pg 2

^I was kidding about him being the son of an immigrant and wanting to get tougher on immigration. I just thought it was a funny juxtaposition (I think that's the right word).

5/7/2007 11:55:52 AM

Quote :

"If France wants to help develop cures then all it needs to do is abolish the price controls on drugs, as America has done."

We still have price controls. They're called patents.

5/7/2007 12:07:51 PM

Aha, let's abolish patents so that businesses have no incentive to innovate and create new drugs.

Lets just nationalize healthcare and make it the responsibilty of the government to develop new drugs and treatments while we're at it.

5/7/2007 12:20:41 PM

Quote :

"Aha, let's abolish patents so that businesses have no incentive to innovate and create new drugs."

Yes, we should abolish patents. They're unfair and immoral. Protecting physical property is one thing. If I take your lunch, you don't get to eat it. However, if I take your 00b3r drug formula, you still have it. Then it's just a matter of who can produce the drug most efficiently.

5/7/2007 12:40:18 PM

That removes the incentive for R&D though. Companies risk massive amounts of money on being the first to develop a particular drug, patent protection is their reward / incentive for being successful. Remove that reward and they lose their incentive to do anything other than make the cheapest version of current drugs.

5/7/2007 12:49:24 PM

Lots of the money comes from the government already.

That aside, I don't buy the argument that people wouldn't do research without the chance to score monopoly status.

5/7/2007 12:52:24 PM

^man the more I read your posts the more crazy I think you are. You hang out with Salisburyboy or something? I know you have opposite thoughts, but you're both on the fringe wackos.

5/7/2007 1:48:51 PM

Whatever you say.

If intellectual property rights laws don't change soon, they'll chafe more and more as technology advances.

5/7/2007 1:53:16 PM

Quote :

"That was probably one of my favorite policies listed, however, I think he got it the qrong way. I would rather give tax cuts for reduced pollution (i.e. below the average)."

Wait, let me get this straight. You believe that a company that reduces its emission of pollution should get tax cuts, correct? This may sound sensible, but the ultimate result sounds absurd: companies that innately produce no pollution (Software Companies) will be paying higher taxes than companies that innately produce lots of pollution, but managed to clean up a bit (such as a Coal Power Plant).

This is absurd and the price system will shift production away from non-polluting companies towards lower-taxes polluting companies. Net effect would be more pollution than if you just taxed the pollution. Yes, some polluting companies will raise prices, others will shut down, but this is merely forcing customers to pay the true costs of their consumption.

5/7/2007 1:57:08 PM

Quote :

" You believe that a company that reduces its emission of pollution should get tax cuts, correct? This may sound sensible, but the ultimate result sounds absurd"

Mmmm, that all depends on how the code is structured. If you set goals for each individual industry to meet, then credit them for each % drop below their target, then it might work. But then again, that adds complication to the tax code.

5/7/2007 2:04:15 PM

Quote :

"Wait, let me get this straight. You believe that a company that reduces its emission of pollution should get tax cuts, correct? This may sound sensible, but the ultimate result sounds absurd: companies that innately produce no pollution (Software Companies) will be paying higher taxes than companies that innately produce lots of pollution, but managed to clean up a bit (such as a Coal Power Plant). "

I'm presuming france is already taxing pollution to an extent, which would imply that companies that innately produce no pollution are already paying lower taxes than those that innately produce lots of pollution. The issue could also be solved by simply providing that cut for any company below the pollution average for the country.

5/7/2007 6:53:03 PM

Hmm, k. So, you want to keep the current pollution tax, and add a pollution reduction tax credit... For what? Again, you are lessening the tax levied against polluting industries, lessening the price pressure for cleaner but still polluting industries to be supplanted by non-polluting industries.

Just institute the tax, use the revenue to reduce other taxes or increase wage assistance to low-wage workers.

5/7/2007 8:28:41 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/world/europe/07cnd-protests.html

Quote :

"Agence France-Presse, citing national police headquarters, reported that 730 cars had been set fire overnight, 35 in Paris, and that 592 people had been arrested, 79 in the capital. It said 78 police officers had been injured."

