Freedom Fried – US unemployment exceeds France

Here are some unpleasant truths that most American’s don’t acknowledge or know, now that they are worse off than France in unemployment percentage terms and without the upside:

In the US being fired means no notice and being escorted off the premises with two months severance if you are lucky. If you are an executive with a history of litigation you normally get more from a board, because there is a risk the company will incur costs (I have been in board meeting this spineless immoral stance has been the attitude). It means that for a year or so you can pay to keep your healthcare. After that, you are pretty much screwed.

In France you will get 3 months warning, and 2 years (23 months) at 60 – 70 % of your salary up to $90K. Your pension will continue to be paid and you will get free healthcare. And after 2 years the healthcare will continue and you will not starve. You will not have mortgage payments which are more than 3 times your previous salary, because that is illegal and you will be in a minority if you use a credit rather than a debit card. You will not need to get into debt to get a credit score, and you won’t have much of a student loan. The very best schools (Henry IV) are free and so is university (although the universities are sub par compared to the Grand Ecoles or places like INSEAD).

Lastly – personal taxes are about the same and the productivity of French workers is the same as the US.

There are downsides to this of course, business taxes are higher, people exploit the system and there is a deluded and hypocritical sense of self-entitlement in France from its, ultimately Bourgeois, left who are living off the tax revenues from principal exports such as luxury goods for the rich and weapons for the oppressive. The culture is less dynamic, and there are plenty of socio-economic problems, but there is plenty to enjoy anyhow.

France has less boom and less bust, booms are smaller and longer and so are recoveries. There is, of course a happy medium in between France and America, but in the current environment it pretty clear where is a better place to be for most people. America is on the side of the extreme that will create extraordinary hardship for a large number of ordinary people that will be more familiar in Mexico City than Paris. The upside is that the US may recover quicker, but what would you rather have a three week flu or cyanide?

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