Retirement and Strikes

Article on the French pension strikes: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11570828

I guess this counts as old news, since everyone's probably heard about it already. All the news sources are so interested in covering the strikes and their fallout in France - the angry people, the marches in Paris, the tear gassing by police.

It's clear the French people are angry. I'm not sure why this is surprising everyone - I mean, hello, the French are always striking. There were about four strikes during the four months I studied in Paris last year. In a sense, it was cool to see huge flocks of people banding together in the streets, fighting for the same cause. But after the third time, it got to be old hat. I would come up from the metro station and see banners and crowds, and wonder what new issue the people were taking up.

Not that I disagree with strikes - I think that it's a clear, visible way for people to speak up against something. And as far as I know, French strikes usually end successfully for the strikers. However, the recent protests against the pension changes aren't projected to end with success for the angry people. As this article says, "President Nicolas Sarkozy insists he will press ahead with pension reforms." I'd like to know the batting average for French strikes in the past few years (npi). I mean, do they always come out on top, or is it usually a strikeout? And although this story includes a few details about the actual reforms, it's interesting that all the media about the strikes is exactly that - about the strikes. We're completely skirting the actual issue of the pension changes, why the French government believes they need them, why people disagree with them, and how the U.S. retirement age is already higher than France's disputed one!

I guess some people would ask, Is a two-year increase really cause to give that much fuss about? If it's two years now, will it be two more later on, and where does it stop? Is 60 too young to stop working, or is 62 too old to be working? And how much is the government actually going to gain from everyone's additional two years?

All I know is, I've got decades before I need to worry about this..

Chloe