View Full Version : When a government enacts compulsory charity
Jérôme Frenchise
05-11-2005, 10:50 AM
Summer 2003. A tough canicule struck Europe. Over 40°C every day, for weeks, everywhere in France. I personally flew (and fled) from Paris (42°C, the usual maximum being 32-33°C) to Eire... where it was foggy and 12°C in Dublin, then 24°C max for 2 weeks.
Hospitals, mortuaries and morgues were overwhelmed with the flow of thousands and thousands of victims of all ages, mainly old people. Officials increasingly alerted our country leaders, up to Health Minister Jean-François Mattéi, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin (both suckers) and Pdt Chirac (well, you know...).
All of them (all on hoildays and wishing to be left alone...), and therefore all their subordinates, made sure that the growing alarming calls were not published!
When there eventually was a reaction, more means were given to hospitals and health services (and morgues...), but for 15,000 people, it was just too late. 15,000 died from canicule effects.
A few months later, to pretend acting like responsible leaders, and to finance the state pension system and aid the handicapped, our ultra-capitalist government, sold to the main employers' Union and to the OECD (and so on) decided:
- Whit Mondays, from the 16th of May 2005, were declared days of "national solidarity". Whit Mondays had always been holidays. From next Monday, all wage earners and salaried employees will work one more day a year ... FOR FREE!
- the money is supposed to be dedicated to the causes I mentioned, but we have doubts about that:
-we've paid a sticker for about 25 years which was a tax
meant to... finance state pensions! Old people never
caught any glimpse of the outcome of that tax...
- it's a really bad measure, for only the salaried will pay,
and Whit Holidays will not bring any money to hotels,
restaurants, bars, travel agencies, etc, anymore.
- the sums that may come out of that day will to
a large extent be LOST for hotels, bars, etc,
as nobody will go on holiday as they used to.
This is but COMPELLED CHARITY, IMO. A really responsible government would not even dare thinking of such a ridiculous and unfair measure. 82% of the French over 18 condemn it. 70% are dissatisfied with the action (that we call "ultraliberal") of that government (in short: police, tax reimforcement and income freeze, dismantling of services, pauperization of the educational system, protection of industrial thieves who fire 5,000 workers when they earn huge profits and line their stockholders' pockets, yark! I'll have to stop or I'm gonna throw up!).
They've been freezing incomes... but their first measure was to rise their own (ministers and deputies's) salaries by... 70%!!!
Well, if you hear about another revolution in France someday, don't be surprised. Now there are 100 times as many reasons for rebellion as there were in May 1968.
How would you react in the USA if you had to work one more day... for free? ;)
BITEYOASS
05-11-2005, 11:23 AM
Originally posted by Jérôme Frenchise
How would you react in the USA if you had to work one more day... for free? ;)
They already do, it's called Wal-mart. LOL
Jérôme Frenchise
05-11-2005, 11:46 AM
Originally posted by BITEYOASS
They already do, it's called Wal-mart. LOL
I may be wrong, but it doesn't consist in working for free on a high-time holiday...
Besides, as a teacher, I can't see much extra profit in my presence... Education, except for the school lunches, electricity, Xerox paper and ink we buy, there's no money we're about. We don't play any economical role...
Most of our pupils, and some of their parents who managed to work that extra day for peanuts on another day, told us teachers that they wouldn't be there.
All Unions have called for strike actions. I am no Union follower, I would have liked not to join in that new ass-fucking day. But working for free is one thing. The other is, if you don't go to work, they debit a day's work's worth from your pay.
So I'll be there on Monday just not to lose money...:monkey:
What d'ya think of that?
:)
We 're screw again ,what's new by the way?
About a french revolution,keep waiting most of the french are scare ,just a bunch of sheep following the flow!
Jérôme Frenchise
05-11-2005, 01:06 PM
Originally posted by Jano
We 're screw again ,what's new by the way?
About a french revolution,keep waiting most of the french are scare ,just a bunch of sheep following the flow!
Yeah, my buddy from Bordeaux, I agree, it's nothing new.
But we've been fucked off like never before by that gang of bastards.
And not even the slightest compensation by way of vaseline... :D
As for sheep, some of them are induced to follow because of financial insecurity. Just like pigs, they've become unable to raise their heads.
