Sunday, April 1, 2012

France's Future: A country in denial


France is facing its next presidential election in several weeks. Recent debates have included security issues, halal meat, and immigration. However, candidates are remaining relatively silent about a real problem in the country – its economy. France is dealing with numerous problems, most notably rising unemployment, severe debt, and loans to struggling economies such as Greece, Italy, and Portugal. French voters tend to see globalization as a threatening force and the market as a risky, cruel reality that can be avoided with some government intervention. Although France is hardly the country most at risk in the European Debt Crisis, its foundation for the Euro Zone (along with Germany) brings it to international attention. The article forecasts hard times for France in the future, despite the election results. To what extent do you think the government’s role will be able to limit the economic problems?

1 comment:

Kim Eckart said...

I think government intervention will definitely be necessary. I could see the politicians avoiding it because it is an unpopular topic and the techniques used will likely be unpopular as well. They may be avoiding the topic so that they can be elected to actually implement the techniques to fix the issues rather than be associated with something so unpopular that they aren't able to get elected in the first place.