Beware those carrying fear, uncertainty and doubt about Democrats.

[Strelnikov_]

13. Same all over. Following is some interesting stuff on French politics

I came across in researching the Macron/LePen debacle.

Seems they are not much different than us, a squishy back and forth middle, driven entirely by perceived economic conditions.

Only difference is that here, the GOP are trying to cement in their power once they get their next chance at the see-saw.

++++

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/08/french-politics-marine-le-pen-france-europe

France is an angry country. It is always an angry country. It is especially angry at present because the Ukraine war has inflated already high petrol, diesel and food prices. But there is no real appetite in France for confrontational policies that would destroy an 80-year postwar political consensus of outward-looking tolerance and European unity.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/22/people-feel-suffocated-cost-of-living-tops-french-concerns-before-election

But it was when a young relative working as a rural healthcare assistant recently broke down and wept at the fuel pump because she could barely afford the petrol to get to work that Martin’s anger rose. “How can there not be a mood of revolt?” she asked.

Worries about purchasing power and how to make ends meet have become French voters’ top concern before the April presidential election. The government says that, on paper, people have more in their wallets since Emmanuel Macron’s election in 2017. The treasury estimates that gross disposable income, which economists use as a gauge of purchasing power, has grown twice as fast under Macron than under his two predecessors, helped by tax cuts and job creation.

But because food and fuel prices are rising, and because fixed costs such as housing, insurance, energy and phone bills account for such a large part of French budgets, voters feel a sense of daily struggle. An Ifop poll last month showed 69% of people felt their purchasing power had deteriorated over Macron’s term.