Vive La France and Open Thread

   

"La Vie en Rose" - Louis Armstrong

- Very happy to see the Socialists prevail in the French presidential election.  I am hoping that this will be the beginning of a revivial of a European left that actually considers unemployment -- not pleasing bankers and the German right -- to be the continent's most pressing problem.  Yglesias has some thoughts on the constraints under which Hollande will operate.  Of course, the short term concern here is that turmoil in Europe will harm Obama's re-election prospects.  Ultimately though if the left is to regain its vitality in Europe it needs to move beyond the discredited deregulatory policies of the Blair-Brown (and Clinton) third way, and get people -- especially the young -- back to work.

- Meanwhile, the Greek elections seem to offer a cautionary tale about where the continued failure of the mainstream parties to meaningfully address the European economic crisis could lead.  (Marine LePen's showing in the first round of the French elections are also illustrative of this potential.)  The collapse of the vote for Greece's two leading parties to about one-third of the total vote is a stunning repudiation of the country's political establishment. 

- Krugman is pleased to see the voters strike back at austerity. The question is whether new governments can embrace a politics of growth without destroying the Euro.  Ultimately I think the Euro is a failed and anti-democratic experiment, but its demise would undoubtedly cause severe short term dislocation.  Maybe the most hopeful development for the continent would be the defeat of Merkel and her coalition in next year's German elections.  There are signs of slippage there, although the SPD shows disappointing strength even in the wake of Merkel's problems.  Once again, fringe parties -- in this case the German "Pirate" party -- seem to be attracting voters who are disenchanted with the traditional political alternatives.   

This strikes me as a pretty dangerous moment for European democracy as the established parties show themselves inadequate to the moment.  I only hope that its spillover effect does not harm Obama in November.  

 

 

Comments

[oddjob]

Ultimately though if the left is to regain its vitality in Europe it needs to move beyond the discredited deregulatory policies of the Blair-Brown (and Clinton) third way, and get people -- especially the young -- back to work.

True, but if it's done in a way that causes France's bond rating to further degrade that won't help much of anything.

[oddjob]

Three former Iowa Supreme Court Justices who were ousted in 2010 after that court’s unanimous decision to legalize same-sex marriage in the state are being honored today in Boston with the 2012 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award....

[low-tech cyclist]

oddjob - since the bond market hasn't rewarded austerity, it's about time to try something else.

Not to mention, if a country follows a policy that puts people back to work, not only is that a Very Good Thing in itself, but that gives it more resources with which to pay higher interest rates if the bond vigilantes should actually show up.

[nancy]

Sir C -- If one is going to have a tune looping in one's head for a while, Louis Armstrong's "La Vie en Rose" is a pleasant happenstance. ;-)

As to your links above re France, Europe, austerity and jobs, I'd recommend Robert Reich's recent entries as part of the Democratic record. He's making the case for capitalism -- interesting to read these days in the world of Citizen's (Thank You Very Much) United.

[kathy a.]

oddjob - that is wonderful news about the iowa justices! i kind of heart caroline kennedy, too, for carrying on in her own way.

[oddjob]

Maurice Sendak has died.

[low-tech cyclist]

oddjob - like A.A. Milne and Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak will never really die.

[oddjob]

Mitt Romney's Neocon War Cabinet

[low-tech cyclist]

SC, have you seen this piece about wage theft? Apparently in many states, the penalties for failing to pay overtime, making employees work 'off the clock,' paying less than minimum wage, etc., are so minimal that it makes every bit of sense in the world for a sufficiently unscrupulous employer to do these things and risk the fines.

The article and its links indicate that some states (Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, and New Mexico among them) have passed laws with some teeth to them.

But I'd be interested to know if the AFL-CIO or anyone else keeps track of such laws nationally.

The fact that this sort of thing goes on at all in America makes me angry, and if there were ever a cause that I'd give time to as well as money, given how scarce free time is in the life of a parent of a preschooler, this would be it.

All the wage-hour laws and minimum-wage laws in the world don't do much good if employers can essentially get away with ignoring them.

[oddjob]

The Massachusetts Atty. General (Martha Coakley) has also been prosecuting restaurants for failing to pay overtime as mandated by law.

[nancy]

Mitt's neo-con war cabinet ^^ is scary stuff of nightmares. All he'd have to do to make the prospects worse would be to add Krauthammer in there somewhere as a special advisor.
This really is a suicide watch, isn't it?

And now we have a new would-be undie bomber and time for another TSA huddle. Thanks a lot fella.

[kathy a.]

this kind of thing makes me wonder if i should just replace that blood pressure medicine with heroin. pregnant with cancer? HA HA! your doctor can refuse to tell you about treatment that might end the pregnancy -- and refuse to tell you he's doing that -- and refuse to refer you elsewhere.

it's all about choice. a doctor's religious fondness for zygotes and fetal material trumps whatever a silly pregnant woman with cancer thinks about medical matters affecting her own body. and her own family. easy peasy; nutjobs who happen to have degrees should definitely be exempt from the standard of care in their licensed professions, don't you think?

[kathy a.]

north carolina approved an anti-gay constitutional amendment, sweeping in civil unions and domestic partnerships to boot.

[Sir Charles]

Hey, sorry about the absence. I was down in Richmond for the day and did not get a chance to check in.

oddjob,

There was a good interview with one of the Iowa justices -- I think in the New York Times Magazine. She seemed like the veritable salt of the heartland earth.

nancy,

Glad you liked it -- I had thought about Edith Piaf, but the Louis version won out.

l-t c,

I am disturbingly familiar with wage theft. I have actually brought a couple of successful FLSA suits over the years -- in the security industry, where not paying overtime was routine. I won them both, but only after losing in the district court and having to go up to the federal court of appeals both times. That took a considerable investment of time and could well have ended up with my firm being out several hundreds of thousands in attorney time for my troubles. There's not a lot of law firms with the resources and willingness to do that sort of things.

Wage theft is going on at an amazing level right now in the building trades especially to undocumented workers. I brought a couple of suits for some hispanic non union drywallers -- but they all dropped out of the case shortly after the filing.

State authorities in many cases -- especially places like Virginia -- do not care a bit about this. They are in bed with the business community and are perfectly willing to see people get exploited.

[Sir Charles]

My captcha words were "effectual whileHi." Which was kind of awesome.

[Sir Charles]

kathy,

Forgot to add, that Kansas law is serious bullshit.

[Joe S]

Sir C, Do you expect to see Virginia change as it becomes "bluer" and is it better in Maryland ? In Illinois, the trades are still pretty strong, and it leads to a pretty pro-labor State Department of Labor.

[nancy]

kathy a. -- State of Kansas seems to have attempted to rewrite and redefine the Hippocratic Oath. Once again I wonder where the AMA stands on these legislative astonishments.

I don't believe for a moment that it couldn't put a stop to the egregious escalation of health care decision encroachments into patient privacy by the non-medically trained. Position papers or alarm seem to be conspicuously missing. Non-sense.

[oddjob]

north carolina approved an anti-gay constitutional amendment

I thought that would probably happen. :(

What I kept reading about it was that as people learned just exactly what it was all about they opposed it, but that there were simply too many people who thought all they were doing was banning marriage equality.

Their children will be ashamed of them someday in the not too distant future, and they will also be ashamed of themselves.

[Sir Charles]

Joe,

Sadly, Virginia's virulently anti-labor tendencies are deeply ingrained and even fairly friendly Democratic politicians are not willing to stick their necks out much on our behalf.

One of the biggest problems with Virginia is the difference in electorates that turned out for 2008 versus those that turn out in Virginia's off-year state elections. The minority vote tends to be much lower in the latter, keeping the state on a local level much more conservative than one would think.

It's also a very diffuse and complex state. Northern Virginia is fairly similar to Maryland's DC suburbs -- but you've got some really old school southern rural areas in the state that remain very conservative.

Maryland is vastly superior on this stuff, but even there, and in DC, enforcement on this sort of thing is weak. Some of the worst exploitation I've seen was going on in major office buildings in the heart of downtown DC.

nancy,

I think the AMA continually distinguishes itself with its utter gutlessness.

oddjob,

The North Carolina vote is not surprising but deeply disappointing nonetheless.

[oddjob]

The asshat who beat Lugar comes right out and publicly states that his definition of bipartisanship is that Democrats change their minds and agree with Republicans.

[oddjob]

I think of Maryland and Virginia as being political reverse mirror images. They both have regions that are moderate to liberal as well as regions that are extremely rural and conserative, but the proportions are reversed. In Maryland most of the population is located in Baltimore and the area to Baltimore's southwest that connects it to DC. The northwestern part of the state and the eastern part are completely different worlds from that population center. In Viriginia those rural regions often dominate the state's politics like they pretty much never do in Maryland.

[oddjob]

Rep. Allen West quotes Stonewall Jackson at GOP Lincoln Day dinner.

[Sir Charles]

oddjob,

Basically in Maryland, the Dems carry Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties, which abut DC and have nearly 2 million people, and Baltimore city by large margins and lose the rest of the state.

Virginia turns on the turnout in northern Virginia and among black voters and the way that a couple of exurban counties -- Loudon and Prince William -- go.

As I have noted before, if you want a really good bellwether for this election, see how Obama fares in these two counties. If he wins them both -- as he did the last time -- the election is in the bag.

[kathy a.]

not sure if i linked this before, but here is a post by a medical blogger about some earlier anti-abortion legislation, which includes some suggestions about what individuals can do. she, too, laments the quietness of the AMA.

here is another post linking to other medical bloggers on laws threatening a woman's rights and a doctor's ethics. one of these is to jen gunter, who calls these laws "legalized malpractice" , and urges fellow physicians to speak up.

for our part as civilians, we need to keep speaking up about these things, express alarm to medical organizations, and keep remembering that state elections are VITAL for many issues.

it seems to me that there is probably a basis for lawsuits seeking injunctive relief (to preclude enforcement of these laws) because they intrude on the ethical practice of medicine, and have the potential to cause huge harm to individual patients. i hope that some lawsuits are underway. there are a couple of difficulties, though -- the first is finding good lawyers who will take on a big, messy case pro bono. another is that such lawsuits would need to be handled in each state with these kinds of horrible laws.

[Mandos]

The SPD is weak because the German left hasn't forgiven them for being the authors and implementers of the Hartz IV reforms which were viewed as a total betrayal by many. (And incidentally have contributed to the fiscal imbalances within the EU and exacerbated this crisis.) Consequently, some of them now stay home or vote for Die Linke (the successors to the East German communists).

I view the Pirate Party as largely a positive development. It's a vaguely left-liberal formation that is a much healthier response to an elite losing legitimacy than the National Front in France or the explicitly neo-nazi Golden Dawn in Greece. The Pirates are a "meta-party" whose primary platform beyond, well, easier internet piracy (they are the direct descendants of the Pirate Bay), is their embrace of the amateurization of politics. Their biggest internal party conflict at the German federal level is whether the party leader should have a term of one year or two...