KRUGMAN AND THE NYTIMES VERSUS SARKOZY AND THE FRENCH PEOPLE

KRUGMAN: "It's true that France's G.D.P. per person is well below that of the United States. "

[It's actually WORSE than Krugman states: Krugman leaves out the FACT that France's GDP is also not growing; in FACT France's economy is barely growing at half the rate that the US economy is!] Krugman continues:

"But that's because French workers spend more time with their families. The point is that to the extent that the French have less income than we do, it's mainly a matter of choice. And to see the consequences of that choice, let's ask how the situation of a typical middle-class family in France compares with that of its American counterpart. The French family, without question, has lower disposable income. This translates into lower personal consumption: a smaller car, a smaller house, less eating out.

But there are compensations for this lower level of consumption. Because French schools are good across the country, the French family doesn't have to worry as much about getting its children into a good school district. Nor does the French family, with guaranteed access to excellent health care, have to worry about losing health insurance or being driven into bankruptcy by medical bills. Perhaps even more important, however, the members of that French family are compensated for their lower income with much more time together. Fully employed French workers average about seven weeks of paid vacation a year. In America, that figure is less than four. So which society has made the better choice? "

ER, um... okay, and being poor is also better than being rich because you have less disposable income and therefore consume less and contribute less to global warming? And it's easier to keep track of your assets because you have none. SHEESH!

Here's PROOF that Krugman is WRONG: RPR leader and Minister of the Interior Nicholas Sarkozy is proposing to make the French economy more like Great Britain's and America's, and Sarkozy is the most popular politican in France - BY FAR! If Krugman was right, then the Communist Party leader would be more popular, (or the Socialist Party leader would be more popular. Even Villepin would be more popular). But NONE are as popular as Sarkozy who has said he wants to emulate the Anglo-Amerian economy.

FACT: France - and the rest of the socialistic nations of Old Europe - have welfare states that they cannot afford and demographics which make the crises they will INEVITABLY face WORSE than our impending problems with Social Security and Medicare.

What Krugman is advocating for the USA is what the overwhelming majority of the French people are sick'n tired of: slow growth; poor paying jobs; lack of disposable income; and high taxes.

Krugman could not be more Leftist or more wrong. No wonder he is right at home at the NYTIMES! [More on Sarkozy HERE and HERE.] More HERE - from JUST ONE MINUTE!