Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

Health care now !

Here is a warning from Nobel prize winner in economics Paul Krugman that :

"the United States is the only wealthy country in which the economic catastrophe will also be a health care catastrophe — in which millions of people will lose their health insurance along with their jobs, and therefore lose access to essential care."

Obama campaigned on health care reform, Krugman reminds us. "Which raises a question: Why has the Obama administration been silent, at least so far, about one of President Obama’s key promises during last year’s campaign — the promise of guaranteed health care for all Americans?"

Universal health care is an area where the Americans could learn a lot from the French. Both from their successes, which are considerable, as well as from the difficulties the system faces, which are quite serious.

Some successful areas include:

• national pre-natal, maternal and baby care
• vaccinations and preventative medicine
• simplified paperwork for reimbursements of all kinds
• reduced stress for sick people who need not bankrupt themselves to pay medical bills

(The French system could benefit from more streamlining, of course, but it is a paragon of efficiency compared to the insane American system.)

Problem areas include:

• management of hospitals
• availability of care in rural areas and during vacations
• overmedication

While Americans generally can't stand to receive lessons from the French, national health care coverage is a subject where collaboration has much to offer.

The situation is urgent.

According to Krugman: "After the economy slumped at the beginning of this decade, five million people joined the ranks of the uninsured — and that was with the unemployment rate peaking at only 6.3 percent. This time the Obama administration says that even with its stimulus plan, unemployment will reach 8 percent, and that it will stay above 6 percent until 2012. Many independent forecasts are even more pessimistic."

He argues that : "helping families purchase health insurance as part of a universal coverage plan would be at least as effective a way of boosting the economy as the tax breaks that make up roughly a third of the stimulus plan — and it would have the added benefit of directly helping families get through the crisis, ending one of the major sources of Americans’ current anxiety. "

Americans could try to reinvent the wheel. Or perhaps, just for once, they could learn something from the French...

Why did so many primary school teachers strike on January 29th?

Teachers provided many of the troupes in the demonstrations yesterday. In particular, primary school teachers. It is estimated that between 1/2 and 2/3s of primary school teachers were on strike.

Why? What are their concerns?

Le Point tries to explain in an article entitled: "Education at the heart of strikes and demonstrations" .

Reasons  mentioned include:

• Sarkozy's policy of replacing one out of two retiring education civil servants
• demands for higher salaries
• dislike of current reforms such as individual help for struggling students (which is frankly a little surprising, give the large numbers of students who are held back and ultimately fail)

Some, but not all, of these concerns are shared by educators in the collèges, lycées and universities. Except for the elimination of certain positions and a generalized desire for better pay, demands vary considerably (google "réforme Darcos" or "réforme du lycée" for a sample of reactions)

How will the government, now on the defensive, respond?

Wall St. awards itself billions in bonuses; France on strike

After performances that can charitably called disastrous, Wall Street blithely awarded itself an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses for the year.

The International Herald Tribune reports : Many corporate governance experts, investors and lawmakers question why financial companies that have accepted taxpayer money paid any bonuses at all.” For full article, click here.

 

Meanwhile, French commuters, schoolchildren, and private sector workers brace for a yet another strike.

Here are a few selected press articles to help understand what's going on:

 

• IHT " President Nicolas Sarkozy was expected to get a very public taste of widespread discontent with his economic policies Thursday, as France braced for a one-day general strike called by eight unions"

• The Times Charles Bremner ‘Black Thursday’ strike chaos looms as a million workers walk out in protest

• Le Figaro: "The Socialists want to take control of the protests"

• Humanité : "Strike!"

• Sud Rail: "When one is president of the national railways or president of the republic, should one lie to the media?"

• Stoplagreve.com: In favor of a real "service mininum"

• CGT : Les huit syndicats français réunis à Paris ont appelé lundi 15 décembre à une "journée nationale de mobilisation inter-professionnelle le 29 janvier" avec "dans tout le pays des grèves et des manifestations".
  Dans un communiqué commun, la CFDT, la CFE-CGC, la CFTC, la CGT, FO, la FSU, Solidaires et Unsa, s'adressent aux "salariés du privé et du public, aux chômeurs et retraités". "Surmonter (la) crise implique des mesures urgentes d'une autre nature que celles prises par l'Etat et les entreprises, pour être au service de l'emploi et des rémunérations", estiment les signataires

• Libération: Qui fait grève (et pourquoi).

About Me

I am a US-born writer who lives in France.

Since I cannot seem to keep myself from commenting on education, ecology, health care, food, parenting, history, writing and political correctness, I have decided to organize and share my thoughts in this weblog.

I have written two books, Sorbonne Confidential (Fayard 2007) and Les Rêves Barbares du Professeur Collie(Fayard 2009).

