  I am currently putting together a Super Bowl column, and will hopefully have that all finished up by Friday morning. Before I get into the Super Bowl though, I wanted to pen a quick note to let everyone know that there is a new addition to Randy's List of Personal Grievances.
Slightly in front of "people who don't know the difference between affect and effect," slightly behind "infants," and right alongside "people who take food off my plate at a restaurant without first asking if they can try a bite" now lies "anything having to do with the country of France." I have always had a strong distaste for the country and its people, but I have now concluded that with the exception of its wine products, Andre the Giant, Inspector Jacques Clouseau, those ridiculous guys who were guarding the French castle in Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail, and the dude who invented Braille, they are good for absolutely nothing For every Coco Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Yves Saint-Laurent that impacts the fashion world, they have things like their army, their silly accents, and their work week that completely offsets any positive influence they have had on global society. Oh dear, where would we be without the ingenious invention of baguettes? What's that, you think it's a little chilly outside and you want something to cover your head? Put on this majestic beret and you will not only be warm, but you will also accomplish the task of looking like a giant assbag. That's all right, soccer is pretty sweet though………psych!!
As I was crunching some data for my column last week concerning the draconian spending policies that President Obama has on tap for this country, one of the points I was critical of was his effort to force employers to increase the number of paid sick days per year to seven. I began looking into the labor arrangements and vacation policies of other countries, and came across the fact that France actually has a 35-hour workweek. I found this quite odd, but did not think too much of it. It seems they had a significant unemployment problem at the turn of this century and felt this policy would best counteract the rising job loss. Their train of thought turned out to be completely wrong, but the law has since been weakened and exceptions have been established. As an American I am in no place to criticize failed policies, for we have experienced many (The worst of which would have to be FDR's New Deal……yes, I am referring to that same New Deal from 1933 that you are thinking about, and the one which liberals over the years have managed to somehow turn into a mythological legend. Yes, he did bring the unemployment rate down from 24.9% to 14.3% during the years of 1933 - 1937, and unfortunately that is all most people recall about this administration. Everyone seems to forget that his radical over-regulation during that time period was the cause of such a disruption in the business world that a second recessional wave swept across the country and the unemployment rate rose back up to 19% in 1938).
FIVE WEEKS GUARANTEED VACATION!!! I'm pretty sure that reading this article is what pushed me over the top…and not only do they get this much vacation time per year, they have 12 federal holidays; and managers who (god forbid) have to work more than 35 hours per week get more time off. The croissant-eating, chain smoking, sissy pants Frenchman that is referred to in this article gets his five weeks off, AND an additional 22 days of vacation. This makes me want to vomit. As previously mentioned, a Super Bowl edition of the BHYR should be finished up shortly. Until then, Blue Horseshoe loves Anacot Steel.
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