Well, actually it's not quite that bad. Here's the real AP story.
PARIS (AP) -- France will raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 in 2018 in an effort to get the country's spiraling public finances under control, the labor minister said Wednesday....Even before Wednesday's announcement, the measure had sparked angry reactions from Socialist lawmakers and unions. On Tuesday, tens of thousands of people marched through Paris to protest the plans. Larger protests and strikes are likely starting in September, once much of the country returns from summer vacation. For many on the left, chipping away at France's cherished social benefits seems unthinkable. "The end of retirement at age 60 ... is the end of an era," leftist politician Jean-Luc Melenchon told France-Info. "It's the end of a way of life, and the end of happy days."The "end of happy days?" I don't think so. Could be the beginning. From another era, Maurice Chevalier has the right idea...
Heh. I picked up a phrase in Moscow when I was there on bid'niz back in the early '90s that I've used constantly since: "Former Happy Days." But my Russian friends/associates were being TOTALLY sarcastic when they used it, seeing it was deployed whenever they talked about the old gub'mint, its people, and policies. But M. Melenchon is entirely serious.
ReplyDeleteApropos of nuttin': Mom thought ol' Maurice was hot.