France in a bleak mood...

[cantwealljustgetalong]

Unemployment, constant public strikes and marginalisation in EU and the world have dented the morale of the French...

...

A recent editorial in Le Figaro declared: 'French morale is in its socks.'

...

French lawyer, economist and historian Nicolas Baverez, in an essay entitled France is Falling, suggested that the social and economic degradation had been building up over at least 20 years.

...

How did France get into such dire straits?
Mr Baverez pointed to an inability to adapt to modern realities and the global economy.
The WEF highlighted 'infernal social regulations, repetitive strikes, and a debilitating fiscal system which hinder the competitiveness of French enterprises'.
The problem is often linked to heavily-taxed businesses, inflexible labour laws and a very costly but inefficient public sector, which employs one in four workers.
Thirty per cent of state workers are unionised and there is a strike nearly every month in public sectors.

...

French companies, too, are moving abroad.
And factories and jobs are on the go.
Experts warn that the French decline is not limited to the economic malaise.
It shows in the dysfunctions of the public service and government system, political and business scandals, the rise of extremist parties and the marginalisation of France in Europe and in the world, due partly to its stance on Iraq and defiant violations of its financial obligations in the EU.

...

Mr Georges Valance, the editorial director of the economic magazine L'Expansion, linked the psychological impact to the rising political alienation of voters, who feel nobody in power is able to reverse the 'humiliation' of a powerful state in decline.
Mr Yvon Jacob, president of the Federation of Mechanical Industries, said the only way out was to adapt at full speed.
'Otherwise the French economy will find itself stuck in a formidable vice, between the emerging economies which are gobbling up unceasingly the market shares, and the super-power of America, which is the world leader of innovation,' he said.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,214422,00.html

[trotsky]

1. The freepers will eat this one up.

Even though the world sucks because * is a screwup. We had peace & prosperity, and *'s gang flushed it all down the toilet.