Blog: You, us, everyone

Historically, far-right parties have advocated for nationalism, isolationism, and anti-immigrant politics. Today, much of this historical hard approach is part of their history and the present leaders are supported by respected key personalities, aka they are well-intertwined with the economic and societal system. The June 30 runoff, has confirmed that the French population is much more interlinked with the historic right-wing party than generally assumed. Today, they are tempted to exercise a political approach that projects their ideas and concepts into the political hemisphere. As it appears, Marine Le Pen’s rightish stance is now the dominant force in France, and given various estimates, her party could become the major party next weekend though the rest of the political spectrum still can hold it back.

Brexit has provided dire warnings for a far-rightish approach 
People in Britain now admit that leaving the EU was a mistake. Brexit champions such as former Prime Minister Johnson claimed that the country would be better off as independence would boost prosperity and the government could pay more attention to sovereign services. But regrettably, the opposite happened.

The short-sighted approach of a self-centered economy drives less growth and generates fewer valuable investment causes. Excessive trade barriers, isolation, and got-it-alone are like a guinea pig in a hamster rad that will die of exhaustion. Today’s catch-22 is that in the liberal world, whether we want it or not, trade is unidirectional; day-to-day products are manufactured in low-wage regions at the expense of the population of developed markets which in turn is exposed to low-wage jobs but need to deal with a much higher living standard. Is there a solution? Yes, there is one but it does not consist of isolation and get-it-alone. The most likely way forward is to be part of a broad and efficient economic system that develops and manufactures high-value-added products and services. 

Populist parties promise to fix this equation by implementing severe immigration laws and by imposing the repatriation of manufacturing industries. They are partly right given the experiences made during COVID-era; reshoring of our key industrial activities is a must but the relocation of the companies is associated with sophisticated manufacturing jobs, which most of us are not able to perform or the need to address protective environmental regulations which make the process ultra expensive. On the other hand, they are mostly wrong on the remaining, as immigration is driving growth and employment gains. Evidence also makes clear social advancements for all involved provided governments and industries empower ongoing education, promote a more or less liberal job market, and the need for minimum wages fixed by sub-sectors and not one unique across the country.  

According to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, far-rightish business agendas like lower taxes coupled with reshoring policies. However, these policies favor slower growth and higher inflation. Oxford Economics are going one step further with far-right-flation to force Central Banks to postpone interest cuts longer than they would otherwise — and even raise rates again provided prices are up as a result of higher tariffs and other measures.

The parallels between Brexit, Trumpism, and the general far-rightish approach in France, aren’t perfect, but there’s one very clear common thread: longstanding and widespread disgust with the status quo. In America, Britain, France, Germany, and elsewhere, millions of voters — in some instances, a critical mass — feel the system is rigged against them as the purchasing power is ever lower and the chance of catching up with the middle-class status has vanished.  

Why would Marine Le Pen ever want to exercise with the unknown?
France is about to turn the page on a contemptuous and corrosive power system that was constantly damaging a watertight dam. 
Whatever program will be implemented it will bring loads of unintended consequences and little intended ones. There are means to deal with the real problem of middle-class problems that is falling apart. The key to all this is free trade and most likely, as experienced in Switzerland, selective immigration, and a respected population through a federal-state and a distributed government system. Regrettably, people in power are excellent in horse-trading and seldom defend the overarching interest of a nation as that mandate would be unflashy and tedious to perform. Remember, a fully-fledged democracy is difficult to build and it is even harder to keep it afloat for generations.  

Even with Marine Le Pen’s party potentially in power, people must understand that they need, once more, to make tremendous efforts before getting any rewards. This is difficult to understand and to perform because they were given, up to now either empty promises or rewards first without them being required to perform the duty afterward. 

While the medicine administrated might somehow be poisoned, one thing appears to be sure: Whether Marine Le Pen’s party will be in power or not, the French capital is not going to be moved to Vichy as the right-based society has moved closer to the center. On the other, the highly dogmatic approach of the left-wing parties tends to generate to the opposite: in a not-too-distant future, Paris could look like Caracas.