By the way, your hilarious picture featuring a sheep fucking off a pig should be reversed to illustrate what's going on in France: a huge sheep flock (no relation to the Van Faggar worshippers) are getting fucked by a few swine...
Are you concerned with that extra day's work?
Yes i'm just like you, but my boss is giving me some extra money for it.I'm not going to work for free.I'm going to make a 150 euros cash for my 8 hours of work.Fuck Raffarin ,chirac and the other clowns!
I don't blame you for being upset, Jérôme. That's crap, and you can be sure the government will waste and redirect most of any amount collected.
Originally posted by Figs
I don't blame you for being upset, Jérôme. That's crap, and you can be sure the government will waste and redirect most of any amount collected.
You're right Figs,it's just a bunch of crap!
Jérôme Frenchise
05-11-2005, 01:52 PM
Originally posted by Jano
Yes i'm just like you, but my boss is giving me some extra money for it.I'm not going to work for free.I'm going to make a 150 euros cash for my 8 hours of work.Fuck Raffarin ,chirac and the other clowns!
:D Well, I'm truly happy for your 150-euro extra cash, you lucky man!
But then, I'm even less willing to go to work myself now... :(
Yeah, fuck them! But I'm just thinking that things would be so far better, after decades (but it's got so much worse these days) complaining about the inadequacy of our country leaders's policies, if another kind of leaders were in charge, safe from all the crappy ideological background (whatever it is) and corporatism, younger than every single one of them who were elected in the last 30 years or so, in short a governmental team composed of skilled citizens under 50, more down-to-earth and aware of what most people's lives are like.
I guess I won't see such a bliss before I die, maybe nobody will ever witness it. But I believe in that, it may be utopia, but at least it's how I feel things should evolve. Unfortunately, the democratic system has been invaded by corporatism for so long that some change couldn't take place in no time.
As partisans of a conscript army will say ("the army is something too serious to be left in the hands of the military alone", no harm, Sarge ;) ), I'd say that politics is something too important to be left in the hands of politicians alone. Though less than 50% of citizens take part in elections, in average. And that's too bad.
Jérôme Frenchise
05-11-2005, 01:55 PM
Originally posted by Figs
I don't blame you for being upset, Jérôme. That's crap, and you can be sure the government will waste and redirect most of any amount collected.
Cheers Figs! Thanks, for it's getting me even more upset! :D
DLR82VH
05-11-2005, 02:24 PM
Oh fuck that shit!!!! I wouldn't work for free..........If I go to work they had best be paying my ass.
How can any government tell people they have to work for free?? That shit would never fly over here.
Originally posted by DLR82VH
That shit would never fly over here.
Exactly!! They would just raise taxes.....
m_dixon1984
05-11-2005, 04:06 PM
It all depends on how you look at things. I get taxed around 25%. The way I see it is I'm working for free every year until about April 1st. Then, with our at-the-cash taxes coming in around 15%, I'm looking at the middle of May until I make any money for myself. Surprise, every year my property taxes come in and I'm out another couple weeks salary. So now it's June before the fucking bleeding stops. The other day I'm filling my car with gas and I see on the pump a breakdown of the cost of Canadian fuel: over 45% given to the various levels government. Christ, now it's nearly half a year before a single dime makes it into my pockets. Do they need to introduce a charity day here in Canada? Fuck no!!! Every day the people of Canada are in such a giving mood they bend right over and let the tax man reach in up to his elbow. Oh, the french got hot a few summers ago, we helped, and I felt Mr. Taxman flexing his "maudit" bicep against my colon, "tabarnac".
Rant ends.
M
Jérôme Frenchise
05-11-2005, 04:26 PM
Originally posted by m_dixon1984
It all depends on how you look at things. I get taxed around 25%. The way I see it is I'm working for free every year until about April 1st. Then, with our at-the-cash taxes coming in around 15%, I'm looking at the middle of May until I make any money for myself. Surprise, every year my property taxes come in and I'm out another couple weeks salary. So now it's June before the fucking bleeding stops. The other day I'm filling my car with gas and I see on the pump a breakdown of the cost of Canadian fuel: over 45% given to the various levels government. Christ, now it's nearly half a year before a single dime makes it into my pockets. Do they need to introduce a charity day here in Canada? Fuck no!!! Every day the people of Canada are in such a giving mood they bend right over and let the tax man reach in up to his elbow. Oh, the french got hot a few summers ago, we helped, and I felt Mr. Taxman flexing his "maudit" bicep against my colon, "tabarnac".
