Re: Economy of France
So, one moment ...
>>like Concorde
>Crashed and burned
27 years after GA, yes, because some American tin lost a few bits on the runway. Concorde was an incredible achievement at the time, cher ami, and still is pretty amazing, because nobody can make anything as good, even with today's tech - sad that Rolls Royce and hence the oil crises killed it off! The Russians, who had each and every plan of the beast, failed!
>>an incredible maze of high quality highways even up to an altitude of 1100m
>Built by private companies who get 30-year leases from the government to collect the tolls.
Originally state-owned and state-operated, now, mostly operated by private firms because a pres thought it was a good idea to sell "the goose that lays golden eggs" to private companies (they actually bought the right to lease them - the fun thing is that the politicians in charge of the commission that decided this are unable today to say how much these private companies paid at the time) - private companies are better at ransoming the poor bastards we are over here!
>> TGV
> Massively subsidised by the taxpayer.
Yes, however, think about all the economic growth it is bringing!
>You missed the 10% and rising unemployment, bankrupt heatlh service, unsustainable state pension scheme, and the least popular President in history.
High unemployment is not the state's fault, it is the French mentality ... HR think of a workforce like a puzzle, if the candidate does not fit in perfectly they prefer to wait two years until they find the perfect candidate (with EXACTLY the right education! if candidate has a diploma too many, speaks a language that is not needed, has a strange name, looks weird [ a scar on your face is enough], you're out of luck), too bad if they lose business in the meantime.
Health care is not really bankrupt, the problem is, it does not get the appropriate funding because funds are diverted from healthcare to other posts. The pension scheme is in quite a state, indeed, I give you that.
As for presidents, the last two have had the moniker "least popular president in history" - mainly due to the financial crisis and the fact that the last one, costing more than the Queen of England and selling off all the "win-makers" of the state to private companies.
Socialism works, go and look at the Nordic countries in Europe. It does not work when you have officials spending public funds on luxury-ware or selling off all profitable state-owned assets ... all without anybody complaining ... was it in Sweden that an official got the sack for purchasing a chocolate bar at an airport with public funds ? In France, an unlucky official got a "warning" after spending 10 000 euro on boxes of cigars ... note that he only got the warning because it was leaked to the press and caused an uproar ... buying "haute couture" garments with public funds is encouraged, if not tolerated.
As for the current president, although his party bares the name "Socialist Party", it is as socialist as the UMP, for my comrades on the other side of the sleeve, the conservatives or labour in the UK.