@@truth_matters6383 In the 1970s, French capitalism was plagued by rising unemployment and inflation. Falling growth rates, reflecting the declining competitiveness of French manufacturing industries, and the onset of rising joblessness,signaled the end of the postwar trente glorieuses, the three decades of rapid economic expansion and full employment after WWII. In response, conservative governments of the 1970s alternated between austerity and expansionary economic policies
To qualify for unemployment benefits (Return to employment benefit /”ARE”), the claimant must meet the following 7 requirements: Be registered as a jobseeker. Not to have reached the age and number of quarters required for a full-rate pension or not qualify for early retirement. Effective December 1st, 2021: Have worked at least 6 months (i.e. 130 days or 910 hours) over the previous 24 months (over the previous 36 months for those at least 53 years of age on the date of their most recent employment contract). This requirement can be met with one or more contracts under one or more employers. Be involuntarily unemployed. However, applicants who have resigned from their job for certain legitimate reasons (e.g. to accompany a spouse, termination of contract by agreement, for example) can qualify for unemployment benefits. In addition, effective November 1st, 2019, employees who resign can draw unemployment benefits if they submit a genuine, substantive career change plan. The plan must consist either of creating or taking over a business, or of completing a training program. Benefits, which are calculated on the basis of previous wages, can only be granted to applicants with at least 5 years of consecutive salaried employment and who requested career counseling through the official “CEP” (“conseil en évolution professionnelle”) program prior to their resignation. The applicant must also have had their career change plan approved by a regional committee and is required to register with the French unemployment authority “France Travail” within a 6-month period following approval of their plan. Further information. Be physically fit for work. Be engaged in a substantive ongoing search for employment: have drawn up a personal employment plan (“projet personnalisé d'accès à l'emploi” PPAE) within 15 days of registration with France Travail. Reside in the geographical area covered by France's unemployment insurance program. Unemployment benefits can be stopped if claimants fail to meet their obligations by: being unable to document their job searches, rejecting a reasonable job offer on 2 occasions, missing required appointments scheduled by France Travail, refusing to enter a training program, etc. Benefits can be stopped for a period of 12 months, depending on the type of violation. Payments can be permanently stopped if the claimant declares false information
@TheVincet33 Why the hell should I need a Judge's permission to get a paternity test? Do I need a Judge's permission to get an STD test? A pregnancy test?
Absent very painful reforms France will become an aging tourist destination that exists increasingly as an historical anachronism - gawked at by hordes of visitors, a nuclear power reduced to economic irrelevance - the first serious country (i.e. not Lichtenstein) turned into a theme park.
Absolutely. It's already thr case. I live in french riviera, all houses are hoarded by retired people. They re renting them for short term rentals. I m planning to move out. Not worth it.
@Casper-we3dq It is simple, they don't want to be removed by mass protests. Most politicians don't got that job because they wanted improve country, they applied for job because of salary and bribes from companies.
It's just smarts. Their objective is to secure then hold and expand the power. Improving country is not always in the cards. Also with aging population pension reforms are no-no. You don't care to remedy the situation at your own cost - let future generations fix that mess. Also who are they to deny society wants? If people want problems, people will get problems.
It's a company job these days in most Western Countries (Especially USA!) not a federal service/duty anymore it's all about staying in power as long as possible and kicking the can down to the next administration not about actually fixing the critical issues
I'm 54 and my wife and I are VERY worried about our future, gas and food prices rising daily. We have had our savings dwindle with the cost of living into the stratosphere, and we are finding it impossible to replace them. We can get by, but can't seem to get ahead. My condolences to anyone retiring in this crisis, 30 years nonstop just for a crooked system to take all you worked for.
I feel your pain mate, as a fellow retiree, I'd suggest you look into passive index fund investing and learn some more. For me, I had my share of ups and downs when I first started looking for a consistent passive income so I hired an expert advisor for aid, and following her advice, I poured $30k in value stocks and digital assets, Up to 200k so far and pretty sure I'm ready for whatever comes.
Brian Humphery Services was my hope during the 'bear summer' last year. I made so many mistakes but also learned so much from it, and of course from Brian.
The problem is that budget cuts have been going on for like 30 years ! Lack of investment shows in infrastructure for example, which holds back the economy. The State spends a ton but we don't SEE where the money goes ! The bureaucracy has only grown too...
