France Elects Socialist Pres. & Greece Elects Neo-Nazis

Two thumbs down for austerity

Over the weekend, French voters said "non, merci" to former President Sarkozy's austerity policies by voting him out and electing a socialist president, François Hollande.

Meanwhile in Greece, elections spelled chaos: no single party won enough votes to form a government. Austerity-favoring incumbents were nixed, and a lot of the new members of parliament are extremists from the Neo-Nazi party and the Coalition of the Radical Left.

What does all this mean for the US?

Probably more of the same: the Eurozone crisis is still a crisis, and Hollande won't be able to singlehandedly make a huge difference. And Greece faces the same hellish problems it faced before the elections. The election results did spook global financial markets this morning.

Electing a socialist sounds like radical shift left for France, but in reality, Hollande may not be able to change much. Experts say he'll face too many financial and political constraints. Instead, the Wall Street Journal suggests, Hollande's win could bring some much-need stability to the Eurozone. If the French election result isn't as dramatic as it sounds, the Greek result could be pretty disastrous. Greece is now scrambling to form a government, and their markets have plummeted.

Do you think Europe's elections will affect the US?

[ir0nw0lfe]

Seems like a preview of coming attractions for the US. Desperation causes even further disastrous choices. Yes, belt tightening sucks but it is also the best way to solve the debt crisis. If your bank account is empty, what's the best way save money ? Cut back where you can or borrow more money you can't afford to pay back? It's really not that complicated but some leeches don't care what happens to their country as long as the free ride continues......all the way off the cliff.

[AlexanderKM]

Exactly austerity has it's place. It seems to me to be the more logical solution when compared to 'spending our way out of debt'. If you ask me the leeches-that-be are simply taking these results and spinning it in their favor - "No, give us MORE money. We'll fix the mess we made... promise. ;-)"

[ir0nw0lfe]

" Nazis ! I hate these guys! "
- Indiana Jones

[triumph]

Its very dangerous for these nation in huge economic crisis and depts.Its citizens elect wrong people (even neo-nazis) not because they really hope hey will do something better for society but only an anti-vote to actual government.
Its not right to punish the actual government by electing extreme 100% wrong people who have been proved prviously that they cannot do something or even proved they can send the country down to destruction (neo nazis?)