A pundit said that neither experience nor data persuades a Leftist.....even if the facts show a policy to be ineffectual, "it feels good" counts more than whether it does good.
Let's consider the policies of NYC's new Liberal/Communist/Democrat Mayor in light of similar polices instituted elsewhere.
1. " As Gotham embarks on a dramatic new approach, he promised, the world will watch as we succeed. De Blasio should be watching ... France. The policy prescription that brought de Blasio to officehigher income taxes on New Yorks wealthyis exactly what French president François Hollande proposed to win his own post nearly two years ago. Since then, Hollandes approval rating has plummeted to record lows for a French leader. French citizens have grown tired of symbolic anti-rich gestures; they want real solutions to real problems.
2. Hollande didnt have to put forward any serious policy proposals to win. Frances problems were straightforward and remain so: persistent deficits, caused not by the economic crisis but by ever-growing retirement costs; plus high unemployment, caused by high taxes and heavy social mandates on employersincluding the near-impossibility of firing a permanent worker.
3. ... his plan was simple: tax the rich. He increased top-bracket income taxes from 41 percent to 45 percent and imposed a temporary two-year levy of 75 percent on income above 1 million euros. In his inauguration speech, he said that to put France back on her feet, in a fair way, he would discourage exorbitant income and remuneration.
4. In the nearly two years that followed, Hollande clung to this platform even as Frances fiscal and economic situation worsened.Unemployment has risen from 10.2 to 10.9 percent, ... Standard & Poors downgraded Frances credit from AA+ to AA. The cut was an explicit no-confidence vote in Hollande, with analysts saying that we believe the French governments reforms to taxation, as well as to product, services and labor markets, will not substantially raise Frances medium-term growth prospects ..."
5. Hollandes disastrous performance in office stems from two factors. First, Hollande couldnt levy a punitive tax on the rich without sending them or their money fleeing ... It likely wont raise even 1 billion euros in the context of a nearly 400-billion-euro budget.... the new tax threatens to do huge damage to the French economy. Newspapers have run complaints from soccer teams worried that theyll lose their best players and from tech entrepreneurs concerned that they wont be able to raise start-up capital.
6. ... citizens have watched their already precarious economic fortunes deteriorate while other taxes, including the broad-based value-added tax on goods and services, have risen to fund ever-higher spending. Now, in the face of public anger and frustration, Hollande is promising to cut taxes on the middle class and on businesses. To do that, hes finally getting somewhat serious about spending cuts.
7. De Blasio can take a lesson here. Yes, there are differences between France and New York. New Yorks economy, having recovered all the jobs lost since 2008 and added 145,000 new ones, is in better shape than Frances ... (though national mandates, such as Obamacare, have made them worse).
8. Voters propelled de Blasio into office on little more than a vague notion of fixing inequality. Like Hollande, de Blasios fix is a tax increase,.... de Blasios tax hike, like Hollandes, will be little more than symbolic. The rich already pay more than their fair share; they earn about a third of the citys income and pay more than 40 percent of income taxes.
And education spending, which de Blasio wants to expand with the new revenues, has already nearly doubled over the past decade, reaching $24.6 billion during Bloombergs final year in office.
9. This Monday, de Blasio made it clear that the tax hike is necessary politically, rather than economically or fiscally. When reporters asked him whether hed drop the idea if New York governor Andrew Cuomo gives him another source of state money instead, the new mayor answered: I want to go over this again: We have a goal. We believe in this goal. We believe its the right thing to do. We are sticking to this goal. In other words, the meansa new levy on the richmatter more than the supposed end.
10. As Hollande said of France, de Blasio said hed make New York a fairer, more just, more progressive place, through a tax on the wealthiest among us. Lets hope that it doesnt take him as long to learn the lesson that Hollande has finally absorbed: soaking the rich may win elections, at least in todays political environment, but its of little use once youre in office."
De Blasio's French Lessons by Nicole Gelinas - City Journal
Let's consider the policies of NYC's new Liberal/Communist/Democrat Mayor in light of similar polices instituted elsewhere.
1. " As Gotham embarks on a dramatic new approach, he promised, the world will watch as we succeed. De Blasio should be watching ... France. The policy prescription that brought de Blasio to officehigher income taxes on New Yorks wealthyis exactly what French president François Hollande proposed to win his own post nearly two years ago. Since then, Hollandes approval rating has plummeted to record lows for a French leader. French citizens have grown tired of symbolic anti-rich gestures; they want real solutions to real problems.
2. Hollande didnt have to put forward any serious policy proposals to win. Frances problems were straightforward and remain so: persistent deficits, caused not by the economic crisis but by ever-growing retirement costs; plus high unemployment, caused by high taxes and heavy social mandates on employersincluding the near-impossibility of firing a permanent worker.
3. ... his plan was simple: tax the rich. He increased top-bracket income taxes from 41 percent to 45 percent and imposed a temporary two-year levy of 75 percent on income above 1 million euros. In his inauguration speech, he said that to put France back on her feet, in a fair way, he would discourage exorbitant income and remuneration.
4. In the nearly two years that followed, Hollande clung to this platform even as Frances fiscal and economic situation worsened.Unemployment has risen from 10.2 to 10.9 percent, ... Standard & Poors downgraded Frances credit from AA+ to AA. The cut was an explicit no-confidence vote in Hollande, with analysts saying that we believe the French governments reforms to taxation, as well as to product, services and labor markets, will not substantially raise Frances medium-term growth prospects ..."
5. Hollandes disastrous performance in office stems from two factors. First, Hollande couldnt levy a punitive tax on the rich without sending them or their money fleeing ... It likely wont raise even 1 billion euros in the context of a nearly 400-billion-euro budget.... the new tax threatens to do huge damage to the French economy. Newspapers have run complaints from soccer teams worried that theyll lose their best players and from tech entrepreneurs concerned that they wont be able to raise start-up capital.
6. ... citizens have watched their already precarious economic fortunes deteriorate while other taxes, including the broad-based value-added tax on goods and services, have risen to fund ever-higher spending. Now, in the face of public anger and frustration, Hollande is promising to cut taxes on the middle class and on businesses. To do that, hes finally getting somewhat serious about spending cuts.
7. De Blasio can take a lesson here. Yes, there are differences between France and New York. New Yorks economy, having recovered all the jobs lost since 2008 and added 145,000 new ones, is in better shape than Frances ... (though national mandates, such as Obamacare, have made them worse).
8. Voters propelled de Blasio into office on little more than a vague notion of fixing inequality. Like Hollande, de Blasios fix is a tax increase,.... de Blasios tax hike, like Hollandes, will be little more than symbolic. The rich already pay more than their fair share; they earn about a third of the citys income and pay more than 40 percent of income taxes.
And education spending, which de Blasio wants to expand with the new revenues, has already nearly doubled over the past decade, reaching $24.6 billion during Bloombergs final year in office.
9. This Monday, de Blasio made it clear that the tax hike is necessary politically, rather than economically or fiscally. When reporters asked him whether hed drop the idea if New York governor Andrew Cuomo gives him another source of state money instead, the new mayor answered: I want to go over this again: We have a goal. We believe in this goal. We believe its the right thing to do. We are sticking to this goal. In other words, the meansa new levy on the richmatter more than the supposed end.
10. As Hollande said of France, de Blasio said hed make New York a fairer, more just, more progressive place, through a tax on the wealthiest among us. Lets hope that it doesnt take him as long to learn the lesson that Hollande has finally absorbed: soaking the rich may win elections, at least in todays political environment, but its of little use once youre in office."
De Blasio's French Lessons by Nicole Gelinas - City Journal
