Strange Countries: France

So many quotes packed in one small article.

"...Companies say the biggest obstacle to hiring is the 102-year-old Code du Travail, a 3,200-page rule book that dictates everything..."

Something tells me there's a nice cottage industry in there somewhere. And then they wonder, "hm, there's no growth! We need more growth! Let's superficially "create" ways to grow!" Next thing you know, 3000 page manifestos about this and that.

“The cost of labor isn’t the main problem, it’s the rigidities,” Haan says. “If you make a mistake in your hiring plans, you can’t correct it.”

Until people go through the exercise of what goes into owning and operating a business, they'll never get the intricacies of the challenges. It's easy (and terribly short-sighted) to shout "regulate the bastards!"

"...The code sets hurdles for any company that seeks to shed jobs when it’s turning a profit. It also grants judges the authority to reverse staff cuts years after they’re initiated if companies don’t follow the rules. The courts even deem some violations of the code a criminal offense that could send executives to jail."

And? What's your point? They're breaking the law. Come on, we have a society to run.

"...Hollande makes no mention of labor regulations in his platform, which seeks to generate jobs through tax incentives and government hiring, such as creating 60,000 new teacher posts. He said on April 25 that if elected he would act to counter “a parade of firings” expected after the election: Companies may be holding back job cuts until then to avoid drawing political heat."

Boy. France is so not to be emulated. Icky that this is their idea of a healthy economy.

"Worker groups say the code itself isn’t the issue. “If the code is complicated, it’s because our society is complicated,” says Bernard Vivier, director of the Higher Institute of Labor in Paris, which studies labor relations for unions and companies. “Cars are much more complicated today than they were 40 years ago. Why shouldn’t the labor code be?”

This is quite possibly the most retarded statement I've ever read. Or seen.