"... We fear a systematic strangling,” Ms Parisot said.The French have a front row seat to the Western Welfare State's writhing death throws and last election they reverted to norm: they retreated. This won't end well for France or the rest of Europe.
The worries are that action by the new government will compound an economic outlook already rendered seriously bleak by the eurozone crisis. Ms Parisot’s warning coincided with latest data from Insee, the state statistics institute, showing business confidence falling to its lowest level since late 2009.
“Everywhere we see the same information growing,” she said. “Collapsing margins, plunging order books, new extreme pressures on treasuries, uncertainties that put big projects on standby, employment plans frozen and investment projects at best suspended but often completely scrapped.”
In the face of the collapse, like the junkie taking a bigger fix to distract himself from the decay of his body in front of him - the French are raising taxes on the productive and lowering the retirement age for the unproductive.
The period of the Welfare State is over. From Bismark to Barak - it is passing. What lies next? Hard to say - but it can be a difficult change, or a catastrophic change - it all depends if we act early, or act late. One thing for sure, the world of our children will be nothing like ours from an economic security POV.
Remember, history does not always head in one direction. Just ask the Argentines who, just a century ago, had a higher per-capita GDP than the USA.
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