Apparently Dominique Strauss-Kahn has quite a healthy penchant for the other sex, so much that in France he’s called Chaud Lapin (Hot Rabbit… referring to the furry creature’s seemingly endless sexual appetite). He’s been married three times and had countless relationships, including a much publicized one with a young Hungarian economist working for him at the IMF (she later left the IMF and now works for the ECB).
Strauss-Kahn is, ironically, one of the leading Socialist figures in France. I say ironically because the French Socialist Party has always been at the forefront as far as women’s rights are concerned…
This is yet another twist and turn in the upcoming French Presidential elections, scheduled for next year. With President Sarkozy’s popularity in the gutters, Strauss-Kahn was set to be the “chosen one” to take on the present favorite, Marine Le Pen (Jean-Marie’s daughter), leader of the nationalist FN.
Also there are issues regarding the future of the EU and the EMU. Strauss-Kahn personally brokered the bailout of Iceland, Hungary, Ireland, Greece and Portugal. He was said to have been “instrumental” in winning over the recalcitrating Germans and in coordinating actions between the ECB and the Fed.
This really reminds me of Spitzer a couple years ago… Clearly he’s done something to upset the status quo, or he’s being used as a patsy, and TPTB have pulled his “file” of sexual mischievousness to be used against him.
I struggle to believe a seasoned chauvenist and political bigwig would bolt like a deer after such an incident, rather than simply letting his handlers cajole/bribe his way out.
“This really reminds me of Spitzer a couple years ago… Clearly he’s done something to upset the status quo, or he’s being used as a patsy, and TPTB have pulled his “file” of sexual mischievousness to be used against him.”
I was just going to say something along these lines. These types of super rich, scummy politics-players would be able to cover this stuff up very easily. He was obviously set up for some reason.
And I see now several previous alleged “victims” have crawled out of the woodwork, conveniently damning him in the court of public opinion. Whether he’s guilty or not of the current allegations, it’s already too late for him now.
Perhaps his real handlers, or perhaps his political rivals, have “pulled an Assange” on him, so to speak.
As far as some of Strauss-Kahn’s milder foibles are concerned, he was recently making a speech where he quoted Adam Smith’s statement on how the media and the press takes a vulgar level of attention towards the rich and luxurious and neglects the conditions of the poor - soon after which, the French media came up in outrage when they found a clip of him entering his Porsche along with some glamourous types.
Briefly, there was a non-debate as to whether you can both own a Porsche and be concerned about the poor. Typical media distraction.
However, I had a thought about this recent arrest. It could easily be a smear campaign, in which Strauss-Kahn’s political enemies are trying to show their opponent as a decadent champagne-drinking limousine socialist and not a true Socialist, while maintaining their non-socialist platforms as a true embodiment of working class virtue and aspirations. Something like that, just like how some American Republican conmen try to go for accusations of “liberal elitism”.
For the likes of fringe figures such as Marine Le Pen, as it is for Nick Griffin and co., it is politically profitable to show their xenophobic platform as pro-working class and their opponents in the French Socialist Party or the British Labour Party as wine-sipping elitists. And as some of the mainstream parties in those countries adopt a few of Le Pen’s and Griffin’s stances, they too can use some of the same tactics.
Strauss-Kahn is a typical figure of the French (and, by extension, Italian) Left. Born into money, high living etc but always clamoring for the plight of the poor. Jacques Vallee, the famous computer scientist, said each time he went back to France for a visit he was invariably shocked by the glossy magazines catering to this kind of people: on one page you had an article decrying the plight of the workers and on the next you had advertisement for luxury watches and cars. But this is the kind of leaders French Socialists want: somebody else owning a giant flat in downtown Paris and millions in stocks will take his place to decry the plight of the poor and push hard for more taxes and a stronger bureaucracy.
The two Le Pen’s are far from fringe figures. In fact their movement (the FN) has been growing steadily in the past two decades. The FN is different from the various anti-EU and anti-immigration parties popping up and dying like mushrooms after an August thunderstorm since it represents the ultra-conservative part of the French society, something which goes back to the so-called Second Republic (the period between the fall of Charles X and the rise of Napoleon III) and which has become deeply ingrained in the French political DNA.
So Kakugo, you allege that there is a good degree of truth to such an impression that such populists are actually elitists. I see, so I take your point. But surely a significant number of Socialist Party members in France HAVE to be from middle and working class? How else will they find someone who speaks the language of their voters? How else will they compensate for having otherwise elite top leaders? How else have they remained so successful in the past?
I always felt it was a desparate opposition party tactic to nail a leftist as being a plutocrat, because it involves ignoring the arguments and going for the man’s character. I am not a sympathiser of the Democratic Party, Labour Party, or Socialist Party, but I do feel their opponents engage in confirmation bias and distraction politics to accuse them of being almost exclusively elitist.
By the way, it’s interesting to know that FN has strong historical roots like that.
Also, English is one funky language in general spoken form.
“As is not infrequently the case, Rep. Ron Paul nails it: “These are the kind of people running the IMF, and we want to turn the world’s finances and the control of the money supply to them?””
