Posted on 03/15/2006 5:27:26 AM PST by .cnI redruM
Imagine riot police had to be sent into Harvard to quell an enormous student protest. OK, that's not terribly hard to imagine. But instead of the usual reasons for prosperous students to get all uppity — gay rights, antiwar hoopla, a strong math requirement — imagine that Harvard students rioted over the possibility that they could ever be fired from their first jobs.
Well, that's pretty much what happened over the weekend at the Sorbonne, the creme de la Brie of French education. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, the leader with the most important hair in Europe, pushed through a law which says that employers don't have to give lifetime job security to job applicants under the age of 26. Seriously. For the first two years of what the French call the First Employment Contract, employers can fire you if you don't do your work satisfactorily or if they can't afford to keep paying you. Of course, if you make it past those first two years, the smothering mothering of the crapulent French Au Pair State kicks back in and you never again have to worry about getting fired. You would have to be an on-the-job rapist or serial killer to get sacked. Even using the wrong salad fork at the company bistro wouldn't do it.
France passed the law because its economic flexibility makes Dick Cheney look like a yoga master by comparison. Until this latest dip of the French baby toe into economic reform, employers had little choice but to offer open-ended employment contracts that amounted to "employment for life." Even the few exceptions to the rule require endless legal battles that may end in the employer being fined and forced to reinstate the employee with back pay. This is a great system if you are already employed (and care more about enjoying cafe-au-laits and endless vacations then you do about the long prosperity and posterity of your civilization). But if you are young, unemployed, or (shudder) an employer, this is a disaster of epic proportions.
Just imagine you own a small company. How eager would you be to hire someone — anyone! — if you knew that you had to carry him or her forever? Never mind all the perks you are required to lavish on employees.
Every sane economist understands that this is an untenable system. Unemployment among French workers under the age of 26 runs at about 23 percent, and it's higher than 50 percent in immigrant-heavy suburbs. Last year's "youth riots" were widely seen as a protest against the lack of economic opportunity. And while surely this is partly a convenient retreat into socialist dogma, who can doubt that unemployment was a significant factor?
So parliament decided to add un petite peu of flexibility. Of course, they couldn't call it "flexibility" because the French consider that a code word for capitalism run amok or "Americanization." And what greater hell is there than Americanization? After all, between 1970 and 2003, America produced 59 million jobs. France, Germany, and Italy put together managed to create fewer than 18 million jobs over the same period — and nearly half of that came from the demographic injection of the East German economy.
America, according to French politicians, journalists, and intellectuals, is an economic state of nature. But in 2004, according to economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth, only 13 percent of unemployed American workers couldn't find jobs in 12 months of looking. In France, 42 percent of unemployed workers couldn't find jobs within 12 months. (In Germany the number was 52 percent, and in Italy it was 50 percent.)
In response to the hint of "flexibility," students at the Sorbonne rioted with the aid of France's powerful labor unions. Fifty-eight percent of French voters now believe the First Employment Contract should be repealed.
The Sorbonne takeover is the most interesting and revealing part of the story because these are the best students France has to offer. In other words, these kids should have the least trouble finding work. But they're revolting because they understand that France isn't an egalitarian society — French propaganda notwithstanding. It is a system designed to lavish job protections, perks and, most of all, the French "lifestyle" on the upper-middle class. France pretends to be a great civilization, but in reality it wants to be an Epcot Center attraction, a "FranceLand" where everything is comfortable and protected. Liberating the job market, even a tiny bit, threatens a system designed to keep the French upper crust from working too hard and to keep those brown-skinned and lower-class slobs out of the best jobs and cocktail parties.
What should be so frightening about this episode for Americans is that it shows how even the best and brightest can become addicted to welfare.
I hate to break it to you Jonah, but if you look at "affirmative" action in the US, look at which cohort of our minority groups benefit there from. Jesse Jackson's sons; absolutely. The Hood Rats on Third and Catalina; not exactly.
>>>>What should be so frightening about this episode for Americans is that it shows how even the best and brightest can become addicted to welfare.
And what, pray tell, are Social Security, and Medipander if not welfare programs that also serve the higher estates?
And people are worried about the Euro replacing the Dollar! HAhaHAhaHA!
The difference is one of degree. The American economy is still dominated by the free market, whereas in France the market is overwhelmed by state regulation.
Sacre bleu, mon ami! How egalitarian!.........
Liberty and Equality, but only if we let you pledge our fraternity. Otherwise, you're one of Les Miserables.
Give me you tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to live for free............(with apologies to Emma Lazarus).....
What the French support is Egalite. Everyone should have the same level of economic comfort (in theory). Whether you work, or stay at home, your level of material comfort should be equal.
An Egalitarian society does not function well. The French Intellectuals dispute this -- which tells you all you need to know about French Intellectuals.
Ahem. "add un petite peu of flexibility"is incorrect. POINTS OFF for editing! POINTS OFF for putting on airs improperly!
Perhaps he meant: un petite fleur.....
I'm sure the bus driver's union will never agree to jetways and none of the bus drivers I saw looked very stressed in their jobs and took there sweet time transporting passengers who are standing in the buses...no seats.
"The French do not believe in Equality."
Equality is impossible unless it is brutally imposed.
But then the ones brutally imposing equality decide that they would rather be a little more equal than everyone else.
My post was just trying to point out that the slogan of the French Revolution was "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!"
Egalite is not the French word for Equality. The French have never claimed to value Equality.
True, equality is not a reasonable goal, as you point out. But, in America, we do have equality under the law, as well as a generalized cultural sense that "anybody can grow up and be president". In other countries this sense of equality is not so common.
The egalitarian society that the French seek is just as unattainable as Equality. But they don't grasp that.
Il n'y a pas d'honte être français. Il y a seulement l'honte dans rester de français.
(There is no shame in being French. There is only shame in staying French.)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
I fly to Warsaw from Atlanta regularly and connect at Charles de Gaulle. Your description is right, and it's even worse when you are trying to make international connections..or if the bus drivers are on one of their periodic strikes.
"Egalite is not the French word for Equality. The French have never claimed to value Equality."
I should have specified economic equality. As for the meaning of egalite, according to Wikipedia it means equality in the context of the French motto. I am surprised that the French don't value equality since they seem to talk about it alot.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.