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Mr Hollande has a long way to go


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It seems that France has the British disease in a big way, though this probably refers only to the highly, unionized, semi-skilled, larger industrial units which are currently closing left, right and centre. It is so reminiscent of UK some time ago.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/639e1178-7b2e-11e2-8eb3-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2LQnBH5L8

I would add that the two guys who laid a terrace for me over the last two days (all legal, Norman) worked steadily and hard and got the job done very well, even refusing coffee. Perhaps there is a hint here for the president and Mr Mountebank.

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[quote user="woolybanana"]

It seems that France has the British disease in a big way, though this probably refers only to the highly, unionized, semi-skilled, larger industrial units which are currently closing left, right and centre. It is so reminiscent of UK some time ago.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/639e1178-7b2e-11e2-8eb3-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2LQnBH5L8

I would add that the two guys who laid a terrace for me over the last two days (all legal, Norman) worked steadily and hard and got the job done very well, even refusing coffee. Perhaps there is a hint here for the president and Mr Mountebank.

[/quote]

Am I being naive, or is Mr Hollande just never gonna make it, or France's social aspirations ever work?

You might have more luck with this Chancer.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/639e1178-7b2e-11e2-8eb3-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2LRu9t2QB

 

The head of US tyremaker Titan International has launched a brutal attack on productivity in France, telling the government that some French workers “work only three hours a day” and his company would be “stupid” to consider taking over a factory in the country.

 

A letter from Maurice Taylor, Titan’s chairman to Arnaud Montebourg, the controversial industry minister, writes: “The French workforce gets paid high wages but work only three hours, the French union workers told me that’s the French way!”

 

 “How stupid do you think we are?” said Mr Taylor, the union is “crazy”.

 I just love his down to earth approach!

 

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Hollande has disappointed me more than any other President, Sarko included. And his rottweiler that hangs on his shoulder is creepy and makes him look even weaker.

Has he a long way to go, yes, he has, a very long way.

I remember the Thatcher years, and watching french news. They were always very critical of everything that was happening and industries and businesses closing and employees being abandoned...... and saying that it couldn't happen in France. As far as I can tell, lots of industries are closing or production being moved abroad and the french workers are left in the caca. And Hollande seems to be doing nothing at all.

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Mark you Caxton's sent me this today:

In a shock move, three members of the Monetary Policy Committee, including Governor Mervyn King, voted in favour of another dose of quantitative easing. In addition, an interest rate cut was given serious discussion, such is the concern with the state of UK economic growth.

So perhaps it is not just France that has a long way to go...

Beware too of deriding French per capita GDP

[IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh80/bfb_album/GDP_zps649482a9.png[/IMG]

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My son sent me the following in an email this morning (it gives the full text of original letter in English towards the end of the link):

"I don't know if you saw this, but if not I think you'll enjoy

reading this American CEO's opinion on the French work-ethic, as

explained to someone who appears to be the minister for "Redressement

productif" (I didn't know you could have a ministry just for that!):

Ignore the terrible French translation and

read the original English version below it. As he says, "how stupid do

you think we are?"!"

Mrs H

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[quote user="NormanH"]All good burlesque [:D]

How about another table of figures?

http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=LEVEL#

and an article interpreting them:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17155304

[/quote]

The trouble with your figures, Norman, is that none of them go beyond 2011.

The trouble with figures that relate to 2011 is that it might even be argued that this is an indication that, in France, things weren't perhaps so bad under Sarko. I couldn't possibly comment[:D]

One thing I've often noticed is that the collection of data by INSEE in particular seems a terribly lengthy process. More often than not, if you look at a set of historical data, you will find that the input provided by France is lagging - sometimes by several years - behind that provided by other countries. Which in turn leads one to wonder whether they just take longer (perhaps due to their short working days?) to collect and collate the information, or whether their data collection methods are perhaps less robust than some others.

And let's not overlook the comment made at the end of the BBC article you kindly provided the link for: "They (the figures) are collected by individual national statistics authorities who

each have their own methods of collecting and collating information".

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9888060/Titan-boss-Maurice-Taylor-tells-French-they-have-beautiful-women-but-no-idea-how-to-run-a-business.html

Industry minister Arnaud Montebourg hit back in a written response in which he told Mr Taylor his comments were “extremist and insulting” and
displayed “a perfect ignorance of what our country is about”. "Be assured that you can count on me to inspect your tyre imports with a redoubled zeal."

Mr Taylor has today responded: "You letter shows the extent to which your political class is out of touch with [real] world problems”. 
 "Your letter did not mention why the French government has not stepped in to rescue this Goodyear tyre factory.
"The extremists are in your government, who have no idea how to build a business.
"Your government let the wackos of the communist union destroy the highest paying jobs," Mr Taylor told Mr Montebourg.
But he added: "France does have beautiful women and great wine."
In a final flourish, he said: “I have visited Normandy, I know what we did for France.”

Right-wingers warned there was some truth in his tirades. Valérie Pécresse, the former conservative budget minister, said:
“It faithfully reflects the image that a good deal of investors have of France…because we have an overdose of tax, because they don’t see the necessary
competiveness reforms.”

The row came as the European Commission predicted that French growth this year will expand just 0.1pc compared with the government’s 0.8pc forecast. France will also fail to meet its 3 per cent budget-deficit target, the Commission added, forecasting the deficit to be 3.7pc of GDP.

To me this spat is not about comparisons with other nation statistics, but about how France is dealing with it's competitiveness, labour relations and business performance.


Incidently I might add that the american company Cooper Tire & Rubber Company bought Avon Tyres Ltd, based in Melksham, England.  Standard Products CompanyMickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels. In 2003 Cooper agreed to a joint venture with Kenda Rubber Industrial Company, to construct a tire-manufacturing plant near Shanghai. Cooper agreed to purchase 11% of the Kumho Tires Company, and also announced the formation of a new commercial division encompassing both Oliver Rubber Company and commercial tires. In 2005 Cooper announced an agreement to obtain 51% ownership in China’s, Cooper Chengshan (Shandong) Passenger Tire Company Ltd., and Cooper Chengshan (Shandong) Truck Tire Company Ltd., to produce truck and passenger car tires for mainland Chinese and export markets. Cooper generates 25% of its global sales in the People's Republic of China. In 2007 Cooper sold its Oliver Rubber Company subsidiary, which produced tread rubber and retreading equipment, to Michelin for $69 million. At the end of 2011. Cooper bought Serbian Trayal tires from Kruševac. Cooper took over a unit of Trayal Korporacija AD from Bulgarian company Brikel EAD for $13 million and invested as much as $50 million.

Investing in UK, the EU, and China, But nothing in France.

Cooper is the second largest United States-based tire company, after Goodyear.,


 

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You know what surprised me most about that, 'France has beautiful women'. Where? the odd film star, but where I lived, beauty was not prevelant, in men or women. Neither was ugliness either incidentally.

[:D] The rest is just plain silly.

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