Is it wrong to feel a sense of cold justice that this is happening to the Germans and the French?
It's not wrong for you to feel that way considering their attitude toward the US lately. But, consider this: If Europe is going into an economic tailspin, and the non-Western parts of the world have been in deep economic trouble for several years, that leaves us alone on the slippery edge of an economic cliff. It's pretty much inevitable that we will go down, too.
We are doing about the best in the world now. Scary, isn't it. We still probably have a 2000 point correction to go through still.
I just received this from my financial guru:
1. During the first two quarters of the recovery from the 1990 Recession, the rate of economic growth was one- to two-percent (1% - 2%).
2. The rate of recovery during the first two quarters of this most recent recession has been three percent (3%).
Perspective: While this recession may have felt as tough as the 1990 Recession, it wasn't nearly as deep. In addition, the recovery rate has been two- to three-times stronger. Sometimes you don't believe things are getting any better because it doesn't feel as though that's what is really happening. Point in fact, many professionals I have spoken with continue to say that people may be surprised to find that the economy is stronger than they may believe.
We will wind up rescuing Europe from the clutches of the "Liberals" as we did from the clutches of the Nazis, but first we must rid America of them.
You are so right, except that we won't fall on our own. The EU will grab on to our legs and pull us down with them. I can almost hear the screams for help now.... America!, America!, You have to help us..........
Is it any wonder why Europe is down hill.
This is old, but it still amazes me.
France Enforces 35-Hour Work Week
By Lisa Davidson, Bulletin News Correspondent
In an effort to cut France's unemployment rate, which hovered around 12.4
percent 18 months ago, the government decided to reduce the work week
nationwide to 35 hours from 39. This change, according to a study conducted by
the Bank of France, could create more than 700,000 jobs in three years. The
reality, though, is that motivated employees are denied the opportunity to work
more than 35 hours to finish important projects. And employers who allow
workers to put in overtime face heavy fines in court.
The mandatory 35-hour work week is not unreasonable, says Finance Minister
Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
"I trust what the economic institutes say," said Strauss-Kahn. "If they tell me that
there will be between 400,000 and 700,000 jobs created, I believe that is realistic."
An unnamed source close to top-ranking officials at the Bank of France said that
Strauss-Kahn's support did not come as a surprise.
"He is our puppet," said the unnamed source. "We keep proposing stranger and
stranger things, just to see if he will keep agreeing to them. When he agreed to
replace the multimillion franc automated ticket-taking machines in the Metro with
live workers to reduce joblessness, we knew he was our guy."
Employers in France are not optimistic about their ability to become competitive
under such constraints.
"What the hell are we supposed to do?" said Jean Huac, the owner of a
machine-parts manufacturing company in Nice. "I hire people because they're
competent. And then I have to kiss them goodbye after seven hours, and bring in
new people to take over. This is insane."
Marie-Louise Toulour, a worker in a munitions factory outside of Paris, is less
concerned about the limitation.
"Would I like to make overtime? No," she said. "I like to go home at the end of
my day. So we're not competitive with the Americans? Big deal," she said.
"The European Union will carry us," she added.
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