Strikes in France generate more hype but limited impact, for now

Traffic on the Metro was hardly bothered yesterday and the rains, which were very heavy at times, also seemed to limit the impact of the one day strike. With more and more people able to work from home, that probably also helped to limit the impact of the events as well. The center-right party of Chirac is in disarray, but that's nothing unusual for them and they looks ready to fold.

Villepin, the never-elected, silver-spoon-in-the-mouth PM was hoping to build his resume for the elections next year but his actions have been so incredibly unpopular that he will be lucky to maintain even a Cabinet position next year. Sarkozy, the leading candidate for next years election, has questioned Villepin's latest policy and has suggested shelving the deal until negotiations have been finished. Chirac, always in search of love from the people and sitting on approval rates in the range of Cheney's rates, has somehow managed to support both sides in the struggle. The end result is going to be the standard collapse in the face of opposition that is the hallmark of French politics.

The government is half right in the need to change the heavy employment system but like I said before, it needs to be fair to all workers, not just isolating the weakest and overlooking the large companies. The students are also half right because maintaining the status quo is not a long term strategy and looking at the demographics, they are going to be shafted even more in the coming years as the boomers retire. They have every right to be mad with the new law because they are being unfairly selected for this trial. If the government had any spine at all, this would be for everyone and not just a few slices of the economy.

Add into the mix the failed policies and post-riot reaction to the suburban problems and you have a real mess with the potential for the perfect storm. The government, with Villepin directing the show, has provided little more than talk for addressing the underlying problems with the suburban poor so that situation alone can easily trigger street problems. At this point I will be completely shocked if Villepin doesn't completely collapse on this program and Sarko will be even stronger than ever, poised to take over for the 2007 elections.