Europe, Boring Until it's Not

[Montegriffo]

Despite a backdrop of riots against high fuel levies in France, European Commission data shows that taxes on all petrol products have actually fallen in the last two years across the eurozone. The level has fallen from almost 70% of the cost for consumers at the pump to 60.9% at the end of November. In France, it is a similar story, with taxes on fuel (before the increased levy on diesel kicks in) accounting for a smaller proportion of total prices than they did at the start of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency.

The data shows the Netherlands has the highest tax on unleaded petrol in the EU, at 68% of the cost at the pump, while Bulgaria is the lowest at 51%. France’s fuel taxes – 64% on unleaded and 59% on diesel – are among the highest in the EU, but compare evenly with those in the UK.

“It’s often said taxes on diesel and petrol have never been higher than today,” said William Todts, the executive director of Transport & Environment, a non-governmental organisation. “The reality is that, in real terms, fuel taxes are about as high now as they were 20 years ago.”

Rather than taxes, the increase in crude oil prices since the start of 2016 has been the main driver in rising costs for drivers. The retreat of crude prices from an October peak – as an oversupplied market reacts to lower growth prospects – is expected to give relief to Macron in the coming weeks.

Price per litre, euros. Inclusive of duties and taxes
Italy €1.60
Netherlands 1.56
Greece 1.55
Finland 1.52
Germany 1.51
Ireland 1.50
Portugal 1.48
France 1.45
Sweden 1.43
UK 1.42

French PM has announced a 6-month delay in introducing the increase in fuel tax.

This is how the French conduct politics, a legitimate protest gets hijacked by extremist elements and the government backs down in the face of violence. Three people have died in protests about fuel prices which are no higher in real terms than 20 years ago.
Your attempt to make this about immigration is ill-informed and frankly rather desperate.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... s-protests

[PartyOf5]

The consensus is that these protests started because of upcoming increases in fuel taxes. I don't think they can be dismissed by simply saying "they've been higher". Maybe this increase back to where they were was the final straw for these people. This may be linked to open border and mass immigration if they see these taxes as being used to pay for these new immigrants.

[GloryofGreece]

The consensus is that these protests started because of upcoming increases in fuel taxes. I don't think they can be dismissed by simply saying "they've been higher". Maybe this increase back to where they were was the final straw for these people. This may be linked to open border and mass immigration if they see these taxes as being used to pay for these new immigrants.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opin ... ur-friends

[Speaker to Animals]

I think it is linked. I strongly suspect these huge tax hikes are really to pay for the mass importation of largely non-working jihadis, and the "climate change" farce is nothing more than an ostensible lie.

Quite a lot of shit going down I think stems directly from globalist cancer. The media, however, is very good at not exploring the whys in stories or, if they do, they just lie. Trump's victory was mostly because the white working class was decimated and rust belt states flipped. This happened as a result of job offshoring deals and mass immigration to take what jobs those workers could have moved in to. The opiate epidemic is a product of the hopelessness and despair these globalist policies inflict upon Americans.

I think it must be far worse in Europe because of the more generous welfare gibs to predominantly useless jihadis.

[GloryofGreece]

No, I completely get that. How familiar are you with the 4th Turning and the Grey Champion.

It posits that in crisis times unconventional leaders step out and confront overwhelming power.

Basically he shows others that resistance is not futile and you can win against overwhelming odds.

It could lead to a simple question of order or chaos. Those that favor the former *(which most all ultimately do) then you'll see the real crackdown.

[GloryofGreece]

There is do much we don't know and the rioters don't know , who can say what the motivations and reasons for any of it really is. The fuel tax, the yellow jackets themselves, and other things to come. Lines can become very blurred. It could kind of end up kind of like the Spanish Civil War. Different factions finally but in messy unclear ways banning together and fighting the "other" side. In the confusion and in the transition it could obviously get way worse, and like most things who knows what the real final outcome politically/socially will be? And then are your measurements for the short, mid, or long term etc.

[Speaker to Animals]

The problem with betting on the overwhelming power of the established political order lies in neglecting to consider the fragility of that power. For example, Macron had to suspend the tax, at the very least, when he began losing first responders and even the police. Once he loses the police, his only option is the French army. But that option is fraught with risks since, if he loses the army, he loses it all.

It only takes a few key people to flip only a few key groups and what looked like overwhelming power collapses in an instant.

This is what I mean by the absolute absurdity of rule by the merchant class. They are not warriors. Warriors carry all of their water, and if they lose the beneficent consent of warriors, their power disentigrates.

Merchants are perhaps the very worst demographic for leadership. I find it amusing when far-leftists like Monty see that clearly where it really does apply to Trump, but then Macron is a blind spot to them.

[PartyOf5]

The consensus is that these protests started because of upcoming increases in fuel taxes. I don't think they can be dismissed by simply saying "they've been higher". Maybe this increase back to where they were was the final straw for these people. This may be linked to open border and mass immigration if they see these taxes as being used to pay for these new immigrants.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opin ... ur-friends

On the contrary, when one considers that the protesters are also calling for the re-institution of a wealth tax, and of massive new government spending, it's clear that the yellow jackets aren't conservative.

This is the first I've heard this. I think at this point there are a bunch of factions within the yellow vests that wants different things. Asking for a wealth tax while protesting against unfair taxes shows how far France is already gone. The people are now used to their own free healthcare and schooling and don't want to pay for it.

The ones burning shit down are not helping their image to me. It's stupid when mobs in the U.S. burn down random stuff, and it's stupid in France.

This is not a left vs. right thing.

[GloryofGreece]

The problem with betting on the overwhelming power of the established political order lies in neglecting to consider the fragility of that power. For example, Macron had to suspend the tax, at the very least, when he began losing first responders and even the police. Once he loses the police, his only option is the French army. But that option is fraught with risks since, if he loses the army, he loses it all.

It only takes a few key people to flip only a few key groups and what looked like overwhelming power collapses in an instant.

This is what I mean by the absolute absurdity of rule by the merchant class. They are not warriors. Warriors carry all of their water, and if they lose the beneficent consent of warriors, their power disentigrates.

Merchants are perhaps the very worst demographic for leadership. I find it amusing when far-leftists like Monty see that clearly where it really does apply to Trump, but then Macron is a blind spot to them.

The merchant class is not the class I want with most the power. Its the commercial interests that have been "ruling" world for hundreds of years. Slowly eroding the chivalry class of Europe since around the 1300s. Plus once the nation-state was forming and the entire society or most of it contributed to the war effort and not just a specialized core group of warriors you had quasi democracy taking for in England for example. And now banking, finance, and now things as pedestrian as insurance and consulting.

I am more and more liking the idea of smaller loosely connected region/states having more autonomy like before our own Civil War. Some what ironically *(given the conventional propaganda about the virtue in Federalism and Americana politics).

[Speaker to Animals]

The people who scoff at my assertion that it is only a matter of time before the army takes over should consider what just happened in France.

All political power derives from the armed forces first, and law enforcement second. There is no militia in America any longer to serve as a counterbalance, and the closest thing you have to it (veterans) will side with the army for the most part.

This is why the founders were pretty big on the idea of a militia.

Too late now.