Here's what people who aren't pussified do

When American or Japanese managers fire French workers... the fired workers kidnap the managers. Whether for better severance benefits or for their jobs back or to get attention from the government for their community when a major employer is closing, they don't just take it sitting down and whimpering like Americans do. They do something about it. Of course, here in Soviet America if workers tried doing something like that then the local riot police would be pulled in to beat them all to a pulp then herd them into a warehouse full of toxic wastes somewhere, and they'd be "disappeared" for several days before given an arraignment before a judge, and none of this would be covered by our highly censored corporate media which would be too terrified that it'd encourage others to copy the act, but that's the Land of the Free(tm) for ya...

One interesting thing: French unemployment right now is roughly half that of the United States, if you compare comparables (i.e., the U-6 U.S. measure against the French measure). Note that people do not work part-time jobs for economic reasons in France, and are never counted as "discouraged". They're either employed full time, or unemployed. Due to the extensive safety net in France, they never have to work part-time odd jobs to make ends meet while they're searching for full-time employment.

Thus why the European countries haven't signed on to Obama's stimulus plan. They don't have the massive underemployment and crumbling infrastructure of the United States, so they simply don't need it. Which is great for them, but in the meantime, makes it suck even more to be us...

-- Badtux the Economy Penguin