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Question #3: How is the financial crisis affecting your country? Does your host family discuss these financial times with you? Have you noticed any changes in the pricing of what you buy? Is finance constantly in the news there? Let us know how the financial crisis is being reflected in other countries.
Written by: Katy Hoover
The French have responded to the financial crisis in a way in which I truly do not understand: labor strikes.
On January 29, individuals from a variety of sectors joined together for a common cause. These individuals included teachers, bus and train drivers, hospital workers, postal workers and many more; eventually totaling one million workers striking at once.
The effects of the strike reached the entire population of France as schools, public transportation, and even the grounds of Versailles were shut down for the day.
Most public universities were closed for the day, but as I attend a private school, I still had classes. Unfortunately, though, as the public bus system was shut down, I had to walk to and from class, a forty-five minute walk. Like me, many commuters were forced to find other means of transportation to and from work, while others were forced to stay home for the day.
The strikers aimed to show their displeasure with French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s economic reforms and the current French economic situation in general. Unemployment in France continues to rise and the strikers felt that Sarkozy wasn’t doing enough to protect their jobs.
The strikers feel that Sarkozy is doing too much to protect the “big guys” of France and isn’t doing enough to help the “little guys.” Despite the strikes, however, Sarkozy refuses to abandon his current plans for economic reform, contesting that it will provide relief for the French economy.
Sarkozy has proposed a $33 billion stimulus plan, which is the equivalent of pennies when compared to Obama’s $838 billion plan. The plan aims to stimulate the economy by 1.3% and create thousands of jobs.
Last week, Sarkozy was interviewed by several journalists in a televised news conference, where he responded to numerous questions on the strikes, his stimulus plan and his outlook on the economy.
My host mother was so interested in Sarkozy’s television appearance that we ate dinner in the living room, so we could watch while we ate. She often comments on the poor state of the economy: rising unemployment, rising prices, etc. She is clearly worried about the state of the economy, though it doesn’t seem as though the effects of the poor economy have reached this household just yet.
During his conference, Sarkozy announced his plans to meet with union leaders who organized the strike in order to resolve some of their concerns. Unfortunately, the union leaders are not impressed with his efforts and are already planning their next strike.
Strikes are one part of French culture that I think I will never understand. What exactly do they achieve? They strike so frequently that they become like the little boy who cried wolf: after awhile, people stop paying attention to them. If anything, I think they actually impede economic progress rather than improve it. One million people missed out on a day’s wages. Millions missed out on a day’s worth of productivity as they were unable to make it to work. Although the common cause of the strikers was to improve economic conditions, I think the effect may have been the exact opposite. We’ll just have to wait and see.
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