Some of my more conservative acquaintances accuse me of being overly critical of America; this could not be further from the truth. I am thankful everyday that I live in this country. I just believe that there are numerous things that this country can improve on. Number one on that list is getting rid of Bush and his coterie, discussed in a previous post. Despite these failings, I can be just as thankful that I do not live in France, a country riddled with serious problems. France recently elected a new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who has promised to put France back to work and make it,economically speaking, more like Britain and America. If you've been paying attention to the news in the last month, you can see that the only thing he's been successful in is being the overseer of Paris riots and railroad strikes.
Actually, that may not be a fair assertion to make. It's not Sarkozy's fault really. I applaud him for going up against decades of bloated "cradle to grave" programs and other quasi-socialist ideas that have made France a difficult place to conduct business, namely the 35 hr. workweek. These are ideas ingrained in the French consciousness; they have become as quintessentially French as a croissant and the Eiffel Tower. It's going to take him his entire presidency and beyond for France to even consider repealing some of their state-funded programs.
The 35 hour workweek, in particular, is crippling. In experiment weeks, I easily work twice that amount. There's no way a company based in France can be globally competitive with that kind of law. It encourages laziness and cuts down incentive. This is why the best and brightest of France have actually moved to the UK in recent years. Also, 6 weeks of vacation is a bit excessive. Us Americans get by on 2 weeks and in those 2 weeks we still answer our emails and have our attached to the hip Blackberries. It can't be that hard if "stupid Americans" can get by on working longer hours and having less vacation time.
In urban areas of France, unemployment reaches almost 10 percent. Think about that for a second. The US average is 4-5%. Our lawmakers freak out if it reaches 6%. To put this into perspective: inner-city Detroit has around 10 percent unemployment. So there are swaths of France with unemployment rates similar to Detroit, recently named the Top Most Dangerous City in America. If high unemployment is correlative with other "urban" problems, then France is in big trouble.
Although there are major economic problems, social problems in France may trump those in severity. Ask pre-1960s America how marginalization of minorities worked out for them. Not so good, I hear. France in the coming decades will be more Muslim than native French, which is a problem because France has systematically ignored the minority population. Instead of engaging and integrating them, Turks, Algerians, Moroccans, etc. have had to live in barrios and working-class neighborhoods. This is a recipe for social unrest, which is what has happened in the last few years. Riots will become more frequent if they don't address this problem. It may be too late because the Muslim population is large enough such that they would have to make significant cultural concessions. Does France think the hijab ban or ban to call to prayers will last? They're kidding themselves. The social unrest is going to breed terrorist groups just like with Londonistan. They're stuck because they refused to engage the immigrant groups, the number one rule with immigrants.
It's a shame to see France devolve into its current state. I really admire French high culture. The paintings of Monet and Cezanne and the innumerable artists in that country since the end of the Roman empire have enriched the world. The French Revolution was a necessary, albeit bloody, moment in history. There would be no such thing as populism without that fountainhead movement. Hell, there would be no America without France, a fact I remind France-hater, Bush-lover friends. For all its faults, France has contributed much to the world. That's why you gotta cheer France on.
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