France & Spain: Europe on the brink of taking US down

France, as you already know, elected a Socialist as president on Sunday, May 6th. Not my appellation: his. A true and embraced Socialist. Who said within a few minutes following his election: "austerity can no longer be inevitable."

That sentence alone should set the entire EuroZone quaking. And trust me: it is.

Further, news from Spain today: it plans to send public money to bail out its banks:

Spain will swoop in with public money this week to clean up huge bad loans at the nation's fourth-biggest listed bank, Bankia, the government said Monday.

Spain's banks are still struggling to emerge from a 2008 property bubble collapse, which eliminated millions of jobs and left the financial sector buried in risky assets.

Investors fear the unknown cost of rescuing the industry could derail efforts to stem a rapid rise in Spain's sovereign debt and avert a bail-out.

And more: it plans to mandate that all Spanish citizens and businesses purchase government bonds to this end.

Further, an alternate proposal might be this:

1. Spain should plead for emergency funds from the ECB, IMF, EMU, wherever it can get them.
2. Spain should declare a bank holiday and announce a return to the Spanish Peseta
3. Spain should issue a statement to the ECB, IMF, EMU to the effect "anyone stupid enough to lend us money deserves to lose it at least two-thirds of it. All debts in Euros will be repaid 1-1 in Pesetas."
4. Spain should then devalue the Peseta by 65%. Should Europe, the IMF, and EMU threaten sanctions, Spain would counter with a threat of 100% default on all external debt rather than 65% of it.
5. Spain should lower the VAT, lower corporate income taxes, and make it easier to hire and fire workers.

And Greece? Roughly nothing more than chaos.

People have wondered -- what will be the "crux of the biscuit" that starts the coming world and US economic crash?

You're looking at it right now.

Start paying attention.

BZ

P.S.
The best description of a "Social Darwinist" is a Conservative who is winning a Leftist argument.

"The Tyranny of Cliches."

PPS:

Standard in France:

• -the 35-hour work week;
• -retirement in the 50s with "special circumstances";
• -Vacations by country;
• -French workers are guaranteed FIVE weeks off per year;
• -Moreover, the French work LESS and are offered, in most occasions, EIGHT weeks off per year;

In my line of job, I am a journalist working on a French newspaper. We have eight weeks of vacation -- eight weeks of vacation," says Stephane Marchand, a senior economics editor at the French newspaper, Le Figaro. "Eight weeks, yes. I know it may be surprising for you because I know in the U.S. you might have only two or three, if you're lucky, but we have eight."

Like most Frenchmen, Marchand has no guilt about taking so much time off. In fact, it's the law: full-time workers in France are guaranteed at least five weeks vacation -- guaranteed those long lazy days in the sun, and leisurely lunches in outdoor cafes.

On top of the five weeks, there are another dozen public holidays, and a maximum 35-hour work week, with no paid overtime allowed. Managers like Marchand, who work more than 35 hours a week, get more time off.

"The so-called 35-hour work week gives us 22 more days a year," says Marchand.

"Yes," says Marchand. "Which is a lot."