I occasionally give talks and readings. You can contact me at : [email protected]

My favorite literary hero is Moses Herzog, who writes letters he never sends, often to dead people.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

February 6 : Paris Alumnae Network Talk  This event is free for PAN members and non-members.

To sign up please contact Mary Ann RIVET at [email protected].

February 7 : Book signing at La Griffe Noire in Bry-sur-Marne

March 11 : Talk at the Education Institute in London

Big strike planned tomorrow (January 29th). One question: Why?

According to Libération, Thurday will bring us massive strikes in nearly all public sectors: transportation, education, post office, justice, public TV and, intriguingly, certain banks.

"La grève de jeudi devrait être très suivie

La mobilisation s'annonce forte dans de nombreux secteurs (transports, Education nationale, Poste, mais aussi Justice, audiovisuel et certaines banques). Les Français la soutiennent, selon deux sondages."

Which leaves just one question: why?

Libération explains: "The Eight unions behind the movement  (CGT, CFDT, FO, CFTC, CFE-CGC, FSU, Unsa, Solidaires) are demanding "urgent measures in favor of employment, higher pay and an economic stimulus policy".

With an admirable lack of irony, their plan is to torture hardworking citizens in the private sector who, unlike fonctionnaires, must worry about losing not just salary when they can"t make it to work due to lack of public transportation or school for their children, but also their jobs.

Since there is no specific demand which can actually be met by anyone, the crisis is unlikely to be resolved.

One of the stranger reasons for revolt is Education Minister Darcos' emphasis on providing extra help for the students who need it most. Last year he eliminated Saturday classes in the primary schools and asked teachers to replace the two hours lost with special after school help for struggling students. Some teachers (not all) are rebelling. For an interesting article on one of the stranger justifications for revolt, click here.

 

Lycée reform: Let's start over, says Richard Descoings, of Science Po

In the wake of massive if somewhat confused contestation, Education Minister Xavier Darcos' reform of the lycée has been delayed for a year to allow time for reflection, coordination and communication.

This, no matter how one spins it, is not a success.

So President Sarkozy has named additional heavyweights to the project, including Richard Descoings, the director of Science Po, one of the best and, recently, most innovate schools in the country.

Le Monde interviewed Monsieur Descoings, who said that all options will be considered in order to increase diversity in recruiting students. (read article here).

Extract:

Richard Descoings : "On redémarre de zéro" sur la réforme du lycée

slaube : Que pensez-vous de la réforme des lycées que proposait Xavier Darcos et qui est maintenant au moins en attente de vos résultats ?

Richard Descoings : Je pense que si Xavier Darcos a jugé au mois de décembre nécessaire de retirer son projet, c'est moins à cause du contenu de celui-ci que parce qu'une partie des lycéens avait eu le sentiment de n'être pas associée à son élaboration. Mon rôle n'est pas de juger du contenu de telle ou telle phase, mais d'adopter une méthode de travail qui parte de l'écoute, de la concertation, et qui aille vers la conciliation.

JeanPhi_Doho : Comment se fait-il, selon vous, que cette concertation n'ait pas été faite ou ait été mal faite ?

Richard Descoings : La concertation a été pratiquée au niveau national, comme cela se fait toujours dans tous les départements ministériels, et notamment à l'éducation nationale. Mais visiblement, cela ne suffit pas. Et cela ne suffit pas peut-être parce que la grande différence entre décembre 2008 et juin 2008, c'est que tout le monde a découvert en même temps que la crise financière devenait une crise économique, et que, alors qu'on croyait le chômage durablement en baisse, notamment en France, il y a eu pendant l'été et pendant l'automne 2008 une rupture d'une gravité jusque-là inconnue de la croissance, et même, plus largement, du fonctionnement des économies développées.

Quand on est lycéen aujourd'hui, quand on est parent d'enfants et d'adolescents aujourd'hui et qu'on voit toutes les annonces de plans sociaux, de renoncement au recrutement dans les entreprises, de remontée brutale du chômage, comment ne pas se sentir directement et personnellement inquiet ? Donc plus que jamais la concertation et la délibération en commun sur le lycée, c'est-à-dire sur deux jeunes sur trois, et leur avenir, sont essentielles.

Areski : Chacun sait que les syndicats lycéens (FIDL, UNL, UNI-Lycée, SUD-Lycéens) et les institutions lycéennes "démocratiques" (CAVL, CNVL) ne sont absolument pas représentatifs des lycéens. Pourtant, ce sont toujours eux qui sont pris comme interlocuteur par les ministres et commissions qui se succèdent. Dans la réforme du lycée que vous préparez, comment ferez-vous pour impliquer directement les lycéens dans sa préparation ?

