Those Clueless Frenchies

Those clueless Frenchies

Is it just me enjoying the misfortune of others again, or are the recent youth labor riots in France kind of funny in an anyone-could-have-predicted-this kind of way? Right on the heels of the Muslim cartoon riots a few months ago, which were right on the heels of the Muslim youth car-burning riots a few months before that, comes the latest labor riots over proposed legislation that would make it easier for employers to fire workers under the age of 26 without cause. Heaven forbid that a young person should have to compete and prove themselves to their employer!

Entitlement-minded, French youth, expecting government guaranteed job security, weeks-long employer-paid summer holidays, and lavish retirement packages at no cost to them, have taken to the streets to claim what is rightfully theirs. (Of the few of these idiots who are employed, do you think their bosses let them off work to protest?)

The unemployment rate among young French workers is already at like 23%. Why? One reason is because employers are afraid to hire young, unproven, untrained workers who are impossible to get rid of if they turn out to be loafers. In a Socialist economy, the government controls the means of production and distribution, so it can dictate labor laws that make the workers happy voters. Eventually, company earnings decrease because the workers, having no incentive to work hard, become complacent and unproductive. (It is estimated that on any given work day, 15-20% of the French work force calls in sick) They can sit around the cafes smoking and drinking lattes during the day without risking job loss since jobs are guaranteed by the government. Rather than risk having to pay an unproven employee who is impossible to fire, French managers have rightly calculated that it is more profitable to keep the few good workers they have and not hire anybody untested, even if production declines.

The new law would allow managers to maintain a competitive, productive work force…at least until the employee reaches 26…then it’s back to the entitlement mentality.

This law describes the capitalist paradigm under which practically all U.S. employees work…and thrive. All this hiring and firing and labor competition that the French find so unpleasant, and our unemployment rate is still like 3.2%. We have to prove ourselves almost daily to keep our jobs because we know somebody else will take it from us if we become slackers. A competitive, dynamic labor force maximizes earning for companies, overall productivity of the American economy (both of which create more jobs) and most importantly, the wage and benefits packages employees can demand for their services. France could implement this system and return to its days of economic competitiveness if it wanted to…but it won’t. The politicians don’t want to give up political power and the people want to be taken care of rather than be responsible for themselves.

Question: Which slice of American society does that sound like?

What we are seeing in France is one of the predictable end results of Socialism (of which Liberalism is a watered-down version): a population of whining, petulant brats who don’t want to work or compete for anything because they’ve come to expect the government to provide for them from the cradle to the grave. Beware…if Liberalism is allowed to run its natural course in the U.S., in 50 years we’ll be where France is today, and I would not look good in a beret.