If Sarkozy was an American politician, the right wing noise machine would call him a Communist. In fact, it wouldn't surprise if they've already call him that and worse.

Sioux Rose

Another voice of sanity enters the global economic debate! The date of September 23 for this conference is auspicious. It is the day the sun enters Libra, sign of justice and the ideal of balance, just in time for the autumn equinox. This position (the sun at zero Libra) forms a square to Pluto, as it moves across Capricorn, the sign most resonant with corporatism or the new breed of potential 21st century global fascism. The tension between these two signs represents where two of the key outer planets will pass during the next 10 months. It's the celestial equivalent of "the coming atractions" to the great movie (collective reality) that we all participate in.

Between the Spanish Judge Garzon pushing for genuine accountability in the face of state leaders abusing their power and privilege, and Putin speaking about a new kind of global basis for citizenship, and Chavez setting up deals that spread profit around, even to "the least among us," and now Sarkozy introducing a more enlightened form of capitalism... leadership from outside the U.S. (as it's bankrupt in so many ways) is beginning to rise to the occasion to meet the challenges that beg for, and indeed demand, intelligent new approaches and initiatives. Thank Goddess that some are paying attention and actually care about humanity!

Sarkozy?
Wasn't he a friend of Bush?
Didn't he beat out a socialist candidate?
Didn't he try to defeat a public worker's strike?
Who is this new guy? And why is the Nation acting like Sarkozy is a good guy?

This report is very encouraging. Nichols is no lightweight. He has a good nose for hypocrisy, and he's reporting Sarkozy's call for change as if he is persuaded that it is sincere. We'll know soon enough.

And by the way, who gives a rat's derriere what the Right Wing Noise Machine says about Sarkozy or anyone or anything else anyway? When was the last time you heard any information coming from those sources that comported with reality or common decency? Fear, anger, hate, and lies--no lie is too absurd, mean spirited, transparently manipulative, divisive, or destructive--are the Right Wing Noise Machine's stock in trade.

kw

This is going to be the real debate. The only way to save our world will be by redefining growth.This is a very simple truth: Nothing can grow forever, least of all expontentially. And when you count growth in percentage increase, then you talk about expontential growth. The "happyland prophets" don't think beyond their own bank account and they create "doomsday".

We are at the end of an era. What was alright when we were 500 million or 2 billion is not anymore so with a global population of 6 billion and 2.5 billion more to come by 2050 and hundreds of millions acquiring a Western middle class lifestyle. We have hit and surpassed global limits and wishful thinking does not help us. There is no bail-out from Mars.

Sarkozy is a strange figure, but in this respect I would not underestimate him. He can be incredibly stubborn when he is convinced of something and he has the pressure of a highly politicized French public on him (those that helped him to power might not be that happy with him though).

if stiglitz had a yard-stick to measure how far up his ass his BS extends, that would be real progress!

Well, Obama joined Bush in bailing out predatory capitalism, when he should have let the banks fail. The rest of us will, I suspect, remain the wage slaves we deserve to be, since we accept all this, lickspittling and toadying to power.

Common sense never gets very far...money talks louder. I don't beleive any politicians will do much more than pay lip service to concern for the environment- until the economy collapses completely and then they'll be out in the garden hoping to god they have enough food for the winter.

I'm sick and tired of today's American political discourse. It's always about "my" rights, "my" money, "my" freedom to do whatever "I" wish.

Americans should read the constitution, it starts "We" the people. "We" live in a society. "We" live in a community. No one lives individually. NO ONE LIVES INDIVIDUALLY.

I sincerely wish the best of luck to Sarkozy.

sioux rose thanks for the cosmic time. its important to
know when to pick our fights. seems like its the right time
to get it on so to speak!
moore if you go to global research.ca you will see just
who mr. sarkozy is! family was a big heroin importer after ww11
and slowly went legit! guys got some baggage + my friends
who go to france often tell me that he has pretty much
crushed the left due their imcompetence and a void of
leadership due to the decline of their main guy.
maybe their forcing their legendary democracy on him again
and making him do their bidding. the french are certainly
no joke and they will make him do as they want. too bad
we soft americans have neither the spine nor the will
to fight like they do! viva la france!

"Sarkozy's aides say he will walk out of the summit of presidents and prime ministers from the world's most developed countries if the leaders fail to endorse a plan to curb bonuses for bankers."

Wow....impressive talk! Let's see if he lives up to his promises.

If nothing else, we have to give this guy credit for at least talking about establishing "moral" parameters with regard to the corrupt banksters.

"Politics without principles;
commerce without morality;
wealth without charity;
science without humaity;
education without character;
plearure without purity (of heart) -- are not
only useless, they are positively dangerous"

The revolution we need is education with character -- leading to politics with principles, commerce with morality, and, science with humanity.

God-willing, we can work towards those goals.

Bless

Always remember that almost all mainstream European and most mainstream Canadian conservative politicians are liberal by US standards. In fact, they are more progressive than Obama and the Democrats. Sometimes, and in some respects, they are much more progressive than them.

