen told the French population that her far right party had a choice to make & their choice was to protect the French people from a toxic budget.

It was France first successful no-confidence vote since a defeat for Georges Pompidou?s government in 1962 when Charles de Gaulle was French President.

This political turmoil stems from President Macrons decision to dissolve parliament in June 2024 & hold early elections after his Centrist forces suffered a humiliating defeat in the European Parliament elections.

The upheaval is also likely to further weaken a European Union that is already reeling from the implosion of Germanys coalition government leaving many countries scrambling to present a united front before Trump?s return to the White House in Jan 25.

The French governments fall comes as France is bracing for public-sector strikes that would lead to schools, air & rail traffic being shut down.
Today all Unions called for civil servants, including teachers & air-traffic controllers to also strike over separate cost-cutting measures - so some real People Power all together as a unified solid front.

Macron now has the unenviable task of picking a viable successor capable of navigating the polarised currents of the French fragmented parliament, which will remain unchanged as no new legislative elections can be held until at least July 2025.

Another option would be for Macron to give in to the budget demands of the far-right & name a Prime Minister backed by the far-right party. But that would imply abandoning efforts to cut Frances budget deficit.

But the real risk remains that MPs will topple one pick after another - so National July 2025 elections could see a complete new French government with chaos until then, unless an acceptable PM can be agreed with an acceptable policy regarding the countries deficit.

Currently now in 2024, Frances deficit is projected to be 2.9% of GDP, while the UKs is projected to be 2.3%.
Frances general government gross debt to GDP ratio is 110%, while the UK's is 101%.

Frances budget deficit has been difficult to control & the government is under pressure to reduce its deficit to 3% of GDP by 2027, which would require savings of 110 billion euros ($116.5b) !
The current situation has seen the European Commission already opening an excessive deficit procedure against France - such are the rules & ideally the far-right would prefer France to pull out of Europe & would allow the French public to vote on that scenario too.

Incidently, VW, Europe?s largest carmaker, has announced the first plant closures in its history, resulting in 30,000 jobs lost after a 42% drop in quarterly profits. Steelmaker ThyssenKrupp also announced shedding up to 11,000 jobs by 2030 & thousands more are set to go at Bosch & Ford in Germany.

[WTF11]

Makes total sense and certainly didn?t mean to sound demeaning. Not proud of some of responses on this thread. Got sucked into the issue emotionally. Still shocked that the expert on this thread doesn?t even live in the US and never really experienced it.

I really enjoy the perspectives. The one common link we have is supporting Leeds. Beyond that we all have vastly different perspectives and life experiences. We have some brilliant posters with all kinds of world experiences and education down to people that are much different. Makes for lively discussions!

What a f00king hypocrite. You criticise me for not "living in the US" when I HAVE, and for material periods of time during significant periods of recent history and yet you have the bare faced cheek to make pronouncement (all of which are WRONG) without, in your own words, ever having spent ANY time "on this side of the pond"

Get a passport, buy a return ticket and learn.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

??. and he?s back. See you are full of the Christmas spirit.

[spaldy]

A simple primer is in order here.

I have never once in over a decade of posting on this site purported to be an expert on UK affairs. In fact, I often question or get clarifications on slang, terms, politics, football issues etc. It's fascinating and like many yanks like many things British.

You, on the other hand, having spent periods of time here working projects for companies that 95% of working Americans have never worked for or even known someone who has worked for become an expert on the US. These crony capitalist or government military industrial complex companies employ people by connections, nepotism, or some other reprehenisble trait other than merit and then represent that most Americans think like you do or are uneducated neanderthals. The fact is that Trump won in a landslide and it wasn't just the hillbilly, uneducated rednecks that voted for him.

I hope you can see the difference in our positions and representations to our follow posters.

[spaldy]

Some of my accounting buddies are getting some gossip that DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) has already identified over a trillion ($1,000,000,000,000) in cuts and savings. They have identified over 500,000 government employees that have not reported to the office since 2020 and they are looking at moving quite a few of dept's out of DC to parts of the country that match up with the sector they manage. Some real simple ones such as Agricuture dept moving to the middle of the country (where we grow and produce food) and energy moving to an area that actually extracts or produces energy. They are also talking about abolishing the department of education and returning it to the states where it belongs.

