Say what you want about the French, but that country knows how to set a trend. However, it looks like the nation that once gave us our symbol of liberty, is taking a few cues from the other red, white and blue for a change. It seems the bad economy is rotting at the core of the world, and nations like the U.S., U.K. and France are all scrambling to find ways to eliminate or make cuts in the growing debt before it brings us all to ruins. Like any huge project, though, there are obstacles in the way. And for France, that obstacle is in the form of random, disruptive strikes.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has sent his country into a tizzy with the proposal to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 over the next eight years in order to help supplement financial downturns in the government. According to a Bloomberg Business Week report, the resulting strikes are disrupting most day-to-day functioning, including schools and transportation, as well as “threatening to cause lines at gas stations.”
But the national upset is a little unmerited. With a country that is No. 8 in the world in life expectancy, what’s just two more years of working? Sure, in dog years, that may seem like a life sentence, but the U.S. retirement age and Social Security or Medicare benefits rely greatly on how long we take to retire. The minimum age is 62, and full benefits only start to come in for retirement at 66. That gives us incentive to work longer despite our 5-Hour Energy lifestyles grinding our life expectancies down to No. 38 (right below Cuba).
Oh, and Uncle Sam is planning to knock another year off our freedom by 2022. Yes, most of us should be grateful if we’re employed just because there are millions of Americans who have taken a hit for our economic warzone in the last two years. With what the recession has done to personal savings, our generation will be lucky if the retirement age doesn’t jump five more years when our time comes.
BBC correspondent Matthew Price visited the ports around Marseille, where the majority of the strikes are taking place, and found that French workers just don’t grasp the same kind of American work ethic. Not to mention, like any overstayed trend, the French are really devaluing the word “strike” just how the 2008 elections did to “maverick” or American Idol did to “talented musician.”
Think about it like the economic Olympics. All of the countries are racing away from a recession and into the embrace of old age. What’s the point of growing up if we’re not going to even have enough eyesight to recognize the light at the end of an employment tunnel? Actually, to be fair, we’re on the verge of a growing generation gap, one of the largest in decades. The U.S. will soon be full of more old and young people than the middle agers.
More significant challenges, not unlike those in Europe, could be on the way in the United States if the problems go unaddressed. We like to think the perceived differences in work values would get us through any major changes, but if we’re forced to take on the austerity measures like all our friends across the pond, the social trends might not be far behind.
