Posted on 05/10/2007 12:33:40 PM PDT by Uncledave
Get the Young Whippersnappers Off Their Fannies ASAP!
In Christopher Buckley's wonderful Boomsday (mentioned here before), Gen X revolts successfully against a future of, in effect, watching their earnings disappear into the aging pockets of the emergent Boomer Nation.
The issue Buckley so effectively satirizes is indeed very real—earthshaking, actually, unprecedented in human history, in fact. But there's reason to believe the results may be quite the opposite of Buckley's plotline. Or at least that's the story from Sunday, May 6, 2007.
All the coverage here in Europe (I'm in Munich, on the 8th, heading for Dubai as I write) tells us that Mr Sarkozy trounced Ms Royal to make it into Élysée Palace. Indeed, in electoral politics a 53%-47% beating is at least a semi-trounce.
But one small story in Britain's Independent, digging an inch or two below the surface, caught my eye, then fully grabbed my attention. Call it Boomsday Reverse.
Mr Sarkozy, a tough cookie, ran on an uncompromising platform that aims to deal with France's dire slippage in global competitiveness. Some are predicting he'll be France's Margaret Thatcher. He aims to lengthen the work week, cut taxes, hammer the unions, and such to get the French economy in tune with 21st century economics. Ms Royal, on the other hand and in stark contrast, effectively ran on a "What's all the fuss?" platform, claiming that the hyper-liberal French employment practices can be retained without further damage to France's ranking in the global competitiveness polls. So, the rather straightforward story goes, "the voters" went to the polls in record numbers, bit their collective tongues, prepared to accept the bitter medicine—and awarded the powerful presidency to Atilla the Economic Reformer.
Not so fast ...
The real story is far different. As to "the trounce," Trounc-ee Royal was in fact the trounc-er with a "very interesting" "little" slice of the population. She in fact handily topped Sarkozy among those who are in the 18-59 demographic. That ain't Gen X, my friends, that's more or less everybody on active duty in the workforce!
So how, in the end, did Sarkozy become the Ultimate Grand Trounc-er? Simple. He beat the bloody hell out of Royal among the 60-and-up crew. "Beat the bloody hell out of" equates to unheard of margins that were above 2-1.
That is, Team Elder exerted incredible, decisive de facto unity and power in France's demographically old-and-getting-older-and-we're-healthy-and-will- be-around-for-a-long-long-time population. It's not that Sarkozy beat Royal. The actual story is that the 60+ geezers have ordered the wee 60 minus crew to get the hell to work and stay the hell at work ... so the Six Zero Plussers can get their hands on the loot they need to spend their remaining winters in Nice, or some such.
Boomsday was a fable about a very real issue, and a hilarious one at that. Boomsday Reverse, Variety Française, is episode one of Ultimate Reality TV—and it's going to be a long-running show, from France to Japan, with impact that buggers the imagination.
Stay tuned ...
[Royal] in fact handily topped Sarkozy among those who are in the 18-59 demographic. That ain't Gen X, my friends, that's more or less everybody on active duty in the workforce!
So how, in the end, did Sarkozy become the Ultimate Grand Trounc-er? Simple. He beat the bloody hell out of Royal among the 60-and-up crew. "Beat the bloody hell out of" equates to unheard of margins that were above 2-1.
Le ping
LOL!
Interesting theory. Do the statistics really confirm this?
The people who are recently retired now saw how the elderly were treated by their own children during the last heat wave in France.
If nothing else, making it more difficult for their children to run off to the beach in the heat of August would seem prudent.
So we have the reverse of the Buckley scenario - the geezers are in solidarity and the “yout” are not. For now. It remains to be seen whether the president they have elected can keep it that way. And it remains to be seen if the president can make enough economic headway to convince the “yout” that they actually are better off in a competitive economy.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
That puts a different light on things. Ancien regime, indeed.
The facts follow. Here is how the Generations voted in France:
1. Silents - Sarkozy
2. Boomers - Royale
3. Xers - Sarkozy
4. Zers - Royale
Do we see a pattern here?
Well, no.
Um, whatever comes after "Zers" votes for Sarkozy? What do I win?
Here’s a more accurate pattern. I call it the Thirty Year Theory. In America (and a lot of Europe), we have the war, conservative, and then the liberal decade. Granted, none of the segments last exactly ten years....
War—1880’s, 1910’s, 1940’s, 1970’s (though Vietnan started earlier), and this decade.
Conservative-follows each war 1890’s, 20’s, 50’s, and Reagan (80’s)
Liberal-1900’s, FDR, Hippies, etc., Clinton....
Yep!
You’re probably right.
These poeople have their figures completely wrong!
The only age group Royal won was the 18-24 year olds. The 24-35 group went for Sarko more than 55-45. Older people were an even greater margin to Sarko.
A little fact checking is in order.
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