A guerra de classe do socialista presidenciavel frances -- Wall Street Journal

O Wall Street Journal não deixa de dar uma gozada em regra nas propostas tributárias do candidato socialista francês. Lembremos que quando François Mitterrand veio com as mesmas intenções em 1981, uma massa de novos "emigrados aristocratas" começou a fugir com malas de dinheiro para a Bélgica e para a Suíca, e não tinha semana em que um guarda aduaneiro francês, convertido em neo-jacobino, talvez até termidoriano, não pegasse um desses transfugas, no trem ou no carro, tentando atravessar a fronteira com malas e malas de francos (que, aliás, desceu rapidamente de 5 para quase 10 por dólar).
Não teve outra: em um ano e meio, Mitterrand corrigiu suas bobagens econômicas.
O candidato socialista, que provavelmente vai ganhar as eleições, vai fazer o mesmo: vai começar "socialista", vai terminar tecnocrático, como Jospin, aliás...
Paulo Roberto de Almeida 

France's Class Warrior

The Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2012

François Hollande says his proposed 75% tax rate is 'patriotic.'

François Hollande, France's Socialist Party candidate for President, made a campaign stop this week in London, hoping to win over the 300,000 or so of his fellow citizens who now make their home on the other side of the Chunnel. If Mr. Hollande's proposal to impose a 75% tax rate on incomes over €1 million ($1.3 million) ever becomes law, he'll have to get used to many more such visits to Perfidious Albion.

Mr. Hollande calls his 75% rate a matter of "patriotism," and in one sense he's right—it would take a very patriotic Frenchman to stay put and pay the levy. French footballers are said to be especially distressed by Mr. Hollande's proposal, which could be good news—for the English Premier League.

When he emerged at St. Pancras station in London, Mr. Hollande was asked whether he had a message for London's financial district. His reply: "I am not dangerous, but we need more regulation everywhere."

Enlarge Image

Associated Press

France's Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande

To be specific, Mr. Hollande has consistently hit out against the "obscenely rich" and declared himself the "enemy" of the "world of finance." In December he announced he would renegotiate the pending treaty on fiscal discipline to give France more flexibility in funding its welfare state. He has also suggested he wouldn't be averse to seeing the European Central Bank print more money if that's what it takes to keep France's welfare state gasping along.

We've often admired France's willingness to go its own way on all kinds of political, economic and social questions: It shows an enduring independence of spirit. But French voters, whether in Paris or London, can also see that neighbors like Spain and Italy are desperate to make their labor markets more flexible and their welfare systems less burdensome.

Give Mr. Hollande points for forthrightness. But his agenda identifies him as a socialist of the very old school: a high-taxing, rich-bashing, inflation-tolerating class warrior. The polls currently give Mr. Hollande a hefty lead over incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, but Mr. Hollande's socialist opus may be the one thing that could give the French President another term.

A version of this article appeared Mar. 3, 2012, on page A14 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: France's Class Warrior.