Macron's Woefully Inadequate Concessions

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

All politicians lie. Believe nothing they say - Macron like all the rest. Rare exceptions prove the rule.

Ignore what politicians say. Follow only what they do. Their policies speak for themselves. Macron is a former Rothschild banker/economy minister beholden to monied interests. His Monday address left his anti-populist agenda unchanged.

He's well aware of Mayer Amschel Rothschild once explaining that nations are dominated by controlling their money, the key tool in benefitting privileged interests at the expense of ordinary people.

It's the supreme power above all others. The Fed, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, and central bank to member central banks Bank of International Settlements (BIS) have enormous powers far greater than most people imagine.

They operate like the shadowy world of Mafia dons, ruling the world by controlling money, Macron and other world leaders like him beholden to what benefits monied interests at the expense of the general welfare.

That's what weeks of Yellow Vest rage in France is all about. State-sponsored neoliberal harshness-enforced social injustice is the root cause of what's going on.

Unacceptably high fuel taxes are symbolic of the overriding issue. French activists want liberte, egalite, and fraternite for real, not woefully inadequate gestures, what Macron presented in his Monday nationwide address.

National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen called his Monday address little more than a "strategic retreat", adding:

He "refuses to admit that his (neoliberal) management model is being challenged. This model represents excessive globalization, unfair competition, (and unfair) free trade" - failing to address the root cause of protests.

He likely failed to assuage widespread public anger and opposition to exploitive rule. Declaring a "social and economic state of emergency" was followed by woefully inadequate promises, unacceptable crumbs.

Opposition politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon called for "Act 5 of the citizen revolution in our country," urging "great mobilization" for social justice Macron's regime rejects.

His too little too late announced minimum wage increase, along with tax cuts for pensioners and overtime workers, won't likely quell public anger.

Since taking office in May 2017, he waged war on labor. His popularity plunged from a 62% high to 23% over hugely unpopular social spending cuts, along with empowering business to negotiate hours, pay and benefits, slash the number of worker committees, and limit penalties for wrongful dismissals – without union involvement.

Melenchon earlier called his so-called labor reform a "social welfare coup d'etat." Business leaders love it, wanting the ability to exploit workers freely.

Macron partly circumvented parliament through executive order policymaking. In America, Britain, France, and other Western countries, ordinary people are exploited so privileged ones can benefit.

Hubris, arrogance, and dismissiveness toward ordinary French people define Macron's agenda, partnering with Washington's imperial agenda, waging economic, financial, propaganda, and hot war on humanity.

Last May, he ordered tens of thousands of civil service worker cuts, benefits for French railway workers slashed, university admissions policies restructured, mass teacher layoffs, and tax cuts for business - similar to the wealth transference scheme in America and elsewhere in the West.

Offering "immediate and concrete measures…to the economic and social urgency…by cutting taxes more rapidly, by keeping our spending under control, but not with U-turns" was too little, too late, and unacceptable.

He declined to reinstitute the solidarity tax on wealth he ended so high net-worth households don't pay their fair share.

Promising to address tax evasion, saying "France needs to make sure that the rich and the big corporations pay the taxes they owe" was an empty gesture. Clever corporate accountants and tax lawyers have lots of ways to minimize taxes for their clients.

Macron ignored what protesters want most - revolutionary change, social justice over neoliberal harshness, a radical reversal of governance serving privileged interests exclusively, the way it is in France, throughout the West, and most elsewhere.

Former presidential candidate/Mouvement Generation founder Benoit Hamon likely spoke for millions of ordinary French people, saying "(w)e expect a real redistribution of wealth" - accusing Macron of exclusively serving the rich.

His Monday address was little more than old wine in new bottles with inadequate window dressing, his unacceptable agenda unchanged.

Revolutionary change is what Yellow Vest protests are all about - Macron's neoliberal policies why they were launched in the first place.

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