French Socialist Minister: We're Just Nationalizing Industries, Like Obama's Doing In the US

Indeed.

ndustry Minister Arnaud Montebourg, a member of the governing Socialist party, caused controversy last week when he said that the Indian company, which employs close to 20,000 people in France, should leave after it said it would have to close down a factory.

The French government announced on Thursday that it could nationalize the factory in question, with backing from an unnamed businessman.

...

Montebourg told CNBC after a meeting with trade unions in Paris: “Barack Obama's nationalized. The Germans are nationalizing. All countries are nationalizing. I've also noticed the British nationalized 6 banks.”

Everyone seems to think Obama's a socialist except the American media.

And how is all this socialism working out for Europe? Not well.

The unemployment rate continued its steady rise, reaching 11.7% in October, up from 11.6% the month before and 10.4% a year ago.

A further 173,000 were out of work across the single currency area, bringing the total to 18.7 million.
Royal Bank of Scotland's Alberto Gallo

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Royal Bank of Scotland's Alberto Gallo: "The real issue is we're in a two-speed Europe"

The respective fortunes of northern and southern Europe diverged further. In Spain, the jobless rate rose to 26.2% from 25.8% the previous month, and in Italy it rose to 11.1% from 10.8%.

In contrast, unemployment in Germany held steady at 5.4% of the labour force, while in Austria it fell from 4.4% to just 4.3%.

Now, of the two Europes, which one are we following? That's right, the south, big spending, big borrowing. And soon, huge unemployment.

We're really heading for something so severe that people will finally understand it to be a Depression. I suppose all I can do is laugh anymore.

posted by Ace at 05:59 PM

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