OH SHIT

i didn't know that the scale of the violence/protests was that much.

fucking animals, seriously. destroying others innocent people's property is a grave sin in any religion, and these animals go around doing this.

if they are so macho, why didn't they attack gov property???

the guy just got elected, giving him a FUCKING chance.

(regardless, destroying other people's property is just not cool at all, whether it had to do with elections or whatever)

5/7/2007 9:37:05 PM

property is property and can be replaced.

I'm disappointed with this election.

5/7/2007 9:40:30 PM

Quote :

"destroying others innocent people's property is a grave sin in any religion"

Except in communism.

(The bourgeois pigs had it coming.)

5/7/2007 9:59:39 PM

The new french leadership is aligning itself with the US. The US could soon have a democratic president. A left leaning US & right leaning france could actually have a lot of common ground.

5/7/2007 10:14:54 PM

We're acting like the French right is the same as the US' wingnut right. From what I gathered from the BBC this guy looks to liberalize economic policies but he isn't looking to ban gay marriage, ban abortion or legislate from some divine mandate like W. It's like when Canada elected a rightwinger. They didn't become Texas-north or anything.

5/7/2007 10:50:27 PM

In France they would burn less if they did ban gay marriage and the like. Economic Liberty is the ultimate sin in France, anything else can be tollerated.

5/8/2007 9:00:34 AM

^^ That's a good point I think a lot of people missed

If these two candidates were running for POTUS, they would be deemed left and far left.

5/8/2007 9:58:38 AM

I don't even think the French have an organized equivalent to our religious right. Their Catholic community has pretty much been broken, and their muslim community lacks any real political clout.

5/8/2007 10:13:20 AM

Yeah this thread is horrible.

You hate Bush enough to think it would be better for a socialist to win than a center-right candidate? Especially in a country whose socialistic policies have led to 8-9% unemployment and economic stagnation?

And you just automatically assume that because he tilts to the right, he is somehow anti-science?

I can understand the concern about more riots, but a country cannot allow it's disaffected youth to hold the country hostage with the threat of more mayhem. The best thing for those young protesters is economic growth and new jobs, and a fiscal conservative is almost always going to do better for the economy than a socialist.

[Edited on May 8, 2007 at 11:00 AM. Reason : 2]

5/8/2007 10:59:47 AM

i'm most concerned about their treatment of minorities, which has been traditionally pretty terrible.

5/8/2007 11:15:51 AM

Quote :

"This may sound sensible, but the ultimate result sounds absurd: companies that innately produce no pollution (Software Companies)"

So software just appears out of thin air before we buy it?

5/8/2007 1:06:06 PM

Hmm; are you trying to imply that as a narrow industry the development of software emits tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere and therefore falls prey to pollution taxes?

5/8/2007 2:11:46 PM

^^^^What can I say? i'm a socialist.

5/8/2007 6:08:33 PM

Quote :

" President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative party won a clear parliamentary majority Sunday in elections seen as crucial to his ambitious vision for opening up France's economy"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6716654,00.html

LOL at the title and premise of this stupid thread

6/18/2007 5:41:18 PM

Turns out that De Villepin was involved in a plot to smear Sarkozy's name.

Apparently the socialists will stop at nothing to try to discredit this guy.

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2811646.ece

PS I'm still waiting for all the riots and gloom-and-doom predicted in this thread.

[Edited on July 29, 2007 at 10:19 PM. Reason : 2]

7/29/2007 10:16:43 PM

Quote :

"destabilization after this election due to Sarkozy's own dubious methods matched with the youth protesters who were already pretty angry. not to mention that french science will decline like under current republican leadership in the US."

retard. i highly doubt any actual science is going to be impeded by his election....

france is a fucking lazy country anyways... 35 hour mandated work weeks? miles and miles of red tape before you can start a business and if you don't know the right people you will never start it? that's why LONDON is the 4th largest french city... they are getting the hell out to be ABLE to do anything...

Quote :

"i'm talking about basic research sucka"

yes, b/c that basic stuff really needs to be researched again.... and again and again and again...

france has more issues than any other 1st world nation....

Quote :

"Apparently the socialists will stop at nothing to try to discredit this guy."

yeah, they like to bitch and moan to the highest order when they lose.... much like a certain group here.....

[Edited on July 30, 2007 at 9:49 AM. Reason : d]

7/30/2007 9:48:00 AM