France's Future

Fire of Liberty

If you've been watching the news lately, then you probably know by now that in France the 18-26 year old crowd as well as their labor union friends taking to the streets of Paris and elsewhere to protest laws that would make it easier to fire folks under the age of 26 from their jobs. Now I for have said for a long time that I'm no great fan French President Jacques Chirac and PM Dominique de Villepin and their love of socialism that clenches to growth killing concepts of economic nationalism as well government sponsored welfare(And these folks call themselves conservatives) but with regards to the passage of this law, I have to say that I'm in their corner.

Maybe the folks marching in the street should calm down a little and think hard about the PM's proposals a how it is intended on improving their lot by trying to find a way to get the economy to start on a path of growth by making the job market more fluid by removing the large hulking permanent employment barrier from the employers, thus initiating competition amongst the 18-26 crowd(Unemployment Rate 23%). They should think about the fact that if they have a more competitive job market that makes the folks looking for jobs or who have been hired recently to perform their job better than the next Jacques or Delores in an effort to stave off the other person who's looking for hire from getting their jobs. They can continue to protest a law that removes a "you can't fire me" block off the employer and makes the young folks do work instead of cashing in on a permanent job but in the long run their efforts will only make life harder and push the unemployment rate up even further if they happen to derail they law.

The events of this weekend has also caused a lot of people within France and the US questioning the type of economics and education in general that young folks in the elite universities of France are receiving in the first place. From my take, it seem that a lot of these college students are being educated by professors of the 68 generation who rattle on about all the "rights" that everyone haves in France, even the absurdities that a lifetime job is a right, and how capitalism is the bane to man's existence. In fact, Thomas Sowell makes a pretty good argument along the same lines in his most recent column "French Student Riots." See for yourself:

The law can create equal rights for inexperienced young workers and for older workers with a proven track record but the law cannot make them equally productive on the job or equally risky to hire. Nor is rioting likely to make employers any more likely to want young workers working for them.

Estimates of the damage done by the rioters -- called "protesters" or "demonstrators" in the mealy-mouthed media -- range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to over a million dollars, thus far. They have also shut down dozens of universities, including the Sorbonne, denying an education to other students.

The heady notion of "rights" -- and especially the notion that your rights over-ride other people's rights, when those other people belong to some suspect class called "bosses" -- is an all too familiar feature of modern welfare state notions.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who supports the new labor law, has seen his approval rating drop to 36 percent. That is what happens when you try to talk sense to people who prefer to believe nonsense.

It is elementary economics that adding to the costs, including risks, of hiring workers tends to reduce the number of workers hired. It should not be news to anyone, whether or not they have gone to a university, that raising costs usually results in fewer transactions.

Now this law is a start on economic dynamism within France but I'd argue that the French have got to tear down the walls placed on their economy via socialism. If they would eliminate certain barriers like their 35hr work week, protectionism, month long vacations, high taxes and other welfare state policies, I'd say they'd be on a better path in knocking down their high unemployment rates and creating greater growth. Rioting will never solve France's unemployment problems, well unless you're wanting a job on the Paris riot squad.