August 18, 2005
ACE HITS WIDE OF THE MARK
Ace dishes out a customary horsewhipping to Paul Krugman today over his endorsement of French labor policy concerning vacations.
The angle Ace misses, though, is that Krugman is a tenured academic: to him, the idea of a 35 hr work week with seven weeks paid vacation is positively beastly.
What, no sabbatical? Piratical capitalism, I dare say!
Posted by Steve at August 18, 2005 02:01 PM | TrackBackYou must have written it incorrectly. No one could possibly put "academic" and "35 hr. week" in the same sentence. Maybe a 35 hr. month (during the school year, of course) but "a week", that's just crazy talk.
Posted by: rbj at August 18, 2005 02:27 PMI work in the semiconductor industry, and our European business has nosedived because of the socialist labor practices. Customers are moving to Singapore, China, and Taiwan. Our European coworkers don't get it; that those 35-hour work weeks and 7-week vacations have killed their goose. Socialists never want to be accountable.
Posted by: WitNit at August 18, 2005 05:24 PMMissing from Krugman's column is that the French aren't making babies worth a damn. If you don't have to buy diapers and onesies you have a lot more disposable income. But there won't be anyone around to help you when you are tottering ninety, nor to keep the French culture of which you are so proud viable.
It's called 'eating the seed corn'.
Posted by: dave s at August 19, 2005 07:04 AM
