Stick a Fork In France - It's Done

You can stick a fork in France - it's done. A majority of French voters are not willing to give up their entitlements, have taken an abrupt left turn back toward socialism, and elected as president someone who is promising a 75% tax on millionaires.

Bear in mind that France's public debt currently stands at 80% of its GDP (we're at 67% and rising fast). Their government spending equals 55% of their GDP, and their total tax burden is roughly 42% of total domestic income. They haven't had a balanced budget since 1974. But none of that matters - the citizens want more government spending.

But the thing about millionaires is that they're much more mobile than lower-income people. There are already indications that the wealthy are making plans to leave France rather than pay a 75% tax rate. This isn't a new thing for France - even back in 2006, it was estimated that, on average, one millionaire per day left the country. When Sarkozy was elected, he made a public plea for them to return and help rebuild the country. So much for that idea.

M. Hollande's election has also emboldened the Greek left, which is not at all happy about the austerity measures that had been put in place to control their own sovereign debt problem - which stood at 143% of their GDP back in 2010.

Odds are that our own next President will have to deal with the worldwide financial crisis that will result when Greece defaults on its debt, and is followed over the cliff, lemming-like, by Italy (public debt of 119% of GDP in 2010), and then France. It ain't gonna be pretty, folks, but that's what happens when a majority of voters feel that they are entitled to more than their government can afford to give them. And we're not far from that point ourselves.