FROM AUGUST 26:
As we wait for the news out of Jackson Hole, we have been reading the articles regarding France’s President Sarkozy laying out another of his ambitious agendas for global issues as France takes on the presidency of the G-20 and G-8. We bring this to our readers attention for there is nothing more dangerous than a small Frenchman trying to exert his influence upon the world. Sarkozy is at most times just an irritant, but going into 2011 he becomes a danger.
Sarkozy is under fire in France for the malaise of the French economy and also for immigration issues. The president’s popularity has slid faster than Obama’s so he is looking at the world stage to resurrect his political standing. (Currently, he is trailing the Socialist Dominique Strauss Kahn in the current polls for the 2012 election.) Kahn is presently the head of the IMF, which gives him a respected global institution on which to launch his presidential ambitions. Sarkozy, being the meglomanic he is, will push the G-20′s agenda to serve the purposes of domestic French policy. He has been heard demanding a new Bretton Woods to “fix” currency rates and limit fluctuations. He has also stressed the need for limits on the flows of global capital. In addition, he has advocated the need for heavy regulation of the financial system, especially reforms and regulations, which would result in the curtailing the influence of London and Wall Street.
In an article in yesterday’s Financial Times and today’s Wall Street Journal, he lays out his agenda and it is aggressive and so very French. At its heart, the agenda aims to curtail the influence of the Anglo-American model of capitalism. If the U.S. were to need a depreciated dollar to boost its exports, at what rate should the DOLLAR be “fixed”? What view will the French leader take to solve the PIIGS problem and how will he go about at suggesting that the Germans need to correct their massive trade surplus?
A politically wounded, dimunitive French leader should always cause the world concern. Put it on your radar screens for it is a guarantee that the French president will provide pyrotechnics to the markets. When France held the EU presidency, Sarkozy was credited with many achivements in his hyper method of governing, jumping from issue to another. We failed to see any successes but when you have Carla Bruni standing tall behind you it is easy to look past small accomplishments.
October 3, 2010 at 11:41 am |
Dear Sir,
Sorry you overestimate the influence of the dwarf. Not unusual for “superior” feeling Americans, who like to pontificate about matters European, without knowing the old continent intimately. Shoemaker stick to your last, i.e. your American back-yard. You got enough problems at home, meriting attention and do not need Mr Sarkozy to deflect attention from same. Rgds Bob Visser
October 3, 2010 at 1:00 pm |
you my friend under estimate the ability that a wounded french politico can do on the world stage.Sarkozy is a Gaullist thru and thru —see the headlines in this weekends FT—-all I am doing is warning of the mischief that will take place on the world stage as the French President moves to set the G20 agenda—if you fail to understand that please don’t place your trades on my P and L.
October 3, 2010 at 1:45 pm |
… best sentence “the French president will provide pyrotechnics to the markets.” That´s all folks.