"The City of Lights"

The Parisian nickname "the City of Light," of Enlightenment, has nothing to do with the electricity from 276 monuments, hotels, churches, fountains, bridges, and canals that illuminate the city every night, it refers to the light of knowledge coming from intellectuals, poets, writers, artists, sculptors, painters, writers, and musicians of the 1920s when Paris became the cultural center of Europe and of the world.

Parisians have never been penny pinchers with the exception perhaps of Etienne de Silhouette, King Louis XV’s finance minister who attempted to balance the nation’s budget by melting down all items made of gold and silver. Thankfully, reasonable minds prevailed. He was so cheap that he became the symbol of frugality gone awry and of “silhouettes,” shadow profile portraits cut from black paper that were cheaper than real portraits.

Parisians are in love with spending and national financial generosity with other people’s money, better known as socialized welfare. They feel so strongly about their generous government benefits that they kicked out President Sarkozy last year and elected the socialist Francois Hollande who promised them even more welfare and a roll back of the retirement age that Sarkozy had set at 62.

President Hollande is not backing down on his promise to tax those who make 1 million euros or more a year at 75 percent even though France’s Constitutional Council declared the tax unconstitutional. The French government announced a revised tax version for 2013. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/world/europe/gerard-depardieu-stirs-belgian-border-town.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)

Gérard Depardieu, actor and producer, has had enough of the outrageous fleecing, so he decided to turn in his French passport and move to a sleepy little village in Néchin, Belgium. Vladimir Putin offered him a Russian passport although it is unclear if Mr. Depardieu accepted. A flat tax of 13 percent in Russia seems more appealing than the 75 percent marginal tax rate for the rich in France. Gérard Depardieu, who owns about a dozen vineyards around the world, a wine label, and a superb movie career, is not a tax dodger; the 64-year old movie producer has paid his lion’s share of taxes in the last 45 years, $192 million to be exact.

The optician chain tycoon, Alain Afflelou, has planned to flee Paris for England to escape President Hollande’s 75 percent marginal tax, joined by thousands other French millionaires. David Cameron was prepared to roll out the red carpet for the expatriates. A Victoria Secret model, restaurateur Alain Ducasse, and singer Johnny Hallyday have already left France. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185231/High-earners-planning-leave-France-75-tax-rate-income-1million-euros-goes-ahead.html#ixzz2K8nAvjP3)

President Francois Hollande and his energy minister, Delphine Batho, would like to turn off lights in and outside public buildings, offices, and stores after 1 a.m. Paris will literally no longer be the city of lights and romantic glow. This is not good for the tourist industry. However, robbers and pick-pockets will thrive. And there are plenty of them in Paris.  

Energy minister Batho touted the energy savings from lights-out and the French “sobriety.” Everyone will be sober figuratively and literally, as few will dare go out in the dark to their favorite cafes and restaurants. A new rule passed in July 2012 required businesses to turn off lights between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. as part of the plan to reduce energy consumption 20 percent by 2020. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254565/Lights-turned-France-save-money-sobriety.html#ixzz2K8oeGQaV)

The national pastime of drinking wine and dining with friends late at night may suffer. King Louis XVI believed that persons not drinking wine are fanatics. He blamed the French Revolution on the fact that its leader, Robespierre, drank only water. (David Hoffman, Little Known Facts about Paris, 2008)

The draconian measure to turn off lights at night seems extreme since France generates over 75 percent of its electricity needs from nuclear power and 17 percent from recycled nuclear fuel. France is the largest net exporter of electricity because the cost of generating it is very low. The exportation of electricity provides 3 billion euros a year in revenue. (http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf40.html)

Who needs illumination in the City of Lights when the French are unwilling to give up their stellar early retirements, lifetime employment, generous pensions, 5 weeks paid vacations, two year paid maternity leave, subsidized elegant housing, two week spa treatments disguised as health care, and shortened work weeks? Socialized welfare lifestyle is grand until the government runs short of money, corners are cut, and the lavish generosity must be scaled back.

The Ads and Lights of the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl always runs very expensive, funny, entertaining, and sometimes outrageous ads. The half-time show is a mixture of glitz, glamour, pyrotechnics and lights, plenty of lights, fanciful choreography, whimsical and skimpy costumes, loud music, beautiful dancers, and popular entertainers. Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVII exceeded all expectations.

The ad that drew rave reviews by most spectators was the Dodge Ram ad playing the Paul Harvey speech delivered at the 1978 Future Farmers of America Convention in 1978. I remember hearing it for the first time – “So God Made a Farmer,” – a masterful tribute to the wonderful men and women who toiled from dusk to dawn to nourish those urbanites who have no idea how much sweat, pride, pain, and love is in every bowl of food they consume.

Covered in dust, dirt, mud, fertilizer, manure, and perspiration, less than three percent of hard-working Americans feed not just the rest of America but many other nations.

It was joyful to hear the word God mentioned with reverence and love. I am sure atheists were severely annoyed and distressed but Christians felt renewed and many shed tears. Lost in the emotional moment was the stark realization, would Paul Harvey have directed people to believe that Dodge is an American company when Chrysler is majority owned by Fiat and the 2500 series shown are built in Mexico? The Case tractors used in the ad are also owned by a division of Fiat.

Paul Harvey saluted the American farmer in 1978 but I am not so sure he would have praised in 2013 a foreign-owned company pretending to be American. Yes, Chrysler/Fiat made a great ad – it pulled and tugged at our collective heart strings with personal nostalgia. It was symbolism over substance. Furthermore, how many farmers are left today like the ones Paul Harvey extoled in 1978? We lost one this week in our extended family - they are a dying group, literally and figuratively.

Another ad that struck a passionate chord with the audience was the Jeep commercial. Narrated by Oprah’s iconic voice, the video shows photographs of soldiers serving our country, their families, USO, and the notion that we are a whole and a united nation. Are we? A beautiful narrative and a legendary voice selling the Jeep – a vehicle no longer made in the U.S.A. and no longer as American as apple pie. Divided more than ever as a nation, we desperately need healing.

The Sunday’s game was publicized as the “greenest” in Super Bowl history. “The New Orleans Host Committee has partnered with fans and the community to offset energy use across the major Super Bowl venues. Eco-friendly fans and city leaders in New Orleans competed to maximize sustainability practices.” For those who do not recognize sustainability – it is code word for the Green Agenda. The exterior of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome was resplendent with 26,000 LED lights on 96 full-color graphic display panels. (http://energy.gov/articles/super-bowl-city-leads-energy-efficient-forefront#.UQ-4slXD0_I.mailto)

Shortly after the half-time show, most lights and A/C went out in the superdome. Twice during Beyoncé’s rehearsal the lights went out as well and the officials were baffled. I am not an electrician but I wondered. Energy efficiency and renewable energy may be having a profound impact with environmentalist green growth proponents and perhaps it will become the energy of the future; however, for now, it appears that renewable energy is not all that is cracked up to be in terms of keeping the lights on when needed. Renewable energy still needs the solid backup of energy produced by the maligned coal. Re-inventing the wheel to save the planet from faux global warming does come with a huge price-tag.

Super Bowl XLVIII promises to be even more interesting in 2014, since the powers that be are making overtures to ban injurious football that destroys so many athletes who have no idea what they are doing to their bodies when they sign multi-million dollar contracts and  must be protected by the nanny government. And the blood thirsty fans should be banned as well – shamelessly cheering on their favorite players is unconscionable when they know players may get hurt.