Re: France\'s Election is Today
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Since this also meant inheriting a lot of left wing (and right wing for that matter) political momentum, I guess quite some time.
Also my sense of Realpolitik makes me belive that it takes a lot longer for any kind of reform to get done in bigger countries.
I'm not making excuses, things could be better but at least there are some things we do right which get overlooked very often as well (i.e. no minimum wage)
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Yes, of course you do many things right, it is a well-run country compared to most countries in the world. Just lacks ambition and flexibility compared to the better ones, and the difference in that regard is huge. It seems like in the small countries in Europe these changes have been made through some sort of consensus where the political parties and unions and companies go together to find a realistic stabile compromise. I guess the same is what they attempt now in Germany with the big coalition, it is easier to get things done when not one of the big parties will take the whole blame.
I have applied for jobs in both Scandinavia and Germany and in Germany the labor market is extremely inflexible in comparison. In Scandinavia they hire people of different backgrounds and train them and adjust the organisation to some extent to fit with their qualifications, in Germany it seems like the companies hire only personnel with the exact profile they were looking for. I don't see how structural unemployment can ever disappear when it is like that, this just has to change. Also, why aren't unemployed Germans to a larger extent going abroad to search for jobs? In Norway we are discussing how to attract more Bulgarians and Rumanians to come, the companies seems to have given up on recruiting Germans although the language and culture barrier is relatively small.
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