Comments on: You know what to do, now go do it.

By: FAC

FAC — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:58:17 +0000

@Ann ~ Nov 5, 2008 at 1:04 am
140682
“Thank you Dr. Throckmorton for all the articles and coverage – they have been informative and enlightening. I voted this afternoon for someone who shares my values and is in line with all that I know is right. He did not win but my heart is at peace knowing I did the right thing.”
Ditto.

By: Warren

Warren — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:29:43 +0000

@Ann: Thanks Ann, it has been fun to cover these types of stories and issues. I will probably continue to cover some of the public policy stuff along with the usual content.

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:04:11 +0000

Thank you Dr. Throckmorton for all the articles and coverage – they have been informative and enlightening. I voted this afternoon for someone who shares my values and is in line with all that I know is right. He did not win but my heart is at peace knowing I did the right thing.

By: Evan

Evan — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:44:18 +0000

David Lynn: Sarkozy is more liberal than Obama.
You mean he’s closer to the left than Obama? In Europe, liberal means something different from US, it’s the old free market – laissez faire ideology. Here Sarkozy, as the former leader of his popular party, which is conservative and economically liberal, is considered centre-right.

By: Evan

Evan — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:17:25 +0000

Drowssap,
The French economy is atypical in Europe. They have a long tradition of governmental involvement in ownership and management of big corporations and utilities. Labour market is too regulated because trade unions are among the strongest in Europe. To get an idea, the biggest slice in the European Union budget goes to the Common Agricultural Policy because of the power French farmers have in their country, and the status France enjoys as one of the union’s pillars, alongside Germany.
That’s why their attitude to the banking sector is not that surprising, considering that there’s a lot of corruption and recklessness going on in there that put the system to unnecessary risks. Remember the case of the French trader who made some fraudulent transactions that produced a loss of over $7.1 bn to the bank he was working for? It was a complete in-house arrangement in which the state had no control, that created some problems in the rest of the banking system too. Now they are being very careful about banks’ behaviours in the market. It’s true that banks have access to credit lines opened by the state, in order to avoid liquidity crisis on the market but they are not using that facility as it was intended, to continue to supply credit. That’s why the state is threatening with intervention, because they made that financial effort in order to keep the lending going.