Comment du Jour

French Lessons







The French are used to a pleasant lifestyle, cushioned by beaucoup benefits, and why not? But this lifestyle comes at a high economic price and is now challenged by the rising cost of the entitlements and naturally whose going to be taxed pay for them?

So when the center-right government of Nicolas Sarkozy dared to do the necessary;
namely raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, the Citizens took to the barricades or at least to marching on the boulevards of Paris and other French cities in protest. General strikes have gripped France over retirement.

Just imagine having to work an extra two years? Inhuman! Millions have taken to the streets in Manifestations, Manifs, to protest the harshness of enduring the 35 hour work week an additional two years. .

Entitlements form part of a near sacred pact between the people and the French State. Woe to any government who tries to tinker with or even timidly change any of these benefits. Chirac tried years ago and backed off. Now facing massive government deficits and the millstone of entitlement spending, Sarkozy has tried to tackle the unsustainable elements of the social-welfare state.

The Manifs, while huge, mostly have been in good nature; with the exception of some provoked violence in suburbs and Lyon. Public sector unions have been joined by oil refinery workers to literally try to shut down France. To a degree they have succeeded.

Schoolchildren some as young as 12 years old are marching on the streets frightfully worried about at what age they will have to retire!! Get real, it’s called a day off from school, nice Autumn weather, and the chance to relive the days 1968 (sic).

While most of the marchers are decent people who have been frightened by the impending budget cuts, many are manipulated by the Socialist Party and a blizzard of hard-left organizations. The foreign media is deliberately blind to the predominance of the CGT unions as a leading force behind many of the protests. CGT was the traditional communist union confederation until the 1990’s. The CGT is well organized, hyper-motivated, and focused at stopping Sarkozy’s reforms.

It’s simplistic to assume these protests and problems are something “over there” and a symptom of Gallic grouchiness. Indeed there are many French lessons for America to learn as well