Okay - first things first. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, even if they're wrong. I even extend this general statement to those living outside our great United States, in general. You can, despite all available reasonability, and in conflict with logic maintain any darn stance you want to - and as long as you're not hurting others through the expression of your idiotic views, go to town.
All that being said, I have to say - the protests in France are really getting on my nerves. Today the protests continue as the French Senate nears a vote on President Sarkozy's plan to raise the country's retirement age 2 years. Strangely, there appears to be an ongoing outcry from French high school students.
I wrote on this before, but to summarize - high school students are close to entering the workforce, but are the farthest from retirement overall, and have not, in general, yet contributed substantially to the French economy through productivity or taxes. The fact that the students are so outspoken, is not necessarily surprising, I suppose. Youth does tend to lend itself to excitability...
But overall... Yep, it's 2 more years of work before you get to take advantage of the national pension plan. But look at it this way... The average retiree in the US sees 47% of his/her average wage in Social Security payments. In Great Britain, a worker sees only 44%. Germany pays out 61.5% and in France... Drum roll please... 65%. So, with one of the richest retirement benefits, there is now a proposed retirement age that is in line with other developed nations. Germany - 67, US - 67, Italy - 65.
I'm just having a really hard time feeling in any way supportive of the extremely vocal stance being communicated by the labor unions in France. Seems more like whining than anything else at this point.
In the immortal words of Google Translate:
Arrêter de se plaindre
No comments:
Post a Comment