Richardcyoung.com

The Online Home of Author and Investor, Dick Young

  • Home
  • How We Are Different
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • Your Survival Guy
  • The Great Reset
  • COVID-19
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • The Swiss Way
  • Dick Young
  • Debbie Young
  • Key West
  • Paris
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Work to Make Money/Invest to Save Money
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • US Treasury Yield Curve: My Favorite Investor Tool

French Unions Fostering Cultural Suicide?

June 2, 2016 By Debbie Young

Why are French unions striking? They are protesting the changes President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manual Valls would make to France’s 1999 labor laws. The Socialist Hollande government is looking to add more flexibility to France’s rigid 35-hour workweek. The 1999 laws were enacted in an attempt to boost employment. By imposing prohibitive minimum payments for overtime, the rationale was that companies would hire more workers rather than request current employees to work overtime. The jobless rate in France is currently 10.5% (youth unemployment is at 24%).

According to the BBC, here are the main points to the French labor reform bill:

  • The 35-hour week remains in place, but as an average. Firms can negotiate with local trade unions on more or fewer hours from week to week, up to a maximum of 46 hours.
  • Firms are given greater freedom to reduce pay.
  • The law eases conditions for laying off workers, which is strongly regulated in France. It is hoped companies will take on more people if they know they can shed jobs in case of a downturn.

Mr. Valls has used “special constitutional powers to bypass the lower house and push the measure directly to the Senate—the second time the government has taken extraordinary steps to enact reforms,” according to the WSJ.

It’s a sign of the depth of France’s economic distress that even a government of the left recognizes the need for reform, and that it is pressing ahead despite the vehement opposition of its traditional political base. If a Socialist president can succeed in doing this in France, there might be hope for the rest of sclerotic Europe.

If Thomas Sowell’s Basic Economics has not been translated into French, perhaps it’s time. Freedom, he explains, is keyed to free markets, capital, supply and demand, and pricing. Dr. Sowell lays out the seemingly complex (and often boring) subject of economics in a highly readable, concise and entertaining form.

If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for the Richardcyoung.com free weekly email.

Related Posts

  • Terrorists/Unions Killing French Tourism
  • VIDEO: Unions explained
  • Travel Like the French in France
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Debbie Young
Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over three decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, driving her Porsche Boxter S through Vermont and Maine, and practicing yoga.
Latest posts by Debbie Young (see all)
  • Don’t Believe ’em. They’re Coming for Your Gas Stove - January 27, 2023
  • The Power of Words - January 26, 2023
  • US Debt Now Exceeds Annual GDP? - January 25, 2023

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • The Four Most Important Words in Investing
  • Why Investors Should Forget Prices and Focus on Income
  • Meet Me at Freddy’s June 2022
  • The Claremont Institute: Protecting the American Way of Life
  • Warning! Your Survival Guy’s on a Boil Water Advisory
  • The Case for Individual Stocks: Now More than Ever
  • DONBAS: Russian Tanks Face Gauntlet of Death from Javelin Wielding Ukrainians
  • Your Odds with Statins: 500 to 1?
  • Your Cash Swept into Your Broker’s Bank Account!
  • My Battle-Hardened Stock Market Strategy for the Worst of Times

Disclosure

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • CATO: Global Freedom Is in Sharp Decline
  • Biden Administration Destroying Retiree Fiduciary Protections
  • 4 Life Changing Words for Your Survival Guy: “You Should Try This”
  • Suddenly, Holding Cash Looks Good Again to Many
  • Anti-Carbon Crusaders in Davos Talk ESG and OPM
  • Is Passive Investing Already Passé?
  • Welcome to Hotel California, Where You Can Never Leave
  • What You’re Telling Me Matters
  • Can Banks Compete with Apple Pay and PayPal?
  • America’s Super States and Stocks that Respect YOU

RSS Yoursurvivalguy.com

  • CATO: Global Freedom Is in Sharp Decline
  • TIME FOR A GONDOLA? Little Cottonwood Canyon Jammed with Traffic
  • Biden Administration Destroying Retiree Fiduciary Protections
  • 4 Life Changing Words for Your Survival Guy: “You Should Try This”
  • Anti-Carbon Crusaders in Davos Talk ESG and OPM
  • Welcome to Hotel California, Where You Can Never Leave
  • What You’re Telling Me Matters
  • The Rich Seek More from Bank Accounts
  • California’s Wealth Tax Will Drive Out Remaining Rich Residents
  • Political Establishment Irate over Conservative Challenges to ESG

Don’t Believe ’em. They’re Coming for Your Gas Stove

NH Republicans Favor DeSantis Over Trump By a Big Margin

CATO: Global Freedom Is in Sharp Decline

The Telling Depth of Media Propaganda and Censorship

MEDIA BLACKOUT: No One Will Cover Pharma Exec’s Virus Confession

TIME FOR A GONDOLA? Little Cottonwood Canyon Jammed with Traffic

Copyright © 2023 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives