Riots in France because of what?!?!!?

Masked youths clashed with police and set fires in cities across France on Tuesday as protests against a proposed hike in the retirement age took an increasingly radical turn. Hundreds of flights were canceled, long lines formed at gas stations and train service in many regions was cut in half.

President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to crack down on "troublemakers" and guarantee public order, raising the possibility of more confrontations with young rioters after a week of disruptive but largely nonviolent demonstrations.

Sarkozy also vowed to ensure that fuel was available to everyone. More than 1,000 gas stations are currently shuttered nationwide.The protesters are trying to prevent the French parliament from approving a bill that would raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 to help prevent the pension system from going bankrupt. Many workers feel the change would be a first step in eroding France's social benefits — which include long vacations, contracts that make it hard for employers to lay off workers and a state-subsidized health care system — in favor of "American-style capitalism."

Sarkozy's conservative government points out that 62 is among the lowest retirement ages in the world, the French are living much longer and the pension system is losing money. The workers say the government could find pension savings elsewhere, such as by raising contributions from employers.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20101019/ap_tr_ge/eu_travel_brief_france_flights

Are these French people serious?!?!?!:smt103 They are rioting in the streets because they want to raise the age of retirement by 2 measly years??

Good lord what a bunch of little selt entitled wimps.

 

ummm what country are you in again?
Do I need to remind you that any party in the united states that even so much as whispers raise the retirement age would be out of office despite the fact that we have the largest debt in USA history?:smt009

 

I commend them. They actually have the balls to stand up to their government. We don't do shit like that here. We'd rather watch Jersey Shore and play Xbox.

 

commend? They are in debt. They got to give something up to pay for it. Their government is right. They have to cut to get out of debt.

 

andrae has a point. We bend over and take whatever the government gives us. I commend them as well... and damn their perfect health care system to hell while we're at it.

 

And their skinny in shape people who don't have to try and defend obesity with bs lol

 

I dont know if some of us are on the same page here. A lot of the French citizens are outraged over a VERY miniscule political move. Raising the retirement age by 2 years is nothing. The fact that they are basically declaring anarchy in the streets (destroying private property, violence, setting cars on fire etc etc) is dispicable period

They are acting like big babies. Are some of you aware of how little a lot of the French work? On top of getting lavious benefits(as well as long vactions) some of them even complain about having to work 30 hrs a week...oh the horror!!!!:smt022

They get no sympathy from me.

 

All I'm saying is its nice to see people stand up to their governments especially in the Westenn world.

 

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/...s-forced-to-work-30-hours-a-week-20080125680/

 

Like they need a reason, its a sport to those people

 

I also commend France for it's backbone, here in Britain this week we have seen seriously damaging cuts to the public service, no one has been left untouched defence budget has been lowered by 8% which is actually going to work out at about 16% after there overspend from last year is paid back, police officers are going, councill services, Business link funding is going and dramatic changes to child services, graduate placement funding (an important resource for independent businesses) and our retirement age will likely be going up to 66 currently 65 thats state pension retirement age, private sector could be going upto 70!!

I wish we had a protest in us, the deficit we have is nothing new its always been there, changes needed to be made, but the cut throat way in which it's happening is just not necessary, Labours plan of cuts eased in over a larger time span allowing for regrowth is much more sensible,

the coalition government (more conservative than anything) is a public sector hater by my view and anything they can do to tear our system apart seems to be the main agenda, with too much reliance on the private sector picking up the slack. where is all this new enterprise coming from if the funding is going to be scrapped?

Everytime I hear "big society" from that F*ck face David Cameron and George Osborne with his "we all have to pull together" i laugh my arse off, they are easy words coming from men that are from Millionaire families and have lineage going back to kings another an heir to a Baronetcy! men that couldn't tell you what a packet of cornflakes cost.
I wish we had more of a fighting spirit as a nation. :smt090

 

That's always the hypocracy of the wealthy. They love to tell the poor how they should live when they don't do it themselves and always love to cite a few one in million examples of people pulling themselves up by the bootstraps and things working out. Its all horseshit

 

The way I see it the poor are going to get poorer in the most dramatic way and the middle of the roaders (own your own house with 2 incomes) are going to be thumped over to the poor side.
We have a major class issue here, it's one of our failings, this will now widen the gap to a canyon, back to the Victorian era of cheap labour and upper and lower class distinction.
Everytime I turn on the TV or speak to a pal/relative (many of them employed by the public sector) the mood is so despondent.

I'm sure you can probably tell I voted Labour

 

As long as people are dumb enough to believe they too will be rich one day its going to keep happening or until a major revolution. Buckle your seats its gonna be one hell of a bumpy ride.

 

Is anyone living in France who would know if the hotels would be closed because of the strike?

 

I read in the headlines today and it is sad a lot of those English workers would have that backbone soon.

 

In America we have the free markets. Where you decide whether you prosper or fail. But it is easier to pull the blame card. There many people who pulled themselves by their bootstraps and some were black (shocking) Wally Amos, Reginald F. Lewis. Parks sausage Ceo etc.

 

Blame game? Listen genius any system that requires the majority to lvie in poverty so that a few live decent and even fewer live well is not a good system. Its a predatory system where the more wealthy use the labor of the desperate to get what they want and instead of treating them fairly they mock and criticize them. The free market benefits very few. I know incentive is the only way to make improvements and move forward technologically but does it require people to be so horrible to one another.

 

I'm making no judgement on whether they're right or wrong, just commending them for standing up for what they believe in.

 

"Every class struggle is a political struggle."

- Karl Marx