The problem isn't spending, the problem is taxes that have deadweight loss. If you use pigovian taxes and land value taxes, you have negative and neutral dead weight loss respectively.
I’m french, and you forget ’two bigs facts : à socialist président in 1981, François Mitterrand , Who doubled the public debt in three years and à socialist prime ministère, Lionel Jospin, in 1997, who limited the week of work at 35 hours ! Two disasters ! 😢
France lived beyond their means for long as the looted wealth from Africa was pouring in. For example, a French company Aviva was selling Urenium at a price of 200 Euro per kg whereas they were paying royalty to Niger at a shocking rate of 0.8 euro per kg. France is racing to become a third world country as predicted by former French presidents.
Socialism always eventually leads to stagnation, because innovation and excellence are not rewarded in a socialist society. So unless France abandons socialist policies then it will continue to decline.
I agree, and I think this goes for all of Europe and the UK to some extent as well; too many benefits and too much government bailing out. The countries end up with unproductive workers and huge debt.
It is not so simple. You are painting an extreme example. Public health, public ed & higher ed, public water & electricity offer savings to the econ & - with the right balance of healthy private actors in the rest of the economy, can complement & enhance that economy rather than stifle it. It is true, however, that states can go beyond the healthy balance.
I love you guys, but as someone who has originated a few billion dollars worth of investment grade public debt. Calling a S&P AA- "riskier than a slot machine" is just silly. The risk variation is negligible at best. I've sold AA debt at TICs lower than AAA
If you let Brussels decide, just about everything goes to hell, just look at the whole of Europe the European Union is a pure disaster for everything and everyone.
Josh, why do you ask at the end of the video if we think that France's economy is going to CONTINUE to decline? If we exclude 2020, like every country in the world because of the Covid crisis, France's GDP hasn't declined in recent years.
@@totalCoolerUsername there was a time ,,in 1955 Indian farmers doing farming and they want to sell there product in local market ,, no vehicle that time ,,, but now in 2024 Indian farmer had 8-9mn tractor. ,they can sell there product 500 km away market ,, 200km away ,, so need is different ,,so new law passed in parliament but some slave thug of local apmc market don't won't that rule ,, Criminal of apmc Market want to make slave farmer ,, mercy of merchant in apmc market , currently farmer can sell there product in local market ,,they can not sell there product in different districts ,, all loot is there,,
Lithuania has 2 years paid maternity leave and an additional (optional) unpaid year. And it's a really good thing. High pensions are bad. But parental leave is good. Countries need more kids. More young people. So in Lithuania you can get ~70% of your salary as paid leave for 2 years when you have a kid, but a state pension is only ~289/month at most. My wife's grandmother was living on ~50eur/month from her pension.
@@urdoom612staying at home with kids for 2 years would hurt someones career? If you work in field that involves quickly, maybe..I don't think a teacher or person working in regular services would miss much in just two years of time.
All issues boil down to the simple question of how developed countries are worth the higher cost compared to India and China when those countries are also developing in infrastructure
@@GeorgeSchneider8889 what ? Sewage treatment system is in every major city in India.. and even in some small cities. Transparency international corruption index 2023 puts India at 93 out of 180 countries ranked on par with China at 76 so middle of the pack. Educate yourself
Our economy struggling with uncertainties, housing issues, foreclosures, global fluctuations, and pandemic aftermath, causing instability. Rising inflation, sluggish growth, and trade disruptions need urgent attention from all sectors to restore stability and stimulate growth.
With the US dollar losing value to inflation and other currencies gaining traction, uncertainty looms. Yet, many still trust in the Dollar's perceived safety. Worried about my $420,000 retirement savings losing value, I seek alternative security for my money.
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this is definitely considerable! think you could suggest any professional/advisors i can get on the phone with? i'm in dire need of proper portfolio allocation
Thanks, I looked her up on Google and was very impressed by her credentials. I reached out because I need all the help I can get. I've scheduled a phone call with her.
