French Constitutional Court Approves 75% Tax On High Earners

SLAYER69
On the flip side don't they have 'Free' health care?

Yes, and it rivaled or exceeded the care I've had in the USA. I had a CT scan and some blood work and an ambulance ride in Pairs a few years ago.

No bills, nothing. They waved me on my way with a prescription, my CT images and some paperwork for my doctor back home. No waiting, no lines, none of the "horror stories" we Americans hear about socialized medicine.

They even went out of their way to find interns and nurses that spoke better English than the doctor to translate for me. For the French, that was fairly impressive...lol

reply to post by Bassago


Well, each of us have their own preferences. I see positive and negative sides to each.

Like doing a certain activity out of an inner desire to do it- not just because of the money.

If you don't have to worry about your basic necessities for survival, money doesn't have to be the main focus of life. Power takes on more different manifestations than just that.

Well I must say, whatever the reasons for what Hollande is doing it doesn't seem to be working. Maybe the French (and others) aren't liking his plans as much as he'd hoped. Bet Obama still likes him.

Having just completed his 75% millionaires tax and seen at the center of a what is likely to be a confiscatory "wealth tax" across Europe, Volkskrant shows that it is not just French President Hollande's people that see him as the least popular ever, but the world's leaders also...as no one will shake his hand...
French President Hollande Needs A Friend

François Hollande becomes most unpopular French president ever

Bassago
reply to post by Bluesma

 

Thanks for you input here Bluesma. Nice to hear from someone who actually have to live with the situation. I must say, this is the saddest indictment of the French mentality I've ever heard. Hard to believe the country can even function with those lines of reasoning.
.

The French would likewise wonder how this country can survive with it's mindset.

There is a long history which has brought about this mindset. It's not some development of the last twenty years. It's due to their history and experience. This is not just a French mindset. Europeans in general are more class conscious than Americans. Americans don't even want to acknowledge class exists whereas in Europe people know it does and actively fight for their own interests.

It was Gore Vidal who summed up this difference rather quickly: When an American sees his boss driving a Cadillac he thinks he smiles and thinks "Oh, I'll be driving one of those soon.", when a European sees it he flips his boss off and curses at him.

Americans have been in a dream world for years. I read a survey just last year in which 1 in 3 Americans thought they would be rich soon. There was another survey which found almost 40% of Social Security recipients thought they were going to get rich. Delusion all around. They don't see what they truly are, they think of themselves as "temporarily inconvenienced rich people". This is what drives the American mindset-The persistent delusion of coming riches.

reply to post by Bassago


Yes, but it has everything to do with his consensus governing. People elected him as they were tired of the austerity axe, yet he continued it. He is unpopular because he is every bit as right wing as Sarkozy was.

In fact, this is the first time Hollande has had the nuts to actually go after the Rich. He would continually make proposals and then end up just raising the tax on middle class payers. The French voted for a left wing candidate and got a right wing one, that's why they are pissed off.

reply to post by antonia

It was Gore Vidal who summed up this difference rather quickly: When an American sees his boss driving a Cadillac he thinks he smiles and thinks "Oh, I'll be driving one of those soon.", when a European sees it he flips his boss off and curses at him.

When I was a kid, I saw a man with a Cadillac.

Instead of flipping him off, I asked him for a job so I could get a Caddy someday.

He said OK.

Two years later I bought one.

All I had to do was keep a good attitude and work.

If I had cursed and flipped, I would still be taking a bus.

Different mindsets get different results.


Added: Cadillac Aims to Double Its U.S. Sales Volume by 2014

xuenchen


Two years later I bought one.

All I had to do was keep a good attitude and work.


Added: Cadillac Aims to Double Its U.S. Sales Volume by 2014

edit on Jan-03-2014 by xuenchen because:

:

You do realize Cadillac's are no longer considered the cars of the rich these days right? When Vidal said it they were.

