Tuesday, April 11, 2006

L'Oreal Plays the Anglo-Saxon Game. Why Won't You?

Chirac abandons youth job law after weeks of rioting


Can anyone explain why French students were protesting over something that has no discernable effect on them in any way? I mean...it's not as if they hold any jobs that they can be dismissed from.

The empirical evidence is there as well. I'm not usually one to shout about the state of the UK economy, but it seems that it is eminently possible to adduce the respective condition of the French and British economies by the fact that 300,000 French citizens are desperately seeking employment in Britain, whilst 3 British subjects try their luck amongst the burnt-out car ridden banlieues.

L'Oreal, Total, and the 300,000 all seem to have grasped that globalisation will not wait for a society frightened of losing a sheltered dirigiste arrangement it can no longer afford. Not for the first time though, French politicians, at the first sign of mob rule have displayed their lack of personal political volition and comprehensively failed to persuade a society of that truth. Will the 5th Republic go the same way as its predecessors? I suspect so. History suggests the French establishment never acts until it is too late.

1 comment:

Rigger Mortice said...

In the current 'money grows on trees' climate in the western world,it is easy for the Unions and the man on the street to see globalisation as no real threat to their pensions,healthcare system,or their jobs.

The reality is though,that wealth creating sectors are shifting production overseas,it is only a matter of time before the capital goes too.the current account deficits in the USA and the UK are unsustainable and it is insanity to think otherwise.Should any sustained pressure fall on the pound or dollar then one would have to fear a rise in interest rates like in New Zealand and Iceland,the latter rasining them 0.75% last week.

The French students inheritance is burning down around them