Have you been affected by les blocages where you live?

[EuroTrash]

"You charge per customer (like a medical professional lets say) working independently.

There is point when having one extra customers costs you more in tax than you would get back in the revenue they pay.

If that makes sense. There is an equilibrium. Working harder and having more customers will cost you more. "

No it doesn't make much sense to me to be honest.

Prof libs have a choice of regimes, I have no idea what regime you are describing where you "charge per customer", could you give a link to it? This is a random link from a quick google but it does seem to accurately outline the options, and I don't see the one you are talking about.

https://www.leblogdudirigeant.com/professions-liberales/

Of course there is an equilibrium. You could call it working smarter not harder. Brits face this when they're surprised to discover that artisans aren't falling over each other to take on every job; they can't comprehend that artisans use their heads and choose what they want to do. It's a very anglo saxon outlook to rush around like a blue a55ed fly doing every job you can get your hands on because that is the way to max profit. Here you need a bit of business nouse to make a success of being self employed, not just have a skill to offer, and that's why, as you're fond of pointing out, many Brit businesses fail.

"Yes you claim off your tax bill the 'parts' of your family. A 3rd child is worth two parts...I think"

I believe it's half a part for the first 2 kids, and 1 part for the third. Plus one part for each adult. So, when ALBF3 arrives, that will make four parts. But it's not something you "claim off your tax bill" - every tax bill is calculated according to how many household parts there are.

[alittlebitfrench]

I have no idea...but the person in question has (in this case..lol) an accountant.

But it is something I have heard many times. The one extra appointment costs more in tax (your revenue increases so you jump a banding) than you would actually earn. So it is better to do less appointments.

But in you your ideological world ET, what happens if you can only physically (or mentally) in this case not work any harder ?

Your a practitioner dealing with abused kids and adults. There are only so many appointments you can mentally do per day/week. So their revenue is also restricted in that way.

This person would earn a fortune in the UK.

Life is not so simple in France like I said.

P.S We can also talk about Nurses working freelance in rural France whose travel costs have just gone up. There is a cost benefit ratio there. I am guessing that patients are the real losers.

[mint]

Off in the VSL today to the hospital.  GJs at 2 roundabouts but they were not stopping anybody.  One lot even has a Pause Café which they have erected on the side of the road.  They were having a hot drink and laughing.

On our way back, it was as ET has decribed; there was a bbq going and the GJs were tending to their lunch and not even looking at the traffic.

I asked my ambulancière whether she supported them and she said No, they were helping nobody, merely making life hard for everyone else.

Talking about nurses, my nurse comes to the house, she has no "cabinet" and I suppose therefore do not have the costs of keeping premises.  There are groups of nurses in town who do keep premises but I prefer to have treatment in my own house, especially when I was too ill to be out and about.  It suits me and it suits her.  I have never heard her complain about work hours or anything else; always smiley and seems to have all the time in the world to have a chat and answer questions.

[Gardian]

Well done Mint for attempting to get this thread back to its original question !

You won’t succeed of course, and nor will I help by trying (inevitably unsuccessfully) to rationalise the debate so far.

There’s truth in most of the things that have been said so far by both ‘sides’. The simple reality is though that, whether you live in France, the UK or just about anywhere else, the circumstances of every family are different. Whether you have children, your income level(s), acquired wealth through inheritance, historical and current spending patterns etc, etc. Mrs G and I have both stopped smoking in the last 12 months - as a result €500 / month ‘better off’.

One of our French neighbours hasn’t paid a centime of tax (neither income nor local) in the last 40 years as a result of being assessed as handicaped from an industrial accident. They have had a reasonable level of income in all that time though and I’ll say no more than that about the source. I would absolutely guarantee though that if I asked him where his sympathies lie over the GJ’s, he’d say that he was fully behind them and that all this taxation was a disgrace ! He’s not short of a euro or two though - 2 nice cars, house extension currently in progress. I’m not grumpy or bitter about it - it just makes me smile.

Somebody mentioned producing tasty yet cheap meals. Never a truer word - you can ‘batch cook’ things like chicken thighs, make your sauce and freeze, all for €1 or less per portion. The queues at McDonalds are normal though around here !

So, all that I’m saying is that you can never know everything about anybody’s personal circumstances and nor should you - its their business.

As far as the protesters are concerned, I say .........

“Yes, prices have risen, but when didn’t they? Its also true that fuel prices have dropped by about 7c / litre in the last 2 weeks. As for me, my income has dropped by 25% or so over the last 2 years (£ - € exchange rate), but whilst I’m less than ecstatic about it, I’ve made my bed (i.e. to live in France) and I have to lie on it”.

[NormanH]

It is obvious that the experience of these events is very disparate..

https://www.midilibre.fr/2018/11/27/gilets-jaunes-en-biterrois-lappel-au-calme-de-lacas-et-deljarry,4984841.php

https://www.midilibre.fr/2018/11/22/blocage-a-beziers-les-routiers-victimes-de-la-colere-des-gilets-jaunes,4951046.php

[EuroTrash]

Sorry, I know I should resist but yet again I've fallen for it.

"in you your ideological world ET, what happens if you can only physically (or mentally) in this case not work any harder?"

Firstly, my "ideological world" pay the bills quite nicely, thank you. But to answer the question, it's very basic business sense. You work out how much work you can/want to/are prepared to do. You decide how much you want to earn. You set your fees so that your desired working pattern achieves your desired income level.

If it doesn't compute then you've probably chosen the wrong profession. But in the main it does work, because the other professionals working in your field will by and large have the same constraints and the same work capacity so will by and large arrive at the same fees structure. And if that's the going rate then clients will pay it.

