In an article dated May 17th, English journal The Economist, not normally a friend of ‘the French way of doing things,’ says ‘Vive la différence!’ It praises the French model as appropriate to these ‘ troubled times.’
France’s Gross Domestic Product is expected to fall this year by 3%, which is bad; but look at the others! A fall of 4.1% in the UK; 4.4% in Italy; 5.6% in Germany.
Even the French government, with its reputation for overspending is set only for a deficit of 6.2% GDP, while America is looking at 13.6% and Britain 9.8%.
“The French,” the Economist says, with a new approval, are “Great Savers.” They have not committed themselves to big mortgages, or spent on credit.
Household Debt in France is less that half of Britain or America.
The journal points out an irony that America’s nationalisation of their banks have given the traditionally free-market Americans ‘nightmares’ about ‘turning French,’ and yet it is France and not England who have restrained itself from this desperate measure.
The pay of chief executives, so controversial a subject in England and America, with the outrageous ‘bonus’ is managed better in France where the income gap between the top 10% and bottom 10% is far smaller than in the Anglo-Saxon countries.
Barack Obama is urging the Americans to be more like the French and “save more and consume less.”
When in Strasbourg he asked, “why can’t we have high-speed rail?”
Time magazine ran an article saying; “How we ( the US ) became the United States of France.”
Newsweek ran one saying, “The Last Model Standing Is France.”
Why is this? Well, the fact that 21% of people with jobs in France are employed by the public sector makes them less exposed to the ups and downs of the economic cycle.
A study showed 49% of those in work or retired are not particularly vulnerable to the recession.
Generous unemployment benefit and family support – such as the impressive 889 euros each French family receives on the birth of a new baby - also acted as a ‘cushion’ in bad times.
The French health system, the best in the world, guarantees universal coverage for half the cost, per person, of America’s; also, it does not suffer from the waiting lists seen in the UK.
The Economist calls these “automatic stabilisers,” or “economic shock absorbers,” that have a similar effect to the vast amounts of money being pumped into the economy in the Anglo-Saxon ‘stimulus packages,’ but also have the excellent result of creating a less uncertain, more compassionate, society.

Télécharger l'article en anglais au format MP3

En partenariat avec