Then why exactly is the economy in discussions? Socialist countries usually dont care about “economic” issues, they dont mind being uncompetitive. To be competitive, one must? COMPETE. Logic dictates then, there must be a winner and a loser. Do olympic athletes that lose get a prize? Or social welfare? Nope, they get their money from winning and sponsorship/advertising and a small allowance. PROFESSIONALS dont even get that, its purely winnings and sponsorship. You are probably one of the “free” money grabbers aren’t you?
In France, Social Security and State are mostly 50-50 in terms of tax revenue. Guess which one is in deep deficit? The State. Social Security is mostly balanced, but it's the one getting the cuts. Meanwhile, the State Deficit has exploded under Macron, specially since Covid, and is reaching something like ~200 Billions deficit on a ~400 Billion tax revenue. The State is also giving back ~200 Billions, a lot of it to private companies through tax rebates.
If you check the details of the economic freedom index you'll see that France's overall rating is mostly damaged by one component: government spending. On the other hand it scores very well (better than the US) for property rights, government integrity and trade freedom. But the high government spendings are used to finance free education, high quality universal health care, maternity and paternity leave, and generous social security and pensions. That doesn't sound so bad overall.
France has gotten complacent because it had control of West African currencies and mineral wealth well into the 2000s - however, Africa has been waking up and the politics have changed now - no more freebies for the French public. France, many other ‘rich’ European countries like the Netherlands and nations like Canada and Australia are facing the same problem - overly protective employment laws, 3 months of annual leave, maternity and paternity leave - for instance, in Canada one can get up to 18 months of paid maternity leave depending on the job/employer and in Australia employers _must_ pay 9 or 10% of salary into retirement/superannuation funds. These economies aren’t sustainable especially now that the Chinese boom is over - and at some point the cookie will crumble.
I can't think of any protest that isn't against perceived tyranny. Even when I completely disagree with everything they stand for, I admire that they're standing for something and thank goodness for the right to do so. I'd hate to live in a place where they weren't allowed to.
@@dioniscaraus6124 Yeah, I understand the middle aged ones, but young people rioting because they want to pay for the previous generation retiring at 60. That's logic turned on its head.
@@pattyofurniture Well, I imagine you can't think much at all. As long as you live in a democracy from the west, 99% of protests have nothing to do with tyranny. People just want to get together and feel important despite their inconsequential lives. And when their voice does matter, i.e. voting, they pick clowns or ineffectual bureaucrats so that they have someone to protest against.
@@pattyofurniture And who said they shouldn't be allowed to? But if you admire that they're standing for something you would deem to be completely wrong, you're exactly what's wrong with society.
France is getting kicked out of west Africa. It's economy is dependent on awful west African trade deals. Those go away and Frances economy is in serious trouble
@@RUTHLESSambition5 You have no clue of what your are talking about. France trade with Africa is 1.8% of all exchanges it is NOTHING. Just look at the numbers they are irrelevant. But you prefer to spread your nonsense . France is getting kicked out of Niger of Wow in a country of 26 million people they were only 1,200 so called French expat working there or 0.006% of the population , your arguments are ridiculous. Same goes for Mali it is nothing comparing to the 96,000 Legal Malian living and working in France . France economy is not related to Africa what so ever , we are not in 1920 anymore at the peak of colonial empire. That was 100 years ago... Africa is what is it , it has a thousand years history , France was there only from 1830-1962 it hasn't lasted thousands of years , they were no genocide like the British did in Australia or what happened in America with the so called native Indians. Wake up !!
Right, but It's less worrisome because it's mostly interests in the debt, which is mainly owned by Italians (with much lower household debts than French)
Your analysis of Norway is seriously flawed. Compared to France, social costs in Norway cost much more. The industry in Norway employs almost no one, if you disregard oil. That industry exports mostly unprocessed resources. The industry that refines the raw resources that Norway has - oil, fish, green electricity, timber and clean meat - into something consumers will pay for with their own money is almost absent.
@@arthurleeki In total, we pay between 60 and 70% of the salary directly back to the authorities. In the 80s, taxes were even higher except for those who chose to work with oil in the North Sea, and before the mid-90s, all industry that produces something private buyers with their own money was gone, with the exception of food distributed through agricultural cooperatives and three partly competing retail chains that all have the same deplorable selection, despite the fact that we have the highest food prices in Europe. We hardly refine oil either. We do not export processed raw materials - oil, fish, wood, electricity and some ore. The rest of us are employed in meaningless jobs with the authorities, are on sick leave or receive social security. The authorities are sitting on values equivalent to 800,000 dollars for every Norwegian over the age of 18. The system is designed so that there should be no funds among ordinary people to start manufacturing businesses.