Rant ends.
M
:D Yeah, great!
But you can see taxes as (a fair part of) the price to pay to get clean gasoline, live in a secure country under a democratic system...
Taxes are fair somehow, as long as they're fairly used.
Compelling citizens to work for free for charity motives is completely unfair.
The old and the handicapped are no priority IMO. Starving kids would deserve aid at least as much, so why not work for no pay but to help the needy half of the year then?
Jérôme Frenchise
05-11-2005, 04:47 PM
This bloke always thinks it stinks in his nearabouts, but it's just that his nose is too close to his mouth!
m_dixon1984
05-11-2005, 04:54 PM
Completely agree.
Obviously my rant illustrated my annoyance to an extreme level.
Too much of our taxes go to support what is already charity and the bureaucratic nightmare that develops.
Give the money back to the people and let them decide what to do with it. More needy people will actually get the help they need, IMHO.
M
The Scatologist
05-11-2005, 05:23 PM
Why don't you guys just gather a huge mob and start tearing down the homes of the guys that made that new law then?
If the cops and soldiers are under it's effect too, a lot of them would probably help LOL.
Jérôme Frenchise
05-11-2005, 05:53 PM
Originally posted by The Scatologist
Why don't you guys just gather a huge mob and start tearing down the homes of the guys that made that new law then?
If the cops and soldiers are under it's effect too, a lot of them would probably help LOL.
Strikes will take place everywhere in the country, that's for sure.
Now I remember a tough one, that of the French state electric company 2 years ago. The guys went to Prime Minister clown Raffarin's (see picture above) second home to cut off electricity.
Then they went to the president of the main employers's Union president's (Seillière, an over-arrogant medieval-like aristo bastard) second home. I saw it on TV... They opened the box where the meter was supposed to be. There was one, but it was no use... The asshole got electricity for free!
That should have immediately started a riot heading to Seillière's Union headquarters, at least... But nothing happened, safe 45 seconds in the TV and radio news, 15 lines in most papers...
I wonder what could cause a revolution... :rolleyes:
Seshmeister
05-11-2005, 06:07 PM
What was the slogan?
Vote for the crook not the facist?
Are you guys going to ratify this EU constitution?
DrMaddVibe
05-11-2005, 06:16 PM
Bastille Day!
Aw, fuck it who am I kidding...just surrender...again...don't forget the "Kick Me Hard" sign on your way in to work!
Jérôme Frenchise
05-11-2005, 06:33 PM
Originally posted by Seshmeister
What was the slogan?
Vote for the crook not the facist?
Are you guys going to ratify this EU constitution?
:D That was the slogan. Some even went voting with clothes pegs on their noses.
Le Pen the naziard, or Chirac the crook? Black plague or clap? Errr...
As for the constitution, a referendum will take place on May 29th. An opportunity for extremists (left and right) to use the general dissatisfaction. Some polls show a slight advance of "no's", other polls foresee a slight "victory" for "yes's". Some say 50/50.
I really don't know what to vote for. Mainstream classic left and right and centre break my balls, but communists and trotskyists (yes, we still have some :D ) and fascists disgust me. A "reasonable" vote would be blank or spoiled IMO.
What's for sure is those who'll vote won't really know what the constitution is about. Those who will vote "no" will just show disapproval to the stinky government, together with probable fear of the reimforced ultraliberalism that it seems to contain.
Jérôme Frenchise
05-11-2005, 06:38 PM
Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
Bastille Day!
Aw, fuck it who am I kidding...just surrender...again...don't forget the "Kick Me Hard" sign on your way in to work!
:D !
I've thought of a self-made badge: "My arse hurts", but it wouldn't suit at school...
DrMaddVibe
05-11-2005, 06:45 PM
Well, I hope you pile on the homework!
Don't forget to give them a "surprise quiz"!
Jérôme Frenchise
05-11-2005, 06:52 PM
Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
Well, I hope you pile on the homework!
