We could cut aid to the Ukraine - that would help. But its hard when you support paying for a proxy war with Russia, while at the same time complain when social programs get targeted. I'm all for cutting back all military/economic aid to a whole host of countries to support social programs you want to keep or enhance. All for it. What about you? Most of the folks in the Russia/Ukraine war supporting for this war (including you) have no problems spending money there, do ya? And most of them are liberals - which is shocking. You guys used to be all about no military expansion and intervention. Then something changed.
Excuse me if there was any misunderstanding. My point in citing the long summer break in France is that these people take their leisure very seriously. Which is not a bad thing imo. They don’t want to work year round or into their twilight years and you know what, good for them! In America we have the latest retirement age and the shortest life expectancy in the western world. Neither of those things are good. There are too many stupid people in America who think they are smart and they are getting shortchanged fighting a culture war that has nothing to do with them. I say be like the French! The irony that @Tsing Tao liked my post is tres magnifique.
One is retired, one is the owner of a business (soon to retire), one is a student, and one is on vacation. wrbtrader
My bad. I read that post as a dig at the "laziness" perception of the Euros we've been sold on, and needing to be more like "inverse redistributing Americans." I guess tsing has bought into that perception hence the 'like'.
France is not the only country that has mandatory shutdowns for certain industries. Here in Québec, Canada the Construction industry has a mandatory shutdown. https://www.cute-calendar.com/event/construction-holiday/41522.html Also, women that are pregnant in certain industry groups (e.g. jobs in hospitals) are put on mandatory paid leave during pregnancy and I believe about 5 weeks after the birth of the child...including the father. My point, countries like France and Canada take their social services very seriously especially vacations because it's a time to be with family, rest, and re-energize. If the governments tried to take that away...protestors will in fact burn down the country. Other types of protests, I've seen violent (maybe unusual is a better word) protests in France by Farmers about potatoes... Protesting French Farmers Dump Manure, Rats and Potatoes in Paris. Farmers in France protest government agricultural policies by dumping manure in front of government buildings, pelting police with apples and dropping a massive mound of potatoes in the middle of Paris. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/protesting-french-farmers-dump-manure-rats-potatoes-paris-n242756 wrbtrader