It's literally just been sugar hit after sugar hit and now any political bloc with the will to make changes is shouted down. An incredibly hard task to cut even a decent amount.
Are you going to do one on Argentina latest situation again? Millei has apparently seconded the national gold reserve to one of English private banks. I think it is a private account at that.
'Without Africa, France will fall down into the ranks of a third world nation'. ~ Former French President Jacques Chirac, 2008 Without stealing resources they cannot survive...Chirac recognized this.
" If you add to that the noise and the smell, well the French worker, he goes crazy " Former French President Jacques Chirac, 1991 " Promises only bind those who receive them." Former French President Jacques Chirac, 1988
But here is what I don't understand: then why not elevate these burdens solely on the start-up (ie. If you work in a start-up, no benefits for you) + a tax exemption for company's to produce best exporting products?
I wonder if its possible to run an experiment where the original Eurozone countries kept their currencies but continued with the customs union. My guess is competitive depreciations would have helped mediterainian countries keep growing with higher inflation for some. Debt would also have been checked if they had higher borrowong costs. The Euro was more of an ambitious political construct and an even more amibitious and optimistic economic one. To be fair the Euro has become a rival to the dollar so maybe further integration and deeper fiscal transfers like in the US might be a solution but who will pay up?
9:39 Notice all the other countries with higher labour costs are primarily service/knowledge economies. You can't be an industrial economy with high labour costs. Also please don't change the colour of 1 data point to highlight it, it took me way to long to get my headings around the graph.
As an Asian, we have long seen the steady decline of EU in the last 30 years. It won't just cease to exist but its power is increasingly limited. Covid-19, Ukraine war, inflation, Far Right rise, aging population, forever immigration issue, high public debt... All those speed up the decline one way or another.
Not sure which part of Asia you are from, but east Asia is also declining rapidly, the birth rate is far below the sustainable rate and our population will half much faster than Europe or americas. Labour laws are hard to change but birth rate is near impossible to boost
@@zurielsssI think the only major issue east asian countries have is declining birthrate if you ignore that east asia is still pretty much better place to live compared to europe considering how europe is going through many major issues.
@@cedricbracrensult put Nissan in bankrupcy and forced them to build crap cars... but yeah France saved Nissan in 2000s... last years Nissan made reliable cars.
The tragedy of French life is lack of opportunity. The tragedy of American life is two weeks vacation. I don't see that French socialism is sustainable. However, it's a good place to retire.
I would rather have two week vacation than no future. I have lived in Spain, france, England and Finland and now in the US. The problem in Europe is that they don't want to give up on anything and they would rather collapse economically than actually have a future. Europeans keep pumping money to the elderly, while the young keep struggling more and more ,if the young struggle, there are no kids, no kids equals no future, immigration in Europe is also horrible, the US attracts the poor , but also the entrepreneur and wealthy, Europe attracts pretty much the poor and the problematic, that is why everything is going down, they are also lazy and the productivity and growth is stagnant, but they keep spending, a recipe for disaster. 20 years ago, Europe and the US were more or less the same in nominal gdp. Today the US is almost 10 trillion more and the gap keeps increasing, no wealth creation will inevitably bring you to be broke. The US has its o2n problems, but they are still pretty mild in a comparative way.
@robertofernandez7773 You shouldn't look at nominal GDP figures because in the case of the US, nominal GDP figures are misleading due to the dollar being the world's reserve currency. If you instead look at PPP numbers, you can see that Europe has done a better job actually! Americas ppp per capita used to be 1.3 times that of France 20 years ago, today it's the same and countries like the Netherlands Or Sweden have actually out performed the US. So speaking economically, they are pretty much in a similar position while europeans enjoy much more safety vacation time better infrastructure free healthcare etc.
@@amirhosseinhosseinzadeh7627 that makes no sense to me because according to PPP China would be amazing and that is not the case. I have experienced both countries and have plenty of friends and family in both sides to compare average as well as my own perspective.
