Yellow Vests and the French Green Tax Disaster

Sunday – Dec 2, 2018

France suffered its worst street riots in recent memory.  Unrest in Paris and across the country on Sunday left three dead and more than 260 wounded, with more than 400 arrested (at last count).  Emanuel Macron, the President of France is in trouble while his government has promised to speak with the protesters and to delay the tax for another 6 months.  Having carefully cultivated his image as an energetic reformer and champion of European solidarity and enlightenment, the riots come as an embarrassment to his administration.  Macron is hoping to take the mantel as the next figurehead and champion of EU solidarity with Angela Merkel stepping down due to high dissatisfaction among German voters with her open-door immigration policy.

Marcon is the youngest President to become elected in France and prior to winning the election, he worked in the finance ministry for the government and worked in the financing industry becoming rich through fees he earned providing financial advice on mergers.  Despite this, he was a member of France’s Socialist Party and fashioned himself as a Socialist-Democrat Full background link.  He was seen as a good-looking, energetic, and youthful leader with experience in old-world traditional high-finance (he once worked at the Rothschild bank) but with a progressive mindset.  His strategy of reforming the French economy includes redoing labor and work rules which have stagnated the French economy while at the same time modernize certain industries such as aerospace and green energy.

Photo below:  French President Macron

The Yellow Vest

To provide some perspective, bear in mind with regards to the riots that there is a long history and even a tradition of civil protest and unrest within France dating far before the founding of the modern French Republic.  Street protests are a right of passage for many French citizens and have led to the overthrow of governments.  The weekend riots are dubbed the “Yellow Vest” or “gilets jaunes” protests as rioters take to wearing yellow vests as a form of protests against planned gas taxes in 2019.  In France, all drivers are required by law to have a yellow safety vest in their vehicle at all times in case of mechanical failure.  What is different about this protest is typically the actions are staged by organized unions, students, or specific trade groups within Paris while this weekend’s grass roots protests took place across the country in big cities and small towns.   The majority of the protesters come from the working class / blue-collar workers who will be hit the hardest by the planned gas tax.

Green Tax Folly

The protests are against the gas tax enacted by Macron and his government as part of a demonstration of how France is going to lead the world in fight against the so-called “Climate Change” by eliminating all fossil fuel combustion-based vehicles by 2050.  The idea is to make ownership of gasoline based cars and trucks so expensive that everyone will be forced to purchase an electric vehicle in the future.  The money collected from the tax will go towards green energy companies and transportation research.

What the government misjudged is how overburdened the middle class has become under the French socialist system.  Many in the working class in the countryside outside of Paris are barely scraping by financially and some are actually going hungry with no hope in sight.  They get free healthcare and benefits but have no money to pay for food.  This is what the protests are actually about, a fact missed by the MSM (mainstream media) coverage of the riots who simply label the story as disgruntled people rioting over “a minor tax”.  The MSM in general has a difficulty in publishing stories where high taxes lead to bad consequences, especially when that tax is meant to support green initiatives.

Consequences

For Macron, this may be the end of his political aspirations as a virtue-signalling social democrat and de-facto champion of the EU.  He was elected with high hopes and a high popularity rating.  Now his approval rating is down to 25% post-riot.  His tax is seen as nothing more than an elitist attempt at engineering a future vision upon the backs of the working poor of France.  Acquiescing French national interests to the EU with regards to immigration has also turned Paris into a open-air campground for migrants and tourism is down.  France always had a great boost to its economy and trade surplus through the tourism industry but now tourists are staying away as crime and immigrants overrun the streets of the City of Lights.  It appears that this may be a inflection point for France and a catalyst to turn away for the EU and elitist progressive policies.