• IMF tells France to get its shit in gear before their economy tanks.
    17 replies, posted
[img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/67977000/jpg/_67977132_67973670.jpg[/img] [i]French President Francois Hollande has vowed to reduce unemployment by the end of this year, although it is most likely it will continue to rise.[/i] [quote]The gap between France and its European neighbours will widen unless the country introduces fresh economic reforms, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. The IMF called on France to lower its labour costs and halt tax hikes to boost both growth and its competitiveness. In its annual assessment, the IMF also forecast France's economy would contract slightly more than forecast. It said GDP would fall 0.2% this year. "We see deep structural issues affecting growth potential in France due to loss of competitiveness,'' said Edward Gardner, the chief of the IMF's mission to France. The IMF expects the French economy to shrink 0.2% this year, down from a previous estimate of 0.1%.[/quote] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22771881[/url]
increase the marginal tax rate so businesses flee the country thus reducing competitiveness gee who woulda thunk
So you're telling me that a mainly agriculture based economy isn't going to have acceptable growth for a 1st world country?
Sometimes I get the impression that the warnings of the IMF scare investors away faster than even the most Socialist of Presidents (assuming Hollande is even acting like a Socialist). France does need reforms, but the economy does not completely depend on it. All that is needed are some budget cutting and regulation lifting, no Austerity required.
[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;40904204]So you're telling me that a mainly agriculture based economy isn't going to have acceptable growth for a 1st world country?[/QUOTE] Given that the rest of Europe props up French Agriculture I'm hardly surprised.
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;40904198]increase the marginal tax rate so businesses flee the country thus reducing competitiveness gee who woulda thunk[/QUOTE] Hey, I agree with Dain on something! People need to realise that high taxes will just be dodged
[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;40904262]Hey, I agree with Dain on something! People need to realise that high taxes will just be dodged[/QUOTE] i genuinely don't understand why people deny it - they hate those horrible greedy wallstreet fatcats because X Y and Z, but then they act surprised when their greed causes them to move offshore to avoid taxes
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;40904287]i genuinely don't understand why people deny it - they hate those horrible greedy wallstreet fatcats because X Y and Z, but then they act surprised when their greed causes them to move offshore to avoid taxes[/QUOTE] Rich people tend to flee the country when it looks like it's about to either have their economy tank or the country itself goes tits up.
I love the way people have justified regressive tax systems by saying that rich people will avoid taxes. Governments can easily keep rich people by making doing business there good regardless of taxes.
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;40904287]i genuinely don't understand why people deny it - they hate those horrible greedy wallstreet fatcats because X Y and Z, but then they act surprised when their greed causes them to move offshore to avoid taxes[/QUOTE] this is/you are wrong by the way. [url=http://www.economy.com/mark-zandi/documents/JEC-Fiscal-Stimulus-102909.pdf]Every dollar spent on corporate/high income tax cuts results in about a 70 cent loss in the gross domestic product.[/url] Universal tax cuts have a negligible impact on the GDP, while payroll tax cuts (which primarily affect lower-income earners) are the only cuts which result in an appreciable increase in the GDP
If Robespierre were still in charge we wouldn't see all these rich people leaving the country! Robespierre 2017!
you sorta criticize whoever it is you think your enemies are for dehumanizing rich people as "fat cats" but you're sort of the one who imagines them not as people with attachments to families and places but instead as something resembling loose plastic shopping bags who, at the slightest gust of higher taxes in their direction, lift from the earth and their countries of origin to resettle elsewhere
[QUOTE=SigmaLambda;40907558]you sorta criticize whoever it is you think your enemies are for dehumanizing rich people as "fat cats" but you're sort of the one who imagines them not as people with attachments to families and places but instead as something resembling loose plastic shopping bags who, at the slightest gust of higher taxes in their direction, lift from the earth and their countries of origin to resettle elsewhere[/QUOTE] You are right, only a few of them would move to avoid taxes. Many more simply hide their money away, a problem easily solvable with more cracking down in tax evasion.
all of those numbers (including the ones that show very high returns for money spent on food stamps and welfare programs) paint the lower classes as the people who inject a larger percentage of their money into the economy and the IMF's suggestion of lowering labor costs is in direct opposition to that
The IMF is like a giant international Ron Paul that people actually listen to.
[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;40904204]So you're telling me that a mainly agriculture based economy isn't going to have acceptable growth for a 1st world country?[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Paul McCartney;40904204][B]a mainly agriculture based economy[/B][/QUOTE] ... [QUOTE=Wikipedia] [Agriculture] employed 3,4 % of the population in 2007 [...], generating 4,5 % of the French GDP.[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://images.gamekult.com/images/forum/icones/icon67.gif[/IMG]
[QUOTE=SigmaLambda;40907527]this is/you are wrong by the way. [url=http://www.economy.com/mark-zandi/documents/JEC-Fiscal-Stimulus-102909.pdf]Every dollar spent on corporate/high income tax cuts results in about a 70 cent loss in the gross domestic product.[/url] Universal tax cuts have a negligible impact on the GDP, while payroll tax cuts (which primarily affect lower-income earners) are the only cuts which result in an appreciable increase in the GDP[/QUOTE] Depends on the rate of taxation. Lower taxes don't spur economic development as much as it is often claimed, at least not below the "fifty percent or less of gdp" range. Of course, this doesn't justify very high rates of taxation.
[QUOTE=saming;40908106]... [IMG]http://images.gamekult.com/images/forum/icones/icon67.gif[/IMG][/QUOTE] It's now 3.8% of employment and 1.9% of GDP. That's twice that of the UK and around half that of Germany
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