I think it’s a balance. You don’t want a too worker friendly government at the expense of business, and you also don’t want a too business friendly government at the expense of labor. But balance is always hard to achieve.
Sacre bleu!!..first time in france was '98/99..i was stunned at their benefits. And i was young and 'socialist' inclined back then, but damn. Beautiful place and women 😍 but it's greatest asset is it's location; literally the greatest piece of real estate in Europe
I was young but never was dumb enough to believe in socialism, i feel sad that I was born in such a time. I honestly feel a deep hatred for welfare recipients. I refuse to accept charity.
The French economy is facing devastations because the people didn’t accept the “Tradeoff” of social democracy. In Denmark, the government also spends lavishly on social benefits through high taxes, but the people accept the trade off of owning less property and a lower standard of living. France never did.
And so the God of Monocausal and Uninformed Explanation spoke! All the homeless of the country, and the millions who canno’t heat the squalid place they will never own and never did, salute your wise words!
@@Chris-pq3wp How do you mean? Denmark has a pro business economy and France doesn't. What does size have to do with it? Don't you think there is a multitude of more important factors?
So they are unreliable because they don't agree with your political views? The Heritage Foundation is quite right in this case. France has very high taxes and very little economic freedom
Regarding the unemployment in France, keep in mind that Muslim immigrants make up nearly 10% of the population and have a MUCH higher unemployment rate and the rest of the population. If they were excluded from the statistics the overall unemployment would be under 4%.
Thank you for this interesting piece. I observe that the emphasis here is on government bloat and all that goes with that. I’m curious to know how things might play out when revenue drops, I’m thinking about some African countries pushing back on taxation imposed by CFA. It may be considered something of a long shot for some but one cannot deny the motivation of those looking to break the shackles of colonialism. Interesting times indeed 😮
If governments invested in their own countries instead of playing it big with tax payers money and shipping most of it out of the country under the guise of foreign aid which is just poor people in rich countries giving it to rich people in poor countries. Things would be a lot better balanced.
you forget to notify the sale of highways to a private company that is making a fortune today. The sale at a loss to the USA of the most important French companies which makes us dependent on the USA and many others today
The rates of highest GDP growth in France 60s-80s were amid the heights of dirigisme, Socialism of the rigid sort, much higher taxes & regulation. Everything since: dereg & privatisation.
It’s a question of which sector of society would benefit. French people are well paid and they live well. The country has a very low rate of economic inequality. Dynamic countries (like the US) are extremely unequal. The result of drastic changes in France would be to make a few people very rich and a lot of people very poor. Why would the French people want that?
@bobeg749 You are forgetting about unemployed people, they live much worse than employed ones. And Country can't live in debt for long before its collapse, and if France collapses, it will drag down all EU.
"Freefall"… Like watching an American binary video. Any nuance in that judgement? AA- is it not exactly as dire as you make it. If it were, debt placement on the markets would be difficult for France. And it's not, not at all. Also you have to take into account the fact that roads are in good state, hospitals are efficient, it's far from being the worst place to live in. No matter what the French would tell you ...champions in whingeing
Many countries need to look at France and look at the direction of their own spending and red tape. Everyone is heading to a financial cliff like a herd of lemmings. Deficit spending in many developed nations is out of hand.
I’m all in for just keep spending. Every euro or dollar you save as a people, is one you’ll never get back into public services. Then the private sector takes over, you’ll get a corrupt elite and suddenly you’ve got that problem as an extra.
The biggest levels of corruption comes from countries ruled by socialist parties since there are no public institutions to corrupt in libertarian governments.
Ways that a country can become rich in a short span of time: 1.Have giant reserves of oil and gas or some other high value and high demand resource with a small population 2. Be a tax haven/financial services hub with a small population 3. Get lots of grants from USA and other rich countries (like Israel) 4. Colonization
Now let's see other countries receiving grants from the USA : Ethiopia ($2.2B) Afghanistan ($1.39B) Yemen ($1.38B) Egypt ($1.37B) Jordan ($1.19B) Nigeria ($1.15B) Somalia ($1.14B) South Sudan ($1.12B) Oh wait, they are all still sh***holes.
Low productivity of immigration and lack of investment in entrepreneurs. Simple solution only immigrate highly skilled workers and lower taxes on businesses. Plus cut size of government using ai.