Early days but some real hope that something is actually going to change in the US

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

I wouldn?t hold your breath Spaldy

[spaldy]

I wouldn?t hold your breath Spaldy

Think Trump will "break some things" and he's term limited. He also is not a politician.

Musk is worth over $34,000,000,000 and I don't think he's worried about depending on any of the government workers to put food on his table. A brilliant outsider with a goal to cut waste could be very lethal to these federal bureacrats.

Like the old saying "it's the hope that kills" I know that you are probably right but I still hope something can change. They steal 1/2 my paycheck every payday and they fritter it away with grift and corruption. They have stolen all of the money in our retirement fund - "Social Security" and replaced it with worthless IOU's. Of course, the government workers have a "seperate but equal" retirement plan that's fully funded in real money. Many of us know that the ponzi scheme that is our government can't continue without major changes. Needless to say there's a reason that ******* is over $106,000 and it's not because anyone thinks the schemers that came up with this are honest and trustworthy. Some people think they are more honest than the politicians that rule us.

[spaldy]

why is bit coin censored???

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

Think Trump will "break some things" and he's term limited. He also is not a politician.

Musk is worth over $34,000,000,000 and I don't think he's worried about depending on any of the government workers to put food on his table. A brilliant outsider with a goal to cut waste could be very lethal to these federal bureacrats.

Like the old saying "it's the hope that kills" I know that you are probably right but I still hope something can change. They steal 1/2 my paycheck every payday and they fritter it away with grift and corruption. They have stolen all of the money in our retirement fund - "Social Security" and replaced it with worthless IOU's. Of course, the government workers have a "seperate but equal" retirement plan that's fully funded in real money. Many of us know that the ponzi scheme that is our government can't continue without major changes. Needless to say there's a reason that ******* is over $106,000 and it's not because anyone thinks the schemers that came up with this are honest and trustworthy. Some people think they are more honest than the politicians that rule us.

Wasn?t talking about the USA or Trump Spaldy but the chance of our resident special one behaving as you suggest.

Any attempt to get out of control spending and policies under control and connect those governing with those governed had to be a good thing.

[Billyni]

Think Trump will "break some things" and he's term limited. He also is not a politician.

Musk is worth over $34,000,000,000 and I don't think he's worried about depending on any of the government workers to put food on his table. A brilliant outsider with a goal to cut waste could be very lethal to these federal bureacrats.

Like the old saying "it's the hope that kills" I know that you are probably right but I still hope something can change. They steal 1/2 my paycheck every payday and they fritter it away with grift and corruption. They have stolen all of the money in our retirement fund - "Social Security" and replaced it with worthless IOU's. Of course, the government workers have a "seperate but equal" retirement plan that's fully funded in real money. Many of us know that the ponzi scheme that is our government can't continue without major changes. Needless to say there's a reason that ******* is over $106,000 and it's not because anyone thinks the schemers that came up with this are honest and trustworthy. Some people think they are more honest than the politicians that rule us.

You give half your wages to taxes??

[spaldy]

Not just taxes. Federal, State, Local and excise state taxes, social security, medicare. Add the sales tax on items you buy and I'm right at 50%. Like many yanks I don't have corrupt tax dodges and write offs and I'm not a politician which generally exempts you from IRS actions.

I guess I could look at the bright side. If I was in California, New York, New Jersey it would be higher than that.

[Billyni]

Not just taxes. Federal, State, Local and excise state taxes, social security, medicare. Add the sales tax on items you buy and I'm right at 50%. Like many yanks I don't have corrupt tax dodges and write offs and I'm not a politician which generally exempts you from IRS actions.

I guess I could look at the bright side. If I was in California, New York, New Jersey it would be higher than that.

Omg. Whatever happened to the land of the free.