Richard Descoings : Les organisations lycéennes se sont exprimées, elles ont mobilisé autour d'elles des lycéens. Il faut les entendre, mais il faut aussi donner la parole à celles et ceux qui ne se sont pas encore exprimés et qui pourtant chacune et chacun, ont des choses à dire. Les lycéens, bien sûr, mais bien sûr aussi leur famille, les professeurs, les équipes de direction, et puis les élus, bref, tous ceux qui ont de l'intérêt pour la réussite du lycée, et donc des lycéens.

Pandemonium (AGAIN) at Paris’ Gare St. Lazare

Each day half a million people depend on the Gare St. Lazare, which is competing for the prize of most dysfunctional train station Europe.

First, SNCF worker went on strike for four weeks, crippling traffic.

Then, after a criminal attack on a driver, they walked off the job with no warning, leaving hundreds of thousands of innocent commuters completely stranded in sub-zero weather.

Clients (so revealingly called "users") are so fed up that when an actual incident occurred and traffic was stopped for two hours, some "usagers" attacked SNCF workers, breaking windows in the office where they sought refuge.

Paris mayor and in particular deputy mayor for the environment Denis Baupin want to reduce the use of cars in the capital. This a very good, of course, and should be supported.

However the declining quality of public transportation jeopardizes these goals.

Once beacons of excellence, both the RATP and SNCF continue to decline, with late trains, cancelled trains, repeated technical incidents, planned strikes, wild strikes and general overcrowding and discomfort. We seem to be heading in a downward spiral  not unlike that of the London Underground in the 1990s.

Lousy public transportation hurts everyone, with catastrophic consequences for the environment.

It's hard to convince people to leave their cars in the garage when they can't trust the trains to work.

OBAMA ! OBAMA! OBAMA!

Well it's not every day that we inaugurate a president with such enthusiasm. Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe invited a thousand French and Americans to celebrate together. Any pretense of indifference was dropped. People cheered and cried. And,

occasionally, booed. Not since the departure of Nixon have so many been so relieved.

 

 

But “challenges” is a euphemism for what our new president faces.

(There’s something to the joke going around this fall: “Black man gets worst job in America".)

 

 A couple of "challenges":

• Worst financial crisis since The Great Depression with massive bankruptcies and millions losing their jobs, homes and health care coverage

• Record-breaking national deficits which would scare Keynes out of his grave

• Two full-blown American wars stretching US capacity and potential for several more (Iran, North Korea, Pakistan...)

• Nuclear proliferation in a time of extreme fundamentalist terrorism

• Global warming with catastrophic consequences for hundreds of millions of people in low-lying regions and entire ecosystems we understand little of but depend on anyhow

• Eroded constitutional safeguards

• Continuing conflict in many regions of the world

As for European-US relations, our most immediate problem appears to be cheese (see previous post), which in this difficult context comes almost as comic relief.   But in Paris on the evening of the inauguration there was hope, widely shared. It was a great moment.

USA triples duties on Roquefort to punish France for resisting hormone contaminated beef

"Les Etats-Unis ont pris pour cible les exportations françaises de roquefort, en leur infligeant des droits de douane prohibitifs, en rétorsion contre la poursuite de l'interdiction de commercialisation de leur bœuf aux hormones sur le territoire européen. " from Le Monde

In another fabulously misguided move, the outgoing Bush administration is using heavy sanctions to try to force Europe into accepting its hormone-filled beef. Why?

"Washington n'a pas donné de raison à sa décision, prise quelques jours avant la fin des fonctions de la représentante au commerce extérieur (USTR), Susan Schwab, qui doit quitter son poste avec le reste de l'administration de George W. Bush mardi. Ces sanctions sont, d'après les Etats-Unis, conformes aux règles de l'Organisation mondiale du commerce, qui dans le conflit du bœuf aux hormones avait jugé en appel le 16 octobre 2008 que les sanctions prises par les Etats-Unis et le Canada contre les produits européens étaient légales. click here to read the Le Monde article

Come on, Europe! You're on the right side of this fight. Defend your citizens!!!

(What, I wonder, will the newly ecological Economist have to say about this? )

Europe's freezing. Russia cuts off gas. Let's talk about eco solutions

Russia once again cuts off natural gas supplies to a dozen European countries to gain commercial and political advantage.

Germany's own former Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, who earns one million euros a year as a director at Gazprom , exerts his energies and influence towards making Europe even more dependant on Russian supplies. (Which raises the fascinating question: at what point does conflict of interest become treasonous?)

Europe, which inexplicably embraces energy dependence on its former Cold War foe, seems incapable of responding. See "Babies in Bulgaria suffer" in the Times.)

The only bright spot on this depressing tableau is in a NYT article entitled: "No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in ‘Passive Houses’" which describes a house built so that 

 "Even on the coldest nights in central Germany, Mr. Kaufmann’s new 'passive house' and others of this design get all the heat and hot water they need from the amount of energy that would be needed to run a hair dryer."

to read more, click here