Smellvin - 2010-10-20
Yeah! That'll show those legislators and win people to your side... by annoying lots of people who don't make the laws.
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Smellvin - 2010-10-20 A factory union striking for better pay makes sense. The strike sets up an environment so that management (who is determining wages, benefits, work practices, etc.) can't make money. It puts pressure on the people who need to be pressured.
This strike, however, is about pension reform which has to do with legislators. Management and the people buying gas have nothing to do with their beef. Legislators have the "little people" buy gas for them and are not affected.
Plus, assuming Sarkozy's idea to push the age of retirement up by two years doesn't pass now, when voters are choosing new lawmakers in the future do you think they'll be more or less likely to vote for the benefit of this union? Punitive tactics usually have a way of making people less inclined to go with you.
It seems like a better approach would be to pressure the lawmakers and pledge the unions to not voting for anyone who supports this pension measure as there's much less "collateral damage." That's why this episode doesn't make sense to me. Well... that or I'm not French so I have no idea as to how French people think.
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Anaxagoras - 2010-10-20 Oh... and you know how you "pressure the lawmakers"? By mobilizing the people who elect them.
You've been in America too long if this chain of causation completely escapes you.
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FatFatuousNation - 2010-10-20 Thank you, svraz. There is no need for you to kill yourself for the time being.
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Smellvin - 2010-10-20 Thanks, svraz. That's the element that I was missing. Like I alluded to above, actions evaluated outside of their own culture can be confusing.
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Anaxagoras - 2010-10-21 You do realize that svraz typing out the number "70%" is not evidence, right? It's just a (correct) opinion with a number attached to it. Just like mine was a (correct) opinion based on my time living in France.
People who equate numbers with evidence are fucking retarded.
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svraz - 2010-10-21 French workers are awesome. 100% of POE TV users agree.
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Lurchi - 2010-10-20
Americans are incredible pussies, always the last to know.
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Syd Midnight - 2010-10-22 We'll still stand in line for gas without getting the 4 day work week.
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chumbucket - 2010-10-20
The Red Bull truck cannot spread wings without petrol
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kingarthur - 2010-10-20
I love how this is being framed in the American media as "French don't want the retirement age raised from 60 to 62!", which is incredibly simplistic and doesn't even begin to cover the legitimate grievances against austerity measures.
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Oscar Wildcat - 2010-10-20
The actual retirement age in France for full benefits is 65, wanting to be raised to 67. It's a remarkable fact of life in modern america that the poor and the wealthy ( and I've known both ) share identical views on life. What you are seeing in France is the middle class asserting itself. We don't really have a middle class here anymore.
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fluffy - 2010-10-20
In the US the whole freeway would be backed up because of all the people trying to weasel their way in at the front of the line.
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Caminante Nocturno - 2010-10-20
The American working class is so pussywhipped.
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Riskbreaker - 2010-10-20
When the french go to strike, they REALLY go to strike.
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Koda Maja - 2010-10-21
The French are striking? Must be a Thursday.
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Aress - 2010-10-21
Wahh, I want more free money that doesn't exist.
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