As for Sarkozy, he is my hero. Here is a guy who the French for a few months after they voted him in were thinking was a mistake, but who has come through rather well all things considered. He has turned out to be much more resiliant and progressive and, well, French, than people were thinking back in the summer of 2008.

I'm afraid, though, that among the fascists who will be gathering in Pittsburgh, Sarkozy will be just a meaningless peasant. (Your presidency of France means nothing to us; see 1941 for details of what we mean. Laugh out loud.)

Seriously, It's not only that the US is not going to, as Sarkozy wants, adopt or even consider adopting broader and more realistic measures of and perspectives on the economy. It is worse than that. It is that the US is moving in the opposite direction to that as we speak.

The US is now running two separate economies: one for roughly the top 10-15%, and the other one for the other 85-90% of the population. For the top 10%, non-market, non-traditional perspectives and performance measures are simply irrelevant, since for them money (financial assets if you prefer) alone is all that matters. This is simply because the sheer amount of money they control is so massive that everything else you could possibly think of in economics (besides huge amounts of money and how fast those sums are growing) is unimportant.

Furthermore, the amount of money controlled by the rich is in fact determined by markets as traditionally defined, and as measured by the traditional indicators. Obviously, the higher the GDP growth, the more profits by big corporations there are, and so the more money there is for the top, regardless of whether there are any new jobs being created or not.

Meanwhile, since they have no political representation, and since they as of now refuse to stand up for themselves and, for example, demand health care, or demand jobs, etc, the welfare of the bottom 85-90% is totally meaningless to the wealthy power elite. So no new economic measures or perspectives are needed for them. Let them eat cake.

So sorry, President Sarkozy, America is not interested in new economic parameters (or in economic progress, for that matter) for the middle or the lower classes, so go back to Paris like a good little boy and don't make a fuss.

Finally Stiglitz and Sarkozy suggest profits at the expense of the well-being of all of us is not real "growth".

Sounds like Sarkozy will be winking like crazy at the summit! Oui, c'est des conneries!

While it's true that w. European conservatives are usually far to the left of US conservatives on most issues, titular conservative Sarkozy managed to get elected to the French presidency on positions that sounded awfully close to Bush babble.

The fear that Frenchies had begun to drink the proverbial Kool-aid was dispelled soon enough, though, when Sarkozy's pro forma, post election attempts to tamper with social welfare programs, labor union rights, and pension benefits were shouted down in short order. Notably, neither Nic or his party have pressed these attempts since.

Sarkozy's election, and his political strength at home, to date, lies not in any geniunely-held US conservative economic beliefs, but in his domestic rhetoric promising conservation of France's cultural identity against "... denaturing by Moslem hoardes within....", as his party once put it.

Sarkozy is largely a titular conservative, which in France means, a provisionally acceptable oportunist: he may in passing be given high power only if he is conservative about cultural issues and progressive on most other matters.

That he can use his international standing, such as it is, to mount an effective attack on how capitalism mis-defines its output and distribution of wealth, is doubtful.
But it will be commendable if he makes the attempt, and very interesting to see him try.

Considering French history and the French peoples past actions to deal with Sarkozy's attempts to dismantle their social safety nets and protections against corporate usury, their revenge against Nazi collaborators and how they resolved their problems with aristocracy during the French Revolution it is simply a matter of self preservation for Sarkozy to change his tactics. Unlike their sheeple cousins in America the French people understand their power and when they want their government to actually represent the will of the people they participate in national strikes and take to the streets.

The biggest threat averted in the bail out of the American financial elites was the avoidance of a general revolution by the peasant class. If they didn't get this under control we may have actually risen up and placed guillotines on wall street and the national mall and solved the American aristocracy problem once and for all.

All of the rhetoric and politics aside the true struggle in America and the world today is "Class Warfare". The American aristocracy has spent billions over the past three decades brainwashing the public into believing that any social programs or regulation of capitalism by the government is the greatest of all evils.
For Whom???
The idea that unregulated "Free Capitalist Markets" promote equity and justice is blatantly FALSE. Unregulated free market capitalism is the economic equivalent of anarchy where the basest human instincts of greed and dominance by the privileged rule.

Capitalism is an evil, corrupt system even in its classic British form which Adam Smith defended and always linked to imperialism as was classic British capitalism and fought against in the 1770s and 1780s by, yes, our founding fathers. The old saying you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear is the one to think when somebody talks about saving this system of tyranny of the rich and super rich over the working class and middle class who create the wealth while the rich and super rich rob them of it by saying they'll manage it for us. They'll manage to put it in their bank accounts. Now let's get rid of the damn BS system and be done with the damn disease infected prostitute, before we all catch something serious.

AD

So the States' supposed centrist is still to the right, even right of Sharkozy.

Well, I won't pretend surprise.

What wouldn't I give for ripe camembert and a bottle of Sidi Brahim.