Those French sure know how to throw a party. Not just a small gathering, but a huge street fest is underway in Paris. Young people, college students, union hacks...it's a veritable slice of Parisian society, or at least that part of society that would lose out if the government has its way.
"We have to defend the rights that were won by our ancestors and which the current government is trying to take away," some news sources are quoting a student of literature who was protesting on the Left Bank. Hey, if the ancestors were so blind to the fall-out of their schemes, why should the young be forced to endure the bruises of their stumbling? Defend the status quo, all you students. Liberty, equality, fraternity, and don't ever change a thing. Say, is there an economics major among you?
The idea of state-sponsored welfare as practiced in France is not sustainable because it is so horrifically expensive. Labor laws that were put into place to protect the downtrodden are having a rather unpleasant side effect, but the people most likely to suffer during treatment are the ones least willing to make the sacrifice for the good of the nation. Employers won't hire young people because they can't dump the nitwits and goof-offs. By protesting, the students imply that they want the right to be nitwits and goof-offs but still keep a job. With unemployment in double digits, you'd think they could figure out that they're losing out in the long term.
Any economist could tell the youngsters that their country can no longer compete with the world because of outmoded socialist laws. High unemployment of young workers, decreasing productivity and climbing costs of pensions and health care will break the French bank, and all the protests in the country will do nothing to fix things when the economy tanks. The Celtic Tiger came to Ireland when the old economic models were dropped and capitalism was encouraged - it's a lesson for the protesters, one they don't want to learn. Plus ca change?
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