http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/mark_steel/article3179607.eceThe case against the strikes is the genuinely old-fashioned one, that the workforces involved are defending privileges, such as pensions after 30 years of work, which can no longer be afforded. So an economics lecture supporting the French government would say, "It was one thing having these pensions back in the 1960s when we were much poorer, but now society is much richer they'll have to be scrapped. Because as everyone knows, the richer you get, the less you can afford things."
This is why lottery winners, as soon as they collect their cheque, sell all their records and turn the heating off, aware they'll no longer be able to wallow in their old privileges. And it's well known that when the plough was invented, all the peasants were gathered together and told, "This little beauty will do the work in half the time. And that's marvellous because it means now we've all got to work five hours extra every day".
The argument to scrap these "privileges" goes on to explain that they cripple the economy, making everyone worse off. So presumably the French should be more like the British, because we've been far-sighted enough to have much worse pension schemes, and our working week is on average 2.63 hours longer than the French one. So obviously that makes us better off. But even we're lagging behind truly modern economies, like Burma, where there are no pensions and people are forced to work all day and night or be whacked with a stick. They're rolling in it, the jammy bastards.