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Article on French Discontent - Is This Accurate?

Article on French Discontent - Is This Accurate?

Old Oct 23rd, 2013, 01:25 AM
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We find French income tax fair but then we're neither super rich nor rich. Agree with Patrick and others, it is virtually impossible to generalize as there are many other taxes, for example, in France, TVA, foncière, habitation or in the States, state and local income, property and sales tax.

Young people, from grands ecoles graduates to apprentice electricians, are leaving to find jobs but are less mobile than those in other countries. Apart from high rollers making their millions in the City, I read recently that the average French young person is less willing to move abroad as his/her German, British, Irish, Dutch or Belgium counterparts.

This article (which I can't find) said this was due in part to the traditional French lifestyle and the either perceived or real inadequacy in English or any second language. Of course we can all find exceptions.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2013, 04:19 AM
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Yes, I remember reading that article awhile back, Cath. I remember that it was very clear that most young people prefer the life that they have in France to the risk of a hypothetical life in one of the other countries. As much as people complain here, they know deep down that they are pretty lucky.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2013, 06:11 AM
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I live in a block of 15 flats in an English city. Tow of those flats are currently occupied by French people working locally. One is young, and one middle-aged. Both live on their own. It is not unusual to hear French spoken in our local supermarket, but then it is not unusual to hear other languages as well. Even two of the staff normally converse in Italian to one another.

To be honest, I am not even sure that all this implies some dissatisfaction with life in the home country. It may be just opportunity, or love, or a wish for a different experience, or perhaps an acceptance that nowhere is completely ideal.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2013, 07:42 AM
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[Rant coming]

The biggest lie of all (starting with Reagan and continuing today) is that high marginal rates stunt growth. If that were true, the late '50s and early '60s would have been in the worst depression ever, given that marginal top rates were over 90%.

Anyone who has ever made a graph of marginal rates vs. growth knows that there is absolutely no long-term correlation.

But the Republicans know that if you repeat the Big Lie enough, it will be believed by many in the middle class -- who will then look with anger upon the working poor who pay less tax than they.

[End of rant]

SS
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Old Oct 23rd, 2013, 07:56 AM
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Chartley... I have the same perception (and albeit on a pretty small sample). In Bratislava and now in Budapest - we knew/know a lot of young French people living near us and working in the company I work for (a large US multi-national).

When I ask them why they left France (a country I love) they reply it is a nice place to visit, but not such a nice place to live. It has happened enough that it is certainly more than a handful.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2013, 08:50 AM
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Obviously it is not a "handful." The French population of London alone is something like 300,000. (400,000 if you count short term residents) Then again, if Great Britain is such a paradise, one might wonder why 1 million Britons live in Spain. Meanwhile, only 21,000 British citizens live in Paris... officially.

Of course one of the reasons that London is so popular is that it is just about the closest city to France, and of course the French expats have made their own French city inside London where the English language is not necessary.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2013, 08:51 AM
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I forgot to mention that almost no French person "grows old" in Great Britain unless they have married a local and raised children there. It is just a temporary period of life.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2013, 09:00 AM
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Can not speak to London. I live in Budapest, Hungary.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2013, 09:13 AM
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Yes, but there are not 400,000 French people living in Budapest.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2013, 09:20 AM
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A very interesting thread and, so far, nothing snarky. Good job!

FWIW, my husband and I met a restauranteur in Paris who had returned to France from USA for what he felt was better schooling for his young children, social programs and the medical system.

Making a huge leap from that one instance, I dare say where one is in his/her life can be a big factor. So who gives back the most to the economy? The "Young Turk" or the Expat?

With the USA's much larger population, each person giving a dollar represents a much larger amount money, albeit a smaller percentage. So these types of shifts are even more immediate where there are fewer people. I know, duh.

What if we had a world-wide medical system? Free to all. Everyone in the world who makes more than a certain amount gives 5 dollars or euros or whatever a year...
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Old Oct 23rd, 2013, 10:53 AM
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18234930

London it says is the sixth largest 'French' city.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2013, 11:29 PM
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>>What if we had a world-wide medical system? Free to all. Everyone in the world who makes more than a certain amount gives 5 dollars or euros or whatever a year...
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Old Oct 24th, 2013, 04:28 AM
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I worked with a French woman who moved to GB in 1964. She told me her first impressions of London were that it was a much more relaxed city than her native Paris. The people were less conventional, less conformist that what she'd left behind and she said she felt more free here. In Paris there was pressure to dress and behave in a certain way, whereas in London in comparison you could do what you liked. Would that hold true today I wonder? BTW she still lives in the UK but she is still what I would call very French.
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Old Oct 24th, 2013, 08:13 AM
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By comparison with 1964? Paris has changed enormously, and is as much a "world city" as London, though perhaps in a different way, and successive "youth revolutions" have had just as much impact in France as anywhere else, I should imagine. It may, of course, depend on the milieu you're used to moving in - I wouldn't be at all surprised to find pockets of stuffiness in both cities.
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Old Oct 24th, 2013, 11:10 AM
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She still feels that way Patrick although it is very subjective I know.
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Old Oct 24th, 2013, 11:41 AM
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Frankly, past a certain age, being subjective is just about the only way to live.
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Old Oct 26th, 2013, 01:41 PM
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ttt
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