Also it's 75%, not 80%. That might not be very significant overall but it makes me doubt you really know what you're talking about.
However I think from a hacker perspective it should be interesting to see a country that tries to do things differently from what appears to be the norm in most of the western world and whether it'll succeed or fail utterly. I know that most people on HN are big on "laissez-faire" and business deregulations but it's a bit disingenuous to present it as the solution to all problems.
We value thinking out of the box for engineering, why not for politics? "Look, a new economic system in 30 lines of socialism!".
I wish people were less adamant and more level-headed when it came to politics and economy, it's hard to have a reasonable discussion on those subjects.
Look at a graph of GDP per capita for France vs. other countries (Google will happily draw one for you if you search for "gdp per capita france" - for me it shows comparisons to UK and Germany)
As it happens, it turns out that the rather substantial aggressive changes to things like working hours and tax laws over the years in France that have caused predictions of doom and gloom have had little to no noticeable impact on GDP per capita - the trajectory for France, UK, Germany and other major European countries are only very minimally differentiated based on their economic policies.
That is how France can continue this.
You are aware that there might be a tiny hint of selection bias at play there... right? ;)
All my (highly-skilled) foreigner friends do not plan to leave either.
So with your argumentation, France is probably the best country in the world.
xenophoby? Oh USA, building a wall to keep your neighbours out of your lawn, please tell me more!
Our economy? Of course American governement-sponsored 'liberalism' is a beacon for the free world, and dissidents are morons. Please have a look at this recent article by Paul Krugman: The Plot Against France[0].
Your high-skilled French friends? I have the luck to be put in that population. What I see around me is that we travel and work world-wide, until we start a family most of the time.
0: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/11/opinion/krugman-the-plot-a...
PG's scale of levels of disagreement in discourse, that's like a negative 4.
However, I know from a few of my friends, who were settling in France for personal reasons, how painful the immigration process can be, especially if you're not white/caucasian.
Having kids and retiring usually do not happen at the same time.
>a few of my friends, who were settling in France for personal reasons
So they're not French. Your first comment is definitely wrong then.
I believe they were referencing the circulaire Guéant[0], which comes from the previous government, wronged many skilled workers & French companies as well -- it sets a 'national preference' for hiring.
Set nr 1: French people in London Set nr 2: Non-French people trying to settle in France
Yes, I heard French support for families with children is spectacular. That's what I meant. I just don't understand how it can continue. I lived in a few countries and the French "balance sheet" just doesn't make intuitive sense to me.
> xenophobic view on immigration.
Given this ranking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_foreign-bo... I don't think we have any advice to receive from anybody on the question of immigration. Granted there are some problems ampiflified by the economic crisis but given the rates of immigration we had to absorb in the previous decades I would say the situation is not that bad.
As an American, I disagree with American immigration policies, and also disagree with France's. Is my opinion discounted because I'm an American?
I would have said the same thing if he was French, to say France has xenophobic views on immigrations is plain wrong. And yes no direspect to you but I don't think you can rightly evaluate the situation in France by reading comments on internet or articles in the news, you have to live here and see by yourself. I would say two things: there is much more immigration than what the numbers suggest at least in my area (I live in a big town in south of france) and secondly there are a lot less problems and much more integration than what is reported in the news. And BTW, I consider myself as liberal (US meaning of the term) and I'm not bothered by immigration I even welcome it, it's good for diversity, but there is no denying that France has welcomed in the past decades a lot of immigrants so maybe in these difficult times there is a bit more friction than usual.
Living somewhere doesn't give you as much insight to a place's immigration policies as attempting to emigrate to that place.
Regardless, it's not imprudent to question the efficacy of broad social benefits while simultaneously supporting open borders.
It is equally okay to believe that your country should benefit from the diversity that can only be achieved with easy immigration laws, and be willing to accept an increase in taxes to support that objective.
It's also okay to view the other position as negative based on your views, and a person's country of origin or current residency does not affect the validity of their opinion.
Selection bias alert! You're more likely to meet people who swore to never return than those don't mind returning.
The world is awash in printed money, not just the Eurozone and not just France is taking advantage of it.
Now, inflation expectations have clearly come unanchored because the GDP deflater, the measure of inflation most relevant to this particular effect, has been stuck closer to 1% than 2% since the financial crisis and the price spread between inflation protected and normal bonds means that the people who hold most of the M1 think this is likely to continue.
These effects are both self-limiting, the desire for liquidity isn't that strong so we only saw an 11% growth in the money supply despite inflation falling by 30%. And the inflationary spiral will quickly (but painfully) stall out if the central bank doesn't keep printing money to match demand.
Which is to say that sure, there's more cash floating around, but it's not just washing around it's being stored in people's pockets. It might be liable to cause excess inflation if the ECB ever manages to convince people that it will be able to hit its targets in the future, but it's not particularly benefiting France at the moment.
[1] In the mainstream economics sense of a rise in the price level, not the odd Austrian school definition.