Don't forget to give them a "surprise quiz"!
Many of them told me they wouldn't be there next Monday. This kind of day is the worst, as you cannot really make them work just as usual.
But... those who'll be there must be pro-Chirac voters' sons and daughters, so I think I'll kind of make them pay... by working even harder than as usual. He-hey! :cool:
DrMaddVibe
05-11-2005, 07:38 PM
Give 'em hell!
Seshmeister
05-11-2005, 07:44 PM
I have to say that if teachers holidays in France are even close to those in the UK I have no sympathy for you at all.
Teachers in the UK get 85 days holiday a year yet still constantly complain!!
Fucking part-time...:D
BigBadBrian
05-11-2005, 07:50 PM
Jérôme Frenchise and Jano: you are both quite welcome to send any existing wine stocks to myself here in the States for safekeeping if another revolution does break out.
:D
:bottle:
Jérôme Frenchise
05-12-2005, 12:33 AM
Originally posted by Seshmeister
I have to say that if teachers holidays in France are even close to those in the UK I have no sympathy for you at all.
Teachers in the UK get 85 days holiday a year yet still constantly complain!!
Fucking part-time...:D
Actually, we have 16 weeks off in total, or 112 days. That's 96 days if you take off Sundays... and effectively, many of us constantly complain. :D
But then, who on earth would be a teacher without that amount of holidays? ;)
Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
Give 'em hell!
Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
Give 'em hell!
Minced meat... we'd serve for school lunches. :)
Jérôme Frenchise
05-12-2005, 12:44 AM
Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Jérôme Frenchise and Jano: you are both quite welcome to send any existing wine stocks to myself here in the States for safekeeping if another revolution does break out.
:D
:bottle:
Good idea! :cool:
Mine is pretty fine, but Jano's cellar must be full of treasures. :D
Just as much as barons wouldn't have... :)
Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Jérôme Frenchise and Jano: you are both quite welcome to send any existing wine stocks to myself here in the States for safekeeping if another revolution does break out.
:D
:bottle:
Ask me nicely BBB and like DAVE say ...... you never know!
Nice to talk to you bro ,cheers!!
Seshmeister
05-12-2005, 01:02 AM
Originally posted by J�r�me Frenchise
Actually, we have 16 weeks off in total, or 112 days. That's 96 days if you take off Sundays... and effectively, many of us constantly complain. :D
But then, who on earth would be a teacher without that amount of holidays? ;)
Minced meat... we'd serve for school lunches. :)
And you are complaining about doing an extra days work.
As-tu perdu la tête?
Je m'en branle!:)
Salut!
:gulp:
Originally posted by Seshmeister
And you are complaining about doing an extra days work.
As-tu perdu la tête?
Je m'en branle!:)
Salut!
:gulp:
You're right Sesh,they 're always crying!
Cheers bro!!
Jérôme Frenchise
05-12-2005, 12:07 PM
That's it! I've vexed some of you pals with my too long vacations! :)
So sorry, really. :( :D
Seriously now, teachers deserve even more. It may look too much from an external point of view, but a couple more weeks would be fair, you know...
:D
As for next Monday, I just got an idea: going to work carrying a collection box with a French proverb that says "Every labor is worth wages" written on it. :cool:
I'd go: "Can you spare some change, pupils?" :)
I hope that you're not serious!
Jérôme Frenchise
05-12-2005, 04:35 PM
Originally posted by Jano
I hope that you're not serious!
Of course I am...
... just kidding! :)
Jérôme Frenchise
05-16-2005, 07:31 AM
Holy shit... My alarm clock didn't ring this morning. The fucking batteries... I got up at 9:50, my first courses beginning at 10:00... I phoned the school. The whole administrative staff and most of my colleagues were on strike! I initially didn't intend to be on strike myself, but I decided to say I was, as a means to get away with it... Well, I'm ashamed, but it sounded as if today was going to be a drag anyway (most pupils weren't there). And it hurt working for free, paying for the government's unabilities. :rolleyes:
A big fiasco is announced for today's "national solidarity day". A large majority of people are either on strike or taking a day off...
I will tell more about it later (figures, people's reactions, country leaders declarations) if you like. :)
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