As is not infrequently the case? Double negatives make my head explode. He does not necessarilly mean Ron Paul frequently nails it, but he means that when Ron Paul nails, it is not that rare for it happen. I much prefer how most Hindi speakers never use double negatives.
Hehe. Then there are languages where a double negative is still just a simple negative. You can pile on as many negatives as you like, no need to worry about math.
The history of the Socialist movement seems to be marked by having an elite (both leaders and thinkers) coming “from the top”. Marx and Engels both hailed from well to do families, Saint-Simon was a count (of all things), Keynes was from the upper strata of the English society (and was later created a baron), Leon Trotsky was born into a rich landowning family… even Fidel Castro fits the bill: yes, his father arrived pennyless in Cuba from Galicia but worked his way up and became a successful cane farmer.
This somehow reminds me of an old, almost forgotten, English saying: “The ploughman’s boy prefers to be led in battle by the baron’s son”. This is confirmed by the fact the German Imperial Staff found Prussian and Westphalian peasants (considered to be the best “soldier material”) actually preferred to be led by members of the landed gentry and looked with suspicion upon officers hailing from bourgeoise families regardless of their military skills. Pretty much like today’s average Leftist voter from the working class, who prefers to be “led” by somebody coming from the upper strata of society and will look with suspicion upon politicians hailing from the “middle class”.
Kakugo, hold on a second. You know that Keynes has been highly critical of Socialism, right? He once even wrote a disfavourable review of one of Leon Trotsky’s books and considered nationalisation of railways to be a fruitless endeavour.
Welcome to Puritan USA. Don’t need political reasons to go after people over sex. It’s an American past time.
I read that the maid lives in an HIV/AIDS home. The IMF Director may have contracted the disease. If it is indeed rape, kind of ironic isn’t it? Of course that could also get him out of some intimate moments in prison.
Most people could care less about the IMF Director, and any other allegation would have probably been overlooked in the media. Sex sells stories, and whether this was a case of rape or promiscuity, the sharp knives will come out to get their slice of meat. Even if he’s proven innocent of rape, he’ll still get butchered over his lifestyle. In that sense, it’s very puritanical. Oh, and he’s rich and powerful to boot, which are the potatoes.
To be fair, one of these alleged victims reported the incident in public, but not to authorities, in 2002. Her mother, a member of the same party as Strauss-Kahn, advised her not to report it.
I still think this has everything to do with next year’s presidential election in France.
Good point, although compared to some of the crazies in Fabian Society, Keynes was a moderate, and perhaps the sanest person among their group.
Compare Keynes to such Fabian Socialists as H. G. Wells and G. B. Shaw. Some of the stuff the latter have said, including suggesting killing the poor to reduce poverty in society, make me frightened.
Another thing which Austrians often overlook is that Keynes, shortly before his death, came up with a “master plan” to reform the British aircraft industry. While it took effect after his death in 1946, it was followed to the letter. This plan mostly rotated around “forced mergers”: Keynes and his advisors had come to the conclusion Britain had far too many aircraft manufacturers and instead of letting the market take care of that, they suggested HM Governement should step in and force the relatively small manufacturers to “band up” to become large industries, mostly to rival US groups such as Boeing, Douglas, Lockheed and Consolidated/Vultee (Convair). The end result was one of the greatest disasters in industrial history: in the short space of thirty years the once flourishing British aircraft industry had been wiped out and the only remaining private group (Rolls-Royce, which had in the meantime “merged” with Bristol) was on the brink of bankruptcy. The “forced merger” was also applied to the automotive industry, again with catastrophic results, even after HM Government stepped in and nationalised what was left in a desperate attempt to save jobs. Semi-socialist (indirect control of the means of production?) insanity to the nth degree…
But back to the topic at hand.
It seems like it’s business as usual at the IMF. Instead of using this scandal to “freshen up” and present the world with a new face (asking for new ideas is way too much) it seems they will settle for “more of the same” as the favorite candidate right now is Christine Legarde, yet another French elitist and presently Minister of Finance in the same country. This has caused lot of mumbling from “emerging” countries, in particular members of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), which had been asking the US and Europe for a “goodwill gesture” after agreeing to bankroll their enormous debts. BRIC members had put forward Trevor Manuel of South Africa and Kemal Dervis of Turkey as candidates. But, of course, even this small concession was asking way too much from the Wise Overlords.
Actually, BRIC members contribute very little to the IMF. The only reason they have voting rights is because US pressured European partners to give them a disproportionately high 5% voting power, in order to appease those four countries.
I think it makes perfect sense. Although ideally, we shouldn’t see governments bailing out other governments, the least that can be done is to give creditors a greater say in what is to be done with their money than debtors do. At least the IMF is not like its member governments, where debtors do outvote creditors.
Can you imagine a country like India, which takes more money from the IMF than it gives back to it, having a 25% vote on what to do with those funds? And perhaps even outvoting, say, Italy, which might be contributing more to it?
Thank goodness the IMF is not a democracy where voting power is based on size of population. Otherwise, the IMF itself will face the same crisis that Greece currently faces.
