There is rampant unemployment in France. According to the government, younger people are disproportionately affected. So, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced plans to ease France’s legendary protections for private jobs, on the theory that an employer would be more willing to take on younger employees if the employer knew that the workers would eventually move on to other kinds of work after a few years. The French public responded with half a million people protesting across the country, including rioters in Paris who torched a McDonald’s and The Gap.
Huh? Hey, what did the U.S. do? Did we force you to eat Les McNuggets, Pierre? Are there Navy SEALS threatening to occupy La Trocadera unless you wear clothes advertised by Madonne? Is it our fault that you’ve mismanaged your own economy so badly, with the equivalent of rent control for employment, that there are no jobs left? Are you really that mad that Jerry Lewis hasn’t made a new movie in ten years?