Either way, you illustrated Vidal's point. Working for someone and buying a cadillac doesn't make one rich. The Rich have an entirely different set of interests and they are not aligned with yours.

reply to post by antonia

You do realize Cadillac's are no longer considered the cars of the rich these days right? When Vidal said it they were.

Oh.

I didn't know.

What car *IS* considered the car of the rich these days?

I heartbroken now

xuenchen


When I was a kid, I saw a man with a Cadillac.

Instead of flipping him off, I asked him for a job so I could get a Caddy someday.

He said OK.

Two years later I bought one.

All I had to do was keep a good attitude and work.

If I had cursed and flipped, I would still be taking a bus.

Different mindsets get different results.

..... in different environments and systems.

This is not what would happen in France. The thing about "mindsets" or cultural values, is that they become valable within the systems they created. The ideas become self fulfilling prophecies.

Like with the system here, it is almost impossible to become rich on your own without breaking laws and doing some sneaky stuff. So the assumption that the rich are corrupt becomes true, to some extent.

That is just an example, I don't want to go too far off subject, but the assumption that other parts of the world are the same as your own (and that what works where you are will work elsewhere the same) is a mistake not only americans make- that is natural human error all over the world.

reply to post by antonia


I don't know about that, there's a rap song on heavy rotation right now about a guy and his "off black Cadillac". He even apparently has 24" rims with 100 spokes on each one. He sounds like he has quite a bit of money.

reply to post by MystikMushroom


In hip-hop culture perhaps, but you have to remember most of these people who rap were poor in their youth. As a person who has worked for and has been around many wealth people, Benz's, rolls and bentley seem to be the preferred cars. If they are worried about the environment they drive Teslas.

If they got money by saving it I noticed they would tend to drive plain,old cars.

xuenchen
reply to post by antonia

You do realize Cadillac's are no longer considered the cars of the rich these days right? When Vidal said it they were.

 

Oh.

I didn't know.

What car *IS* considered the car of the rich these days?

I heartbroken now

You may not need to be rich to own a caddie CTS V but you better be rich enough to handle the 12 - 18 mpg you're going to get with it.

Anyway the really wealthy get cars that after the drive them around a bit they need to buy a new one. Like the world class exploding Tesla. Or if they're politicians like Hollande they just make poor people drive them around.

Back on topic - "Just say no to ridiculous confiscatory taxes."

$999,999 is what you'll be getting paid now. Is that even livable? I think they should manage fine for two years anyway.

the French had been screwed over by the wealthy in the past for centuries...they have long memories and short tempers...I like their attitude, if the wealthy don't like it...tough. the French government (people) makes damn sure that the majority of the population is paid well so they can live well.
here in the states, we apologize for not being worthy, we stroke the wealthy's ego to promote how smarter and better they are than the rest of us, we plead with them to give us a job, we beg them for a raise...what a bunch of wussies

The idea in our american culture is that the rich (assumed to be new rich- not rich by birth, but rich through hard work) play their part in the society through creating jobs.

You must consider that in France, that is not the case. The culture is such that

- inheritance is considered important...all people try to create an inheritance to pass on. There is none of this "they will have to make their own fortune" thinking. A decent parent provides for his kids and grandkids future.
Their job is not to form an independant adult (remember that is "bad" that is "egotistical" !)

-The people tend to save money, not spend it. It is not a culture of consumption; they do not consider that the money needs to circulate. The savings accounts are bursting, even as the economy might flounder. The rich are more likely to save than invest in business.

-Those who are rich, in most cases, did not become so through hard work. (The system is such that it is very hard to become rich through your work) For the most part, they come from wealthy families.



So in a human grouping (society) in which people come together in inter-dependance, to mutually increase the chance of survival for each individual member, each member has some form of service they provide to the whole.

In capitalism, we assume the richer levels will provide employment for the lower.
Money goes directly from them to the other levels through form of salary.

That is where the sense of "unfairness" comes in for us- geez, these people worked their butts off, and are giving us jobs we need, and then they ALSO have to pay heavy taxes??

But we are not talking about America.