Saturday, October 15, 2011

The world's fifth largest economy?


This is not the prettiest picture you'll see on PDP I agree, but it's also Paris... I took it at Boulevard des Italiens, near the Opera, a pretty rich area. I could not help but stopping and taking this shot that looks like a scene from the 3rd world: someone sleeping on the sidewalk on the right, garbage cans that still wait to be picked up (at 10 am!)... (and yes, the famous Tenin's perspective LOL!). Isn't France supposed to be the 5th largest and wealthiest economy in the world? Is that a preview of what's ahead of us?

12 comments:

  1. I got back too late to make another comment on yesterday's Mysterious Collage. I just saw the artist's work today in Christies Auction house in London! His name is Cameron Gray, and he is American. All the work I saw of his were the individual pictures that make up a full portrait.
    I guess the planets aligned up perfectly for me to see this today.Weird, huh?

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  2. We could just say that this photo shows us that Paris was taking une grasse matinée today!

    Eric thank you showing us both sides of the coin. It is not good to just see the glitz and the glamour, most of us love Paris ... warts and all.

    Mille merci comme d'habitude.

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  3. What a photo... In my calm neighborhood, there is a young and healthy man, coming probably from the eastern countries of Europe, who sleeps outside on a Parisian public bench every night. This is something that upsets me. I never saw him drinking alcoohol or begging for money. He just stays here, sitting or standing. This is terrible. But honestly, I don't know what I could do or should do

    PS (on a much pleasant part): France : The world's fifth largest economy maybe but also the winner of the semi-finale of the World cup of rugby !!!! What next ? Definitely the hardest but how stimulating ? ;-)

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  4. It is sad that in places where there is so much, there is also so little. The easy thing to say would be "get a job", but it is more complicated than that, especially when jobs are hard to come by!

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  5. I always think it's good for you to remind everyone of the realities that are difficult to face. Civilization is not a natural state of affairs. This is the purpose of government: to maintain and improve our civilization. Civilization is not cheap. Civilization is the result of constant attention, effort, and devotion of resources. When we reduce our governments' abilities to govern, we diminish our ability to maintain our civilizations.

    By the way, it is a stastistical fact that the very high income people currently are having the best financial times of their lives. Fact.

    Think about it, folks.

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  6. @PHX, wow, that's interesting. I had no idea who was the artist actually. Thank you very much.

    @Flore. True and I just saw we won (I was in Deauville all day today and did not really pay attention to the Rugby Match). I guess we are going to do miracles in front of the All Blacks ;-)

    @Jeff "When we reduce our governments' abilities to govern, we diminish our ability to maintain our civilizations. " It's a very true quote. But how do we give our governments a strong ability to govern when they know they have to be reelected every 5 years? No long terms decision can be made under these conditions.

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  7. Eric, that is the challenge of democracy. If the voters are incapable of thinking long-term, how can they expect their elected representatives to do so? It is the voters' fault when we have bad government. An educated, informed electorate is necessary for democracy to work properly. If the voters stay ignorant, they will be cheated by politicians making short-term promises. That is how bigotry, hate-mongering, and fear-mongering take over. We've seen it before, and we are on the edge right now. While I abhor violence when it happens, I am not surprised at the protests breaking out all over the world. Most of them have been peaceful.

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  8. Very eloquently said, Jeff. I think you are right on the money. (So to speak!)

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  9. The future? I am afraid that it looks as much like post-industrial feudalism as anything. Note the increasing disparity in income and assets held by the few versus the general population. Fewer and fewer of the "elite" control a larger and larger share of both wealth and power. If this trend continues unabated where could it possibly lead?

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  12. And what about the world's "leading economy?"...the US!! Talk about a Mess!!

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