French cabinet backs retirement age rise

[Judi Lynn]

Source: BBC News

French cabinet backs retirement age rise
Page last updated at 10:01 GMT, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 11:01 UK

The French government has approved a draft law that would raise the retirement age from 60 to 62.

The bill, drawn up by Labour Minister Eric Woerth, would rescind the right to retire at 60, enshrined since 1982. It will pass to parliament in September.

Meanwhile Mr Woerth announced that he was resigning as treasurer of the governing centre-right UMP party.

He has been under pressure over claims of illegal donations to Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/10612788.stm

[xchrom]

1. Neo-liberalism on it's global march. Nt

[izquierdista]

2. French public backs guillotine blade rise.

[happygoluckytoyou]

3. is and always has been CLASS WARFARE.... and the rich just won 2 more years of slavery from the poor

[CLANG]

4. But still 5 years behind my current retirement age of 67 which is about to go to 70!

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. Comparing wage earners to those who suffered the inhumanity of slavery is utter bullshit

I suggest that you do some research of the suffering that African Americans went through before you throw out that term so casually.

[conspirator]

8. Western wage earners are just one degree above slavery. Sweatshop wage earners are

definitely slaves.

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. Western wage earners are free to choose thier employers. Slaves were not.

Western wage earners can quit their jobs. Slaves could not.

Western wage earners are not tortured and killed at will by their employers. Slaves were.

The two are not even close to being comparable.

[conspirator]

16. I have seen emotional harassement at work. That's a form of torture

Once an employer told me. If you don't work overtime without pay you will be fired.

[Freddie Stubbs]

18. If you don't like you job, quit

Slaves didn't have that option.

[conspirator]

6. I really want the neoliberals to mess up with the french very much

We are all waiting for the next revolution, and it's likely to come from France or Greece.

[KillCapitalism]

7. It's sad how far right France has become.

Sarah Palin would be considered moderate over there.

I wonder if they get RW radio and Fox News there France. I bet they love Rush, Hannity, and Glenn Beck.

[harmonicon]

9. What?!?

I hate to burst your bubble, but you really couldn't be more off base. The party governing France right now is the same that was in power when the right from the US was going on about "freedom fries", because the French were such leftist sissies. Sarkozy has moved the country slightly to the right, but his center-right party is still about where the left in the US is ideologically; in some ways far more left, and in some ways a bit more to the right. On this issue they're obviously basically in line with the US at this point.

Anyway... that's all beside the point; the last national election was very close, and Sarkozy narrowly beat out A SOCIALIST. That's right - the second most popular party in France is a socialist party. What about that makes you think they are somehow crazy right-wingers? I would happily take a fucking Glenn Beck FCC chairman if it meant that 50% of the US population would be happy to vote for a socialist.

[pattmarty]

11. It is funny the ignorance about a lot of European countries politics.........

.......A guy like Bernie Sanders (likely the most "liberal" nationally elected official in the US) would be considered "centrist" in many of the "old Europe" countries. A "purist" (how I fucking HATE that term) in the US would most of the time be a "centrist" in "old Europe".

[KillCapitalism]

12. What I've seen in the news & in photos friends have taken is different.

Let's see, they want to ban muslim headdress for women. Anti-Semitism is on the rise. Anti-communist/socialist rallies take place regularly. From what I've read, they now have their own version of McCarthyism.

Screw those freepers, the Scandinavian countries are better places to live.

[harmonicon]

13. Have you been there?

I've lived there. On the night that Sarkozy was elected there was a spontaneous protest march through the city I was in. Yes, there are some frightening right-wing things going on, such as the attempts to ban face coverings in public (not headdresses), but I don't think that holds a candle compared to the US spying on its own citizens, throwing out habeas corpus, and condoning torture (still, with Democrats in power). Scandinavian countries may be better places to live - I don't know. I do know that France is a nice place to live and that even its largely right-wing cities would be considered liberal havens if they were in the US.

[spanza]

15. Anti-communist/socialist rallies in France?!

No way...
Not even Le Pen's extreme right rallies (around 10-15% of the electorate).

Racist anti-muslim rallies? Le Pen's party gatherings, especially the one in Paris of the 1st May (Jeanne d'Arc's day, they call it).

But I'd say France is a big paradox for Americans. They would talk about French anti-semitism which does exist (maybe less than in the US?) but be surprised to see French presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers who are jewish or have jewish origins. Remember it's the 3rd biggest jewish community in the world.

[spanza]

14. The right wing in France would be the center-right of the Dem party in the US

I think your sentence is the exact opposite of the truth. I would dare saying there's no European country as right-wing as the US (where there's no left at all).

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[harmonicon]

19. No, we sure didn't.

A health insurance bill was passed - it had little or nothing to do with healthcare.

[pattmarty]

20. Uhm, they did that in most of Europe back in the fucking 40's................

.................And, ours is a piece of shit compared to anyplace in Europe.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

22. The Jesse Jackson Avatar is a nice touch though. A bit obvious, but nice.

:hi:

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[county worker]

23. Bull Shit! Their economies are in shambles for the same reason ours is.

Wealth is ending up in fewer and fewer hands at the top.

Why do you get the idea that saying shit like you do will have any effect here?

[harmonicon]

24. How is just making shit up working for you in daily life?

Do you just decide what things like gas, bread, and milk cost too? The fact is that far less is spent per-capita on healthcare in countries with socialized healthcare systems. I live in the UK and have seen the NHS at work up close and personal. It's brilliant... and on average people pay less for it than they're paying for healthcare in the US. The fact is that having a socialized healthcare system would actually save the US money.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[harmonicon]

27. The US is in the same boat - it has nothing to do with the NHS

Having been treated by NHS doctors and having had people close to me receive treatment in NHS hospitals I know exactly how it works. The UK budget is screwed for the same reasons the US budget is: illegal wars and a global recession brought about by unethical bankers and "investors". To try to lay that on one of the best healthcare systems in the world is shameful.

You are making shit up. You have no facts to back up your assertions. Just in case looking at facts won't give you a nose bleed, here you go:

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_tot_exp_as_of_gdp-health-total-expenditure-gdp
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/runaway-health-care-costs-were-1/

In case you're no good at math, I'll give it away: 8% of GDP is less than 15%

p.s. David Cameron isn't even qualified to shine my shoes, let alone give anyone advice on something other that estate owning and polo playing. That prep-school low-life is the scum of the earth. That you think otherwise is telling in itself.

[pattmarty]

28. Uhm, it is kind of funny that the "conservative" government is talking.....

.........about cutting everything BUT the NHS. Go ply your propaganda, no on second thought BULLSHIT over at worldnut daily. Over there they will love you and cheer you with megadittoes. Oh, and have a very shitty day.