Comments by "David Ford" (@davidford3115) on "The PROBLEM with OVERSEAS FRANCE (the remains of the Empire) - VisualPolitik EN" video.

@VisibilityFoggy Basically the same argument AGAINST reparations in the US. And why Soviet collectivism never works. Workers, unless they came up through the ranks into management, don't necessarily understand WHY a factory or business runs the way it does. Without that wider perspective, you may make choices that adversely harm the company. In a similar vein, some folks should take a look at Indonesia and ask why the ethnic Chinese tended to have most of the wealth after the Dutch left following WW2. The Dutch used the Chinese as the mid-level managers and the local Javanese and Sumatrans as the labor. The anti-Chinese sentiment under Sukarno and Suharto threatened to do to Indonesia what Mugabe did to Zimbabwe.
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Other than tourism or seafood exports, I don't really see what industry many of these Island territories could develop.
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Not really. Vietnam, particularly the French disaster at Dien Bien Phu proved that the French Empire as an institution was finished. The others just haven't seen a need to emulate the folks in "French Indo-China". And considering their (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos) example, I don't really blame them (French Overseas) for rejecting that path.
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@adrien5834 I do NOT support communism, I detest it. No, my position is that of President John K. Kennedy, a staunch anti-communist. But like a good little Grobbels propagandist, you accuse your critics of that which you yourself are guilty of. You can't win the argument on the merits so you engage in logical fallacies to confuse the subject. "When words lose their meaning, people lose their lives," -Confucius, author of "The Analects".
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@kolerick "High income tax rates not only check consumption but discourage investment and encourage...the avoidance of taxes rather than the production of goods." -President John F. Kennedy
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@sa34w What is your point other than to show you are throwing a temper tantrum? JFK and Art Laffer have time and again proven that low taxes increase productivity while high taxes stifle it.
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@felix0749 I think the French love of dictatorship stems from both Napoleon as well as Charles DeGaulle. Both men were charismatic leaders that convinced the French population that a "benevolent dictatorship" was in their best interest. Those of English heritage understood quite well the dangers of despotism, even if it was a "kinder, gentler" one.
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@joaquimdantas63 Thomas Sowell makes that rather nuanced argument, contrasting the former English colonies with those that were colonized by other nations as well as those that were never colonized at all. Makes for an interesting read/watch.
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Talking about Zaire? That was one messed up situation.
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@eurobonapartiste I agree with your first post about the French and American Republics being sisters. Though France's continued contempt for the Marquis de Lafayette will sour my opinion until his statute is returned to its rightful place of honor. As for modern Poland, I suspect it WOULD have been restored after WW2 even had Napoleon not established the Dutchy of Warsaw. I will agree with you that Napoleon was something of a populist which struck terror into the hearts of monarchists across Europe. As for Latin American independence, you realize that most of the Declared Independence not out of support for Napoleon, but in fear of him? it goes to the fall of the Spanish monarchy. Most of those Latin independence movements were to preserve the status quo of the nobility and continue the Spanish CASTA system without the crown. Yes, France helped Mexico, but Santa Anna was a monarchist of a different kind.
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@adrien5834 He had every opportunity to emancipate the region and chose not to. He instead chose to continue the status quo as an occupying foreign power. You haven't disproven my point.
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Thank you for pointing out how much Charles DeGaulle's influence is what drives France's relations with its overseas territories. He had an opportunity to establish a French equivalent to the English Commonwealth, but instead insisted on a very centralized system with him at the center of power.
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@antonella6317 They are all in South America. How many nations in South America are there to compare against? Unless you only want to contrast it with is immediate neighbors and nobody else on the continent.
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Or on the British Commonwealth.
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Yeah, I am of the opinion that they should have handed over Hong Kong to Taipei in the late 1960s. Basically, negotiate a new agreement by which the UK could have had free-trade with Hong Kong and other perks, but that control would revert back to the Republic of China (Kuomintang) as the crown would be terminating their original lease early.
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I tend to agree with you about French Indo-China and West Africa. However, I will refute one point about former French colonies in the United States. My home state of Indiana was first colonized by France before it was captured by the British in the Seven Years War. We are most certainly NOT among the poorest. Fort Wayne (Fort Miami under the French) is one of the boomtowns of our state, having transitioned from an early tech factory town to a medical device city. Lafayette (Fort Ouiatenon) is the home of Purdue University, where many of America's Astronauts graduated. It is also at the forefront of bioengineering with regards to soy diesel and bee cultivation against varroa mites (Hoosier Ankle biter bees).
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@golagiswatchingyou2966 I would prefer "WEST-CENTRIC" rather than "Euro-centric". As an American, I have mostly contempt for Europe, save for the Baltic States and Poland. By saying "West-Centric" we are also including our East Asian allies Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. I really wish the West and Europe would listen more to those Asian allies than some of the folks in Europe who want only capitulation to those who seek to destroy western civilization.