[spaldy]

I forgot to mention the best part

Most private sector employees have no pensions anymore. Been that way since the 1980s. Federal goverment workers and politicians all have one. Civil servants also aren?t laid off and very hard to fire. Many get lifetime medical as well. Private sector are routinely laid off in slow times and fired. Many get no healthcare unless they buy Obamacare which is ****ty and overpriced with good sized deductible. Many docs won?t take it

The one exception? The military. They have to put in 20 years. The most valuable federal employees get treated the worst

No one can figure out why Trump won.

[WTF11]

Spaldy, we're obviously not going to agree on the majority of the points raised by each other and others who have posted, so this will be my last post on this thread.

You suggest that you're not an expert on the UK? Well, that makes two of us who aren’t “experts” on each others countries (find any assertion of mine that would suggest otherwise). The difference being that one of us makes ridiculous assertions about the others country, without a single shred of evidence nor even the most basic of KNOWLEDGE gleaned from actually visiting said country, whilst the other at least has lived and worked abroad (not just in the USA) and has a modicum of REAL KNOWLEDGE regarding the people and working practices of said countrys.

As to who I have worked for/with and how well known they are? I’m guessing you have personally interviewed the whole of the American population in order to determine that 95% have never heard of Siemens (45,000 employees), or Alstom (2,400 employees)? I’d suggest that companies like those, who provide rolling stock and the systems to control the railroad, as well as smaller companies like New England Construction, are hardly “crony capitalist companies”? Rather, they employ skilled, hard working folks who have delivered real benefits to just about every person living in America who use public transport, either in improved freight transport or commuter travel etc, or the housing and workplaces they live or work in. On the transport issue, maybe you’d prefer to go back to johnny appleseed/huck finn days with horse-drawn carts?

And where have I suggested that Americans “think like I do”? Quite clearly a large number don’t, otherwise the fragrant combed-over one wouldn’t be President-elect! Doesn’t change my view of the risk he presents, not only to America but the rest of the world.

As to his win being a “landslide”? Hmmmm……as you have the electoral college, and Trump won the 7 swing states and overall by 312 votes to 226, you could argue he “won big”, but if you look at the vote share across the country, it’s a little less impressive (Republican 49.9%, Democrat 48.3%). Lies, damned lies and statistics huh? With a popular vote split almost 50/50, it’s not unreasonable to suggest that you have a hugely divided country, rednecks included, one that Trump has no intention of healing.

In another post you refer to the large number of folks who "haven't reported into the office. "Strange that someone so loyal to the most capitalist country in the world seems also wedded to the communist ideology of “clocking on” being present at a desk/workstation/assembly station and observed/monitored. Presence “in the office” which you seem to keen on, doesn’t equate to productivity, and many employers discovered during Covid lockdown that many employees could be MORE productive whilst working from home (fully or part-time), as they had a better work/life balance, fewer issues related to travel/commuting etc. You’d suggest that none of the half a million you refer to, or their employers, have benefitted in such a way?

And who are the “accounting buddies” you mention, and what evidence is available to support their assertions on cuts, savings and the (implied) disbenefit of those who “haven’t reported to the office” (how very authoritarian!)?

Not a bad thing, moving government departments out of the Washington “bubble”, something the UK is doing to reduce the tendency of the Whitelall “bubble” to apply too much influence to some departments. Something we agree on perhaps, but “moving Agriculture to the middle of the country”? The United States is one of the world's largest producers and exporters of cereals, which are grown in almost every part of the country, so where would you choose? And whilst cereals are important, what about fruit/wine producers etc, livestock (primarily but not only beef). Lots of competing influences;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_the_United_States

You choose?

And energy, you mean oil/gas extraction, or renewables, or nuclear, or all of that? Coal mining is of great importance to Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, where would you put the administrative offices? Drilling for oil however, especially the offshore fields, is focussed on Louisiana, Texas, California, and Alaska. Even if fossil fuels are the only consideration, where would you put the Energy department offices? Easy to come up with soundbite slogans, harder to implement even if you accept the idea in principle.

I’d agree with you that things will change for the USA, and for the rest of the world, just not in a good way.