When You Take Away "Freebies"

What happens when you give all sorts of socialist "freebie" to your populace, and then realize (sooner or later) that it’s going to cost too much, and thus try to take away a tiny portion of those "freebies"?

This.

PARIS, Oct 15 (Reuters) – Striking French oil refinery workers shut down a fuel pipeline supplying Paris and its airports on Friday and airport workers grounded some flights as protests mounted to derail an unpopular pension reform.

France’s airport operator played down worries of fuel shortages, but strikes at all of the country’s 12 refineries and fuel depot blockades prompted motorists to stock up on petrol.

Truck drivers also were set to join the fray as momentum built for a day of street rallies on Saturday.

The widening protests have become the biggest challenge facing President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is struggling with low popularity ratings as he tries to appease financial markets by stemming a ballooning pension shortfall.

This is why ObamaCare is so dangerous.  It will cost too much at some point (history bears this out) and either services will have to be cut back or taxes raised or (more likely) both.  In America we don’t have the same socialist culture and expectations they have in France, but that’s our future if we continue down this road.

Filed under: Culture • Economics

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