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@kolerick "In those countries where income taxes are lower than in the United States, the ability to defer the payment of U.S. tax by retaining income in the subsidiary companies provides a tax advantage for companies operating through overseas subsidiaries that is not available to companies operating solely in the United States. Many American investors properly made use of this deferral in the conduct of their foreign investment.” -President John F. Kennedy.
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He also doesn't like to point out Charles DeGaulle. During WW2, many of these overseas territories had an opportunity to break away with the establishment of the Vichy government by Petain. While Petain was no saint, DeGaulle insisted on being the second coming of Napoleon. The fiasco of Vietnam in particular at Dien Bien Phu was in large part because DeGaulle refused to accept that the French Empire was finished as an institution.
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@kolerick Yeah, Papa Doc and Baby Doc really screwed up Haiti.
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France is no superpower. Their defeat at Bien Dien Phu was the end of France as a major global player. Even the UK was more significant until the Falkland's War.
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Quorum. Even with a 70% yes vote, if less than 50% of the people participate, you don't have a simple majority of all residence agreeing to it. At best you have a plurality. Quorums are just as if not MORE important than having a simple majority.
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@eurobonapartiste "First Democracy in the modern world" huh? Yeah, I think the French Terrors under the Robespierre faction shows us exactly what "French Democracy" entails. As far as Poland goes, I think the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth predates "The Litte Corporal". All he did was to reestablish it as the Dutchy of Warsaw. As far as his "progressivism", it was also predated by the American Revolution. Much of what you attribute to Bonaparte finds its origins not in him but other people and movements. All he did that was good was to empower the average man. "In every private's backpack is a Marshall's baton" was his words. Words that simply echoed that of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
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@kolerick And yet the US has held fewer overseas territories than France yet has "de-colonized" more of them than France. You just don't like the fact that France is the world's biggest hypocrite. Nor that it is getting called out for it.
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@adrien5834 Your refusal to acknowledge JFK's points about taxes and your obsession with tax haven shows you are not debating in good faith. Debate the merits, of which my point did NOT take GDP into consideration. You are bloviating because you hate people wisely investing their wealth in places that will not simply steal it via force of government. Taxation is legalized theft.
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@adrien5834 Neoliberal? I think you are describing yourself. Neoliberalism is just repackaged Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideology. I am describing sound economic tax policy, one that has been proven time and again. And you reject it simply because you detest the idea of people keeping their own money, even if that means moving it to places with lower rates.
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@kolerick What territories has the US colonized in the 20th century? Have you forgotten that the Philippines was given its independence after WW2? Vanuatu and Palau were US territories that were emancipated. Purter Rico so far has chosen to remain a territory and refuses independence. Guam and the Marianas likewise refuse independence.
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@adrien5834 Pot meet kettle. Typical leftist.
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Yes they do. And it is a major staging area for US forces in the Middle East and Indian Ocean theaters.
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@borhanuddin9715 Nature abhors a vacuum. what do you think will fill it if Western dominance disappears? Considering what most of the world was before Western dominance, I suspect that your proposed alternative will be harsh and brutal. "Human Rights" is a direct result of Western Hegemony.
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@golagiswatchingyou2966 America is not the cause of the worlds problems. In fact, we solve more of them than we make, despite what you may claim. Ever heard of "The Great War"? We ended that. Ever Heard of World War 2? If not for the US, you would be speaking either German or Japanese. As the Billy Joel song goes, "We didn't start the fire, no we didn't light it but we tried to fight it"
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@golagiswatchingyou2966 Wow, Nazi apologist now huh? You are defending the indefensable now. Oh, and I take the word of the Flanders over you. if they say the Butchers of the Rhineland violated their neutrality just to defeat France, I believe them.
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@thetrist333 And yet it has always been the US pulling France's bacon out of the fire. For someone who claims to be well verse in history, you sure are ignorant of it. ""To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?" -Marcus Tullius Cicero, 45BC.
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@TheMrgoodmanners I was not trying to get into a pissing match with Alabama, or Crimson Tide for that matter. As far as Redstone goes, where do you get the technical knowledge to design and test those rockets? My point about Purdue still stands. And you trust US News? That legacy rag who hasn't published an accurate report in almost 20 years? How often have they had to issue a correction or retraction again? Only establishment shills read their publications. Also, I find it interesting that you only compare Indiana to other Midwest States and not the entire US. Contrasted to the Deep South, Indiana is luxurious.
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@thetrist333 How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris? Nobody knows, for it has not been attempted.
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@maxcream6726 At this time, perhaps. But there is discussion of it becoming a free trade union among its members.
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