Paris has always had a special place in the memories, or imagination, of people, whether they have visited there or not.
Paris, ooh-la-la, has seemed romantic, carefree, beautiful, etc.
We recall the popular song by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern after the tragic 1940 fall of Paris to Adolf Hitler’s blitzkrieg in World War II: “The last time I saw Paris, her heart was warm and gay, I heard the laughter of her heart in every street cafe … .”
Unfortunately, Parisians were not laughing much this week, as a gigantic strike disrupted the country. What’s it all about?
The French, noted more for romance and frivolity than for work and reality, suffered a nationwide strike because unionized transport workers stayed off their jobs and more than a million people marched in the streets to protest a plan to raise the nation’s retirement-with-pension age from 60 to 62.
Why raise the pension age? The “money-draining” pension plan is going broke – much as is threatened by our U.S. Social Security, which has promised to pay out more than taxes are bringing in.
OK, so the French want to retire with pensions at age 60. But how will the nationwide strike and staying off jobs provide the euros for the French to get paid for early retirement?
“The last time I saw Paris, it was far from gay. Is it now because no one wants to pay?”