It's not like the UK where in some professions it has become a race to the bottom, with everyone trying to undercut each other's prices to steal their customers and therefore everyone has to work harder and harder for less and less money and work/life balance gets sacrificed.

[nomoss]

[quote user="NormanH"]

It is obvious that the experience of these events is very disparate..

https://www.midilibre.fr/2018/11/27/gilets-jaunes-en-biterrois-lappel-au-calme-de-lacas-et-deljarry,4984841.php

https://www.midilibre.fr/2018/11/22/blocage-a-beziers-les-routiers-victimes-de-la-colere-des-gilets-jaunes,4951046.php

[/quote]

[quote user="EuroTrash"]Yes, the theory is that they stop everyone for 2

minutes exactly.

They are very good humoured if you play their game, nothing to be

nervous of. If you don't show respect, that's when they might turn less

friendly.

Of course at major junctions with a big traffic flow, the 2 minutes goes

out of the window because the traffic gets jammed up. I was stuck for

nearly 20 minutes at one.[/quote]

Thank you for your advice, ET, but I think I will continue to be nervous, and make every attempt not to go near any likely places where we might be stopped, rather than rely on their good humour.

[cajal]

[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]@ ET

I am no fraud thank you.

I said earlier in the thread (did I not) that in some respects that the higher income you earn the less disposable income you have.

It is the way (unfairly) the tax system works.

I drive a 27 year old car, have a 20 euro Nokia phone and walk around in a house in 16 degrees wearing Decathlon fleeces. We can't afford to go on holiday...i.e...pay for the accomodation/flights etc.

I know people who are on half our income that have the latest smartphones, nice car, nice clothes, and go on holidays every 5 minutes. OH works 70 hrs per week they work 35 hours per week.

It is the way France works.[/quote]

Now help me out here.

The above italicized gives the impression of someone who is at odds with their cost of living. Mr. Micawber's famous, and oft-quoted, recipe for happiness springs to mind and yet I seem to recall that yourself and your wife/partner have recently spawned another mouth to feed.

Am I missing a trick here?

[YCCMB]

Meanwhile, back at the OP...Here's someone trying his best to show solidarity.

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/economie/transports/gilets-jaunes/video-j-ai-mal-au-ventre-a-force-de-rire-une-femme-filme-son-mari-qui-veut-bloquer-un-rond-point-seul-en-gilet-jaune_3074619.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&Echobox=1543337968#xtor=CS1-746

[alittlebitfrench]

@ cajal

The answer is yes...you are missing something.

I'm just playing devil's advocate.

I said 3 ish years ago that the cost of living was unsustainable in France and sooner or later there will be protests.

ALBF was right.

The thing that concerns me the most about all this is that if they take the spending power away from my age group then 'who is going spend in the economy' ?.

I am no Maynard keynes but even I know that without people consuming businesses will shut and there will be more unemployment. More unemployment means more social benefits which means more tax.

Politicians tend to go to the best schools and receive the best education so I really don't understand why they are so dumb.

[BritinBretagne]

There’s a huge difference between playing Devil’s Advocate and telling lies or hiding behind ignorance to make a pointless point. You follow the second route. It always concerns me that some new posters might actually believe that you know what you are talking about.

[EuroTrash]

"sooner or later there will be protests"

Well that is always a safe bet in France!

[alittlebitfrench]

You are a miserable gîte Brit.

What lies have I told Mr Brit ?

Name one. That is your challenge for the day.

[nomoss]

[quote user="nomoss"]

Thank you for your advice, ET, but I think I will continue to be nervous, and make every attempt not to go near any likely places where we might be stopped, rather than rely on their good humour.

[/quote]

Well, as with the escalation of the hooliganism in Paris, things are becoming increasingly unpleasant around here for the third weekend.

Most of the Autoroute effectively out of service, people kept out of their places of work, journalists physically threatened, public equipment vandalised, to mention some of the activities of these "peaceful protesters".

A short while ago my wife counted 70 motorcycles and several cars which went past our house, riders wearing gilets jaunes over their normal gear, some sounding fake police and ambulance sirens. Altogether rather menacing.

Most of them looked like really hard-up and struggling people, especially those on large, very new, high-powered bikes and three-wheelers. None of them seemed to have diesel engines.

I don't think it will be long before things really begin to get out of hand, even here in the sticks. We're lucky enough to have a supermarket just across the road, and will be staying at home. I don't want the sh*t knocked out of me by some good humoured lout because he misunderstood something I said, or maybe even wants to blame foreigners for his problems.

[BritinBretagne]

Do you have a memory problem?

[NormanH]

The Carrefour in the centre of Béziers had almost no stock in at yesterday even if I lived opposite...

I have posted a couple of like on the other thread..

[mint]

I knew there might be manifestations in our small market town today because I spotted a huddle of GJs in a disused car park on Thursday.  Clearly something was being planned.

Most of the roundabouts today blocaded but we knew a back road to get home.  Lots of stuff in the local Aldi, no problem at least for us.

If anything, the GJs were mostly young people, there was a festive atmosphere, the gendarmes were smiling and saying bonjour.  There was a lot of noise from car horns and other noise-generating things and the weather was beginning to get filthy so maybe the demos didn't last long.

But I see that in Paris, there was violence and, sad to say, willful damage.  I do think that many having nothing to do with protest and are just out to make trouble.

[EuroTrash]

Macron: "Les coupables de ces violences veulent le chaos, ils trahissent les causes qu'ils prétendent servir" and he is right. What's happening in Paris is nothing to do with what the movement started off as and what it still is at the local level in most places I think. It's obvious now that the gilets jaunes success has got hijacked; it's just turned into France in riot mode again, and I think they will lose public sympathy fast from now on.