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Presidential Election in France Raises New Concerns for Investors
The New York Times ^ | April 18 2012 | LIZ ALDERMAN in PARISĀ 

Posted on 04/18/2012 3:56:56 PM PDT by Cincinna

To the list of worries about the euro zone, add one in bold: the fate of France as it heads into the first round of a closely contested presidential election this weekend.

After a long stretch in which President Nicolas Sarkozy grappled with the euro crisis, investors are now wrestling  with the implications of a potential victory by Socialist candidate, François Hollande. Mr. Hollande’s pledges of higher taxes on the rich, and higher government spending, are luring voters disenchanted by the austerity medicine Mr. Sarkozy administered in hopes of protecting France from financial contagion.

Many investors, though, are questioning what a government run by Mr. Hollande would mean for France’s economic competitiveness and its ability to keep clear of the financial turmoil that has once again lifted the borrowing costs of two other big  euro zone countries, Spain and Italy.

A surprisingly successful bond auction by Spain on Tuesday at least temporarily buoyed the financial markets in Europe and the United States. But the underlying concerns for Spain and the region have not gone away. And with polls showing Mr. Hollande as at least an even bet to oust Mr. Sarkozy, a fog of financial uncertainty has enveloped France, Europe’s biggest economy after Germany.

“If you combine an election of François Hollande with a worsening economic situation, no improvement in Spain, and a possible new downgrade of France by the ratings agencies, there is a high likelihood” that France’s borrowing costs will also rise, said Evariste Lefeuvre, chief economist at  French investment bank Natixis in NY.

Such sentiments are viewed warily by many French voters, and Mr. Sarkozy’s opponents, exasperated by what they see as a crass effort by financial players to browbeat France into accepting more of the type of austerity measures that have squeezed growth in Greece, Spain 

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: businessfear; france; sarkozy; socialist

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1 posted on 04/18/2012 3:57:12 PM PDT by Cincinna
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To: Cincinna

I hope the socialist wins. No sense in pro-longing the agony over there. Might as well hasten the inevitable outcome.


2 posted on 04/18/2012 4:21:27 PM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: Cincinna; afraidfortherepublic; mojo114; seenenuf; LucyT; Think free or die; DollyCali; ...

With the first round on Aprill 22, the latest polls are in:

Sarkozy 27.5%
Hollande 26%  
  These numbers are from Ifop, a reliable rolling poll, including today, April 18, Ifop is a more reliable poll of actual voters than CSA, a left leaning poll org linked to Libération. 


3 posted on 04/18/2012 7:52:40 PM PDT by Cincinna ( *** NOBAMA 2012 ***)
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To: KoRn

SHAME ON YOU KoRn

François Hollande is a Socialist. How could you wish a Socialist leader and government on any people, especially the French, America’s oldest ally.


4 posted on 04/18/2012 7:57:51 PM PDT by Cincinna ( *** NOBAMA 2012 ***)
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To: Cincinna

Heh... We’re stuck with a Socialist over here.

I was wishing for him to help hasten the end of the EU than France itself. That’s an impossible mess over there.


5 posted on 04/18/2012 8:32:02 PM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: Cincinna
Prayers for France

That they may make the correct decision against the Noe-Jacobin Traitors that threaten her from within.

6 posted on 04/18/2012 8:40:55 PM PDT by KC_Lion (I will NEVER vote for Romney, the GOP will go the way of the Whigs if they nominate him)
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To: Cincinna
Close isn't it?.....Actually the very fact it's close says France has too many foreigners voting....

Just read Switzerland passing a bill to stop the number of immigrants into Switzerland....The government said, "the rate of immigration was raising concerns over issues of integration,... and compliance with minimum wage.... and working conditions... and has blamed immigration for... pushing up rents, ...overcrowding on public transport and 'erosion of cultural values'.

I salute Switzerland for identifying that their culture is worth protecting from people immigrating who have no intention whatsoever of integrating.....rather use the laws of the lands they enter to reconstruct and construct their "governance" within the host government.

France is in a tough place in that respect...and the rest of Europe is not far behind.

7 posted on 04/18/2012 9:57:45 PM PDT by caww
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To: Cincinna

No choice for France... it is either more Europe or more Europe. Sure, there are some differences on some mundanewedge issues that are really determined at a more local level, but on the real issues of the nation of France, there isn’t a dimes worth of difference between Sarko and the socialist. They need someone with Le Pen’s views on Europe that has a moderate social platform. That is what the people want. They wantto be left alone. Sarko and the socialist want to sell their sovereignty down the river and put their once proud nation in the hands of the Germans.


8 posted on 04/19/2012 1:03:31 PM PDT by wolfman23601
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To: wolfman23601

How wrong you are!
Marine Le Pen’s candidacy never got off the ground. She represents the very worst and extreme tendencies in France. She and the far left radical extremist Jean-Luc Melanchon are two sides of the same Statist, totalitarian, anti-Semitic, anti-American coin.
Not a DIme’s worth of difference between the two.
Le Pen, Hollande, Melanchon- Socialo, Facho all would lead to tyranny.
Sarko is not a Sicialist, not a fascist, and never has been.


9 posted on 04/19/2012 6:28:34 PM PDT by Cincinna ( *** NOBAMA 2012 ***)
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To: Cincinna

Sarko wants to continue doubling down on Europe. Tyranny is already there. The French people are already being ruled... by Germany and by Brussels. Le Pen would absolutely be tyrannical, but at least she is French.


10 posted on 04/20/2012 5:08:18 AM PDT by wolfman23601
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