Joel Kotkin is an Irvine Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, the author of The City: A Global History (Modern Library, 2005) and a friend of Houston Strategies’ Tory Gattis. Mr. Kotkin came to my attention recently for his insightful writings on urban planning (here and here) during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
In this OpinionJournal op-ed, Mr. Kotkin addresses the unintended consequences in France of governmental policies such as high taxation, the welfare state and the economic barriers to entry caused by excessive regulation:
The French political response to the continuing riots has focused most on the need for more multicultural “understanding” of, and public spending on, the disenchanted mass in the country’s grim banlieues (suburbs). What has been largely ignored has been the role of France’s economic system in contributing to the current crisis. State-directed capitalism may seem ideal for such American admirers such as Jeremy Rifkin, author of “The European Dream,” and others on the left. Yet it is precisely this highly structured and increasingly infracted economic system that has so limited opportunities for immigrants and their children. In a country where short workweeks and early retirement are sacred, there is little emphasis on creating new jobs and even less on grass-roots entrepreneurial activity.
Read the entire piece.
For the readers here, the most interesting passage is:
“Like other Americans, immigrants often dramatically improve their quality of life and economic prospects by moving out to less dense, faster growing areas. They can also take advantage of more business-friendly government. Perhaps the most extreme case is Houston, a low-cost, low-tax haven where immigrant entrepreneurship has exploded in recent decades. ”
Those arrogant frenchmen are finally getting what they deserve for thinking their integration and assimilation initiatives would work on the radical muslims. (I am purposely not capitalizing the “F” since it foreshadows their eminent demise.)
Wake up and please smell your own cooking! It is a combination of burning plastic and metal (cars, houses…whatever). These people don’t like french-anything except french land and french government cheese-cheddar-handouts and more freebies to overtake France and turn it into a wasteland of violence, fear and hate. The ironic part is, France went broke trying to help these people gain a better Western European life (something they did not want in the first place).
I remember back in 1996 when some french associates spoke of how much they admired muslims for their STRONG dedication and faith. Hello? That is what reasonable people call fanaticism (a very bad thing). Life is already too short, but looks like it will be even shorter for the “french lifestyle”. To all the radical muslims, Billy Crystal sends a warm, “HAVE FUN STORMING THE CASTLE!”