• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Modern Day 'Les Miserables' Happening in France - preview of US in about a year?

NorCal_1

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Messages
1,370
Reaction score
95
this is what will happen here when the avg American realizes late this year or early next the $780 billion dollar stimulus is full of pork and no real job creation and that it will take another trillion to do what this one failed to do

Storm the barricades!


Violence on Paris streets as millions protest against Nicolas Sarkozy's handling of economic crisis
Violent skirmishes broke out in Paris last night after a day in which millions took to the streets as part of a nationwide protest over the government's handling of the economic crisis.



Schools, courts, post offices, universities and hospitals were closed, with public transport severely disrupted, as up to 200 marches were organised against President Nicolas Sarkozy's approach to the global downturn.

The biggest protests were in Paris, where police said up to 85,000 people took five hours to walk from Place de la RÃ
00a9.png
publique to Place de la Nation. As the light faded, hundreds of riot police were sent to the area where anarchist groups waving revolutionary flags were among those massing. Riot police fired rounds of tear gas after demonstrators lit fires and smashed shop windows. Fighting broke out on all corners of the square, with police moving in to try to arrest ring leaders.


Chants of "Sarkozy resign" were heard as what appeared to be well organised gangs went on the rampage in surrounding streets, targeting banks and other symbols of capitalism.A riot police spokesman said: "There are a number of people who seem determined to cause trouble. We are doing everything we can to maintain order."

There were more than 300 arrests in Paris alone, according to police. Ten officers were seriously injured by a variety of missiles, including bottles, metal bars and bricks.

Earlier, unions said that the number of protesters nationwide had approached three million. Police put the estimate at greater than the two million who took part in similar demonstrations at the end of January.

The latest strike won support across the country, with three quarters of those questioned in polls saying they feared for their futures.

Mr Sarkozy unveiled a package of proposals, including tax breaks and social benefits, after January's strike, but protesters said the £2.3 billion deal was not enough. The president said on Wednesday he understood "the concerns of the French people" but ruled out plans for further measures.

He rejected mounting calls by unions and the opposition to suspend a 50 per cent cap on income tax, arguing that it would drive wealthy taxpayers abroad.

The CGT (confederation of labour) led the Paris demonstration behind a banner that read: "United against the crisis, defend employment, spending power and public services".

Jean-Claude Mailly, the head of the Force Ouvrière union, said protesters had "a profound sense of social injustice, and that, I think, is something that neither the government nor the employers have understood".


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/5019...ic-crisis.html
 

FIHTies

Distinguished Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
2,950
Reaction score
6
With most of Europe failing and the members of the Eurozone doing what is perceived as not nearly enough to revive the economy, why is the Euro so strong against the dollar?

Because the dollar has been somewhat devalued by our government?
 

NorCal_1

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Messages
1,370
Reaction score
95
we're heading for a currency crisis this year with EVERYBODY devaluing their currency to keep up with Helicopter Ben Bernanke

in the US we're issuing bonds with our left hand and buying them with our right using newly printed money - any other country did this the IMF would take them over, but we get away with it for now because we're the US - until it spirals out of control

this is the lesson we're teaching the world - it's absurd!

and with everybody going 'Keynsian' at the same time and unable to raise debt (since we're sucking up all China will buy from us), it leaves every other country with only one choice to fund stimulus and deficits: the printing press

unchartered scary times ahead, imho

interest rates are going to soar and Bernanke will be boxed in - esp if China gets spooked and stops buying our debt to save themsevles from this deflationary currency death spiral
 

lee_44106

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2006
Messages
8,043
Reaction score
100
Hypochondriacs!

President Obama says we'll be OK and that's enough for me.
teacha.gif
 

holymadness

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2008
Messages
3,609
Reaction score
11
Paris has been rioting off and on since the middle ages. It's hasn't really stopped since 1789. Don't expect to see this in America.
 

Nil

Distinguished Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2005
Messages
8,432
Reaction score
3,689
Originally Posted by holymadness
Paris has been rioting off and on since the middle ages. It's hasn't really stopped since 1789. Don't expect to see this in America.

Yup. We don't have the rioting culture here anymore.
 

thekunk07

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Apr 27, 2007
Messages
18,117
Reaction score
3,247
^no, we have big tvs and big macs to keep us complacent. we are not a nation of protesters.
 

blackplatano

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2006
Messages
2,329
Reaction score
1
Originally Posted by NorCal_1
this is what will happen here when the avg American realizes late this year or early next the $780 billion dollar stimulus is full of pork and no real job creation and that it will take another trillion to do what this one failed to do

Storm the barricades!


Violence on Paris streets as millions protest against Nicolas Sarkozy's handling of economic crisis
Violent skirmishes broke out in Paris last night after a day in which millions took to the streets as part of a nationwide protest over the government's handling of the economic crisis.





No..The french love to strike and are willing to do so for fun. That's not going to happen in the U.S.
 

HHD

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2008
Messages
807
Reaction score
7
In recent years, there has been trouble after every "manifestation", even in relatively prosperous times (and there are many, many manifs in France). A group of younger anarchist types have attached themselves to the traditional trade unions who organise the parades; they are sometimes joined by "racailles" who enjoy fighting police. It's hardly November 2005 all over again, never mind something as serious as the LA riots!
 

dtmt

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
2,272
Reaction score
42
Originally Posted by holymadness
Paris has been rioting off and on since the middle ages. It's hasn't really stopped since 1789. Don't expect to see this in America.
Perhaps the best explanation I have heard of this is, if less than 100 cars per day are torched on the streets of Paris it's not considered newsworthy.
 

HHD

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2008
Messages
807
Reaction score
7
Originally Posted by dtmt
Perhaps the best explanation I have heard of this is, if less than 100 cars per day are torched on the streets of Paris it's not considered newsworthy.

Burning cars is a tradition in the rougher housing estates: In 2007, over 100 a day were being burned throughout France. It's something gang kids do instead of shooting one another as they do in more troubled countries.

The attacks usually peak on New Year's Eve - 1147 this year - though only 12 in the city of Paris, which is happily insulated from the worst of the trouble. Your car is safe in Paris ;-)
 

kwilkinson

Having a Ball
Joined
Nov 21, 2007
Messages
32,245
Reaction score
884
Originally Posted by thekunk07
^no, we have big tvs and big macs to keep us complacent. we are not a nation of protesters.

A large middle class gives a country stability. We, as a group, put up with a lot of ****. We might write a very pointed letter or sign a petition, but we aren't going to do anything. Only the poor revolt or riot. They have nothing to lose from it.
 

thekunk07

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Apr 27, 2007
Messages
18,117
Reaction score
3,247
^or the unemployed. i can't believe the petty **** people in the US actually do protest over, like police brutality.
 

lee_44106

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2006
Messages
8,043
Reaction score
100
I pity the tree-hugging liberal rats in the big cities when people start to riot in the US. Here in my parts of the country we have guns, multiple guns.

Second Amendment.
worship.gif
 

GQgeek

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Mar 4, 2002
Messages
16,568
Reaction score
84
There was an ad on TV the other day about being prepared to see your family through a 72 hour emergency (no power or something of the like). They were trying to sell some kind of kit, the kind of which we might find in Manton's basement. Guns were notably absent. Personally, that's the only thing I want in an emergency. Guns & ammo. You can take everything else from people that aren't similarly equipped!
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 85 37.3%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 87 38.2%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 24 10.5%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 36 15.8%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 36 15.8%

Forum statistics

Threads
506,486
Messages
10,589,866
Members
224,252
Latest member
ColoradoLawyer
Top