The German media is hailing Macron’s term as President of France as a grand success! He’s a hero! He’s a saint! He has accomplished what no man has done before and as a result his approval rating is at an all time high! Yeah!! Or not.
What has Macron accomplished that makes him worthy of such accolade? He has made a few tax reforms and a labour reform or two. The tax reform is to reduce the corporate rate from 33.3% to 25%, to introduce a ‘progressive tax rate’, and abolish property tax rates. Some of these overhauls will phase in as of 2018, others will phase in over 5 years, including the corporate tax rate reduction. Many of his tax reforms were simultaneously imposed by Trump, however the reception of the German media was quite hypocritical. In fact, they were downright irate! How dare Trump!
Labour reforms include making it easier to fire people, and lifting some regulations although the 35 hour work week and the retirement age of 62 remain in force. Yawn.
As a result of Macron’s massive reforms, France’s GDP rose to about 1.6%! WOW! The only problem, the GDP was estimated to rise to this level in 2014, three years before Macron was elected. So how could he possibly be anointed with this accomplishment?
France holds an unemployment rate of 9.7%, and a youth unemployment rate of 24%. It’s debt stands at about a third of the US, yet it’s GDP is only 11% of that of the US, and public debt is 20% higher. Yet, somehow Macron is a genius and Trump an idiot? How does that work?
Macron’s proposal claims that the ‘source’ of revenue to cover these dramatic reforms will come from freezing government wages, a reduction of 120,000 public sector jobs, and a reduction in subsidies to French regions. All of which will increase – unemployment. Hmmm.
Merkel, Macron, Spain, Italy and Belgium all voiced major protests regarding Trump’s tax reform because they felt it would reflect in their own economic rosy development picture. Which is true. In addition, if Trump follows through with cuts to the UN and NATO, Europe will have to provide for their own military, increasing budgetary costs while already operating at a deficit. The US has been subsidizing their militaries for decades, by the same taxpayers that the French consider unworthy and American racist, white, elite, Deplorables.
Macron’s approval rating is also subject to interpretation fluctuating Yugely depending on who is conducting the poll. Strange… Some claim he sat at 60% when elected. Others report he tanked to 50% as of September only to rebound to 52% today… That is according to the pollster, Ifop, a market research firm that sells polls to political parties. But other pollsters claimed that Macron’s approval rating was 30% as of September, a far cry from the Ifop polls. How could that be?
Ifop is headed by Laurence Parisot, a woman, who also happens to be on the board of PNP Paribas. Paribas is infamously linked to the Rothschilds, the same Rothschilds who bought Macron and groomed him before planting him into the fray for election fodder.
Swaying public thought, the altered approval rating is simply another means of creating fake news.
France’s largest source of revenue is it’s chemical industry accounting for $73 billion in annual exports and which includes a cluster of US companies including; DOW Chemical, Exxon, DuPont, and LyondellBasell. If those companies would decide to repatriate their stream back to the US per the revised tax reform instituted by Trump, the dent would be felt by France’s economy. Hence the massive fear invoked in the EU for Trump and his reforms.
While the tax rates of both France (phased in over 5 years) and the US have been lowered, there does remain a giant thorn, the cost of labour, the work week, and unions. According to one company that was being asked to open shop in France, this was his impression:
Maurice Taylor Jr., head of the tyre company Titan International did not mince his words:
‘”I’ve visited this factory several times. The French workers are paid high wages but only work three hours. They have one hour for their lunch, they talk for three hours and they work for three hours. I said this directly to their union leaders; they replied that’s the way it is in France.”
Anyone…Anyone?