It's not only France, Greece, Spain and Holland that you see a strong anti austerity votes. Actually you've seen a lot of signs all over the euro area that austerity's legacy is in trouble.
Right now the big talk is about France with the likely victory of the Socialist candidate Hollande. The Economist among others, is positively apocalyptic about what this might mean going forward. The very idea that the people of these countries should get to have some say over government policies! Every right thinking person knows that it's up the bondholders. Listen to Josef Joffe's carping:
"Today’s FT is all Hollande, all the time. Some of it is sensible; some of it is like, well, this piece by Josef Joffe, which declares that Hollande’s likely victory is “a bleak prospect for all but new Keynesians and old socialists"
"So you can say that the anticipated victory of Hollande is already paying a dividend. Joffe complains that three fifths of the French people-in voting against Sarkozy are living in a fantasy world:
"almost three-fifths of the electorate are dreaming of a new Maginot Line against reality."
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2012/05/krugman-cautiously-optimistic-about.html
Mr. Joffe maybe it's you and your bondholder's who have been living in a fantasy world.
While it hasn't got as many headlines yet, David Cameron's record of austerity is also under attack in Britian. Cameron's austerity is particularly unjustified as he is not hamstrung under the euro system and has his own printing press. Yet he acts as if he's at the mercy of the ECB-he isn't. So the self-inflicted pain in Britain is even more unneeded.
Now Labour has come back with big gains at the expense of his Conservatives-and the coalition partner Lib Dems.
"Ed Miliband says the Labour Party is “winning back people’s trust” and "regaining ground" after his party gained 32 councils and almost 823 seats at the expense of both the coalition partners. The Liberal Democrats lost nearly half their council seats. In Edinburgh a Lib Dem was beaten by an independent candidate who dressed as a penguin."
Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/daily-briefing/46713/ten-things-you-need-know-today-saturday-5-may-2012#ixzz1tz72c6Fr
The Lib Dems had as tough a day as the Conservatives as the legacy of their time as a coalition partner of Conservatives well set them back decades. During their time as coalition partners, Nick Clegg and company have betrayed every principle they've ever claimed to have. Sounds like they would get along very well with Mitt Romney!
I'll admit I'm enjoying this. Here is some more about this:
"Britain's governing Conservatives took a bruising Friday in local elections as voters punished them for biting austerity measures and a stalled economy, while the results of a much-closer-than-anticipated London mayoral race were delayed."
"Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives suffered heavy losses in the 181 local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland that held votes, losing about 400 local seats — including some in the district that Cameron represents in Parliament."
http://news.yahoo.com/uk-conservatives-punished-local-elections-171019312.html;_ylt=AhU2Tt5jLx7uHkEA8HUiEYxVbBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTQ1MWloZ25iBG1pdANUb3BTdG9yeSBXb3JsZFNGIEV1cm9wZVNTRgRwa2cDODU1YzI0NTYtNzBiNS0zOGMwLWFkODUtN2I0MWFmZTcyODNkBHBvcwMxMQRzZWMDdG9wX3N0b3J5BHZlcgNmYzA0YmJmMi05NjM0LTExZTEtYmYzMi1kZDNmZTYwMWEwM2Y-;_ylg=X3oDMTFlamZvM2ZlBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAMEcHQDc2VjdGlvbnM-;_ylv=3
Of course hard line UK conservatives are misreading these results much like US conservatives misread things.
"While the results won't put Cameron's leadership in jeopardy, they prompted grassroots Conservatives to urge him to ditch some of his more liberal policies, including the planned introduction of same-sex marriage."
Yes, this is all about gay marriage! Sounds like the Romney campaign throwing Richard Grenell under the bus. I'm sure that will get him over the top too.
In what these results may harbinger, they are already having an effect. Europe is now going forward over Agenla Merkel's head for a new Growth Pact to go with the Fiscal Pact.
"In a marked shift of emphasis, Olli Rehn, the EU’s top economic official, will on Saturday call for additional government spending for large-scale infrastructure projects, arguing there is not sufficient private-sector demand to create jobs. Unemployment has surged in several eurozone countries, hitting its highest levels since the creation of the single currency and fuelling voter anger."
"The commissioner will also give a clear signal that he is willing to loosen the EU’s tough new budget rules for countries like Spain, which has been forced to slash public spending in the face of a sharp economic downturn to meet Brussels-mandated deficit levels."
“The stability and growth pact is not stupid,” Mr Rehn will say, according to a draft of his address seen by the FT. “Yes, the EU fiscal framework is rules-based … but at the same time, the pact entails considerable scope for judgement when it comes to its application.”
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/cfb38f54-9606-11e1-a6a0-00144feab49a.html#axzz1twWJOKIB
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