Posted on 03/30/2006 7:22:51 PM PST by Mr. Silverback
Once again, France is the scene of massive demonstrations, widespread labor strikes, and even rioting, as hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets to protest a new labor law that makes it easier for companies to fire workers under the age of 26.
In France’s nearly socialist economy, there is nothing like Donald Trump and the “you are fired” apprentice show. But ironically, this new labor law is actually a last-ditch attempt to boost employment. Because the legal protections for workers in France make it nearly impossible to fire them, even when they deserve it, companies are afraid to hire new people. Hence, the unemployment rate rises, standing today at 10 percent—twice the U.S. rate.
So what do the young, unemployed do? They demand the same benefits the older workers have enjoyed for years, and, in the great French tradition, storm the Bastille. They refuse to see that the country’s economic system can’t survive this way.
As Robert Samuelson writes in the Washington Post, “[France’s] needs are plain: to assimilate a large and restless Muslim population of immigrants . . . , to pay for the rising health and pension costs of an aging society and to compete in the world economy. But . . . from 2001 to 2005, annual growth averaged only 1.6 percent. By accident and design, the French have discouraged work.” Samuelson points out that the French spend fewer hours at work than almost any other “advanced” nation.
As a French official quoted in the New York Times said, the problem is, “You have to explain to the French people that they have to work harder.”
What we are witnessing is how different worldviews work out in practice. France, you see, is the most secular state left in the West. Their non-existent work ethic and rising unemployment rate are symptoms of a bigger problem, that is, a shift from a Christian view of work to a secular view. I wrote about this in the book How Now Shall We Live? In the Christian view our work is seen as valuable because we do it to the glory of God. Sacred or secular work—preaching or scrubbing floors, as Martin Luther put it—doesn’t matter. What matters is what we do to serve God. This ethic fosters a desire to work for the common good, to save, to benefit one’s workers and society as a whole.
Don’t tell me worldviews don’t matter. What we’re seeing here, what is commonly called the Protestant work ethic, is fueling the growth of the American economy today at a rate more than twice that of France. We actually have a shortage of workers to fill jobs, which is why, unlike France, we are assimilating so many immigrants.
The secular work ethic, on the other hand, currently on display in France, is “get all you can, do as little as you have to.” Eventually you get to the point where workers are demanding payment and protection as an entitlement, not as something they have earned.
The new labor law may sound reasonable. But it’s not enough. What really needs to change in France is the hearts and minds of the people so that they learn to see work not as a burden to be avoided, but as an important and even desirable service.
Well actually we're not assimiliating them, which is the problem. But I guess that's a discussion for another thread.
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Actually, it's mostly Muslims and Communists "storming the Bastille." The communists have a reason, the Muslims don't need one.
How can anyone use "France" and "Work ethic" in the same sentence?
Yeah. Let's not forget the 10th Commandment either. What is socialism except an attempt to legitimize the coveting of someone else's earnings?
"France" goes with "work ethic" in exactly the same way that someone who wants to euthanize a Downs Syndrome baby gets to call himself a "bioethicist."
Yep.
"Well actually we're not assimiliating them"
No, actually, they're not even remotely interested in assimilating to our culture, the most successful, free, prosperous and democratic culture and nation on earth. They're using America as an ATM and toilet, they don't give a damn.
I wonder if the boycott helped to precipitate these events?
French Students Take to Streets Over New Employment Law
A new law aimed at reducing youth unemployment (currently 23 percent) by making it easier to hire and fire young workers has sparked an outcry of opposition from the intended beneficiaries. As many as 1.5 million people participated in street demonstrations to protest the “First Job Contract” law passed by Parliament.
Jacques Esse, one of the students leading the protest, denounced the law. “They are trying to take away our leisure and force us into boring jobs,” said Esse. “We need money, not excessive demands on our time.”
Esse contends that forcing young people into the workforce will have anti-democratic impacts. “Who will march in the streets to protest bad laws if everyone has jobs?” asked Esse.
Esse demanded that the government save his generation from a life of meaningless toil. “Our time and our minds should be free to create the new ideas needed for a new millennium,” said Esse. Esse proposed that corporations and the rich be taxed to provide stipends for young intellectuals like himself.
Asked what new ideas for a new millennium he has, Esse responded that his proposed stipends for young intellectuals was just the first of many he was sure would be forthcoming if he isn’t bogged down by a dead-end job and has the time to work on them.
read more at...
http://www.azconservative.org/Column_Archives.htm
You can't fire anybody if you are employer in France that in Plain damnn catagory
I got question how would the French feel if tourists stop coming to France after seeing all those riots if I was plan a trip to France I change my summer vacation plans because of this
Having bunch of sweaty bad smelling people rioting make me reconsider trip to Gay ole Parie
This one might interest you.
Esse contends that forcing young people into the workforce will have anti-democratic impacts. “Who will march in the streets to protest bad laws if everyone has jobs?” asked Esse.
Scrappleface and The Onion would be hard-pressed to beat this.
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