Jerome, I have been following your diaries and comments both on Eurotrib and Daily Kos for the past week or so, and it has been extremely informative.  However, the more I read -- on all sides of the issue -- the more confused I get, as I have never lived in Europe for more than 6 months (back in the early 90s) and have been "drinking the kool aid" of so-called "Anglo-Saxon neo-liberalism" since I have started to become aware of such issues back in the mid 90s.

Can you clear up a couple of questions I have?

• Do you believe that unemployment (unemployment as number seeking employment as ratio of labor force/active population) is a chronic problem in France?  If so, do you believe it is a significant one that needs to be addressed?

• What is the "old social compact that worked" in France, when did it work, and why did it stop working?

• Related to the previous question:  You wrote above that

  France did make the choice 30 years ago, when unemployment first struck, to protect those in the work market and have flexibility borne by a small subset of the population

  and I think you implied that this was a mistake.  If so, what should France have done, and what should it do now to address the problem of unemployment (assuming you do believe that there is such a problem)?

• I was intrigued to read that another reason you appear to be against the Anglo-Saxon neo-liberal model (besides its alleged unfairness to the non-elites, in particular to the unfair share of precariousness that they have to bear in that model) is that you anticipate a "future energy crisis" that the Anglo-Saxon model will not be able to meet as well as the "old social compact that worked in France".  Can you elaborate on that?

• I work as a software programmer, and I love Paris, so one dream I have long held is to be able to start a high-tech company in Paris, probably around 2009/2010 (that timing being for personal reasons).  I have seen the wreckage of enough high-flying start-ups in the U.S. high-tech bubble, and was never personally interested in building to sell out and get rich anyway.  Rather, my goal would simply be to build a good, enduring company based on good products that would generate healthy profits, where people would enjoy working.  Do you think it would be easier to do this in France than in, for example, Germany, the U.K., Japan or the U.S. (all other countries I am also considering, though I would highly prefer to do this in France)?  Do you think I could this using the Contrat Nouvelle Embauche until I grow beyond 20 employees and then (necessarily) switch them to the standard Contrat à Durée Indéterminée?  Alternatively, would it be feasible -- as it has been in my experience in the U.S. and in Japan -- and even preferable to work with independent contractors (again, this would be high-tech sector, specifically software programming and the Internet) than hiring employees?

• The American in me bristles at the word "elite" (in a sociopolitical context), so I was wondering how you define/use that word.  (I know, I know, obviously the U.S. has its most wealthy families and individuals, its most educated families and individuals, its most politically connected families and individuals.  But it does not automatically follow that these are "elite" in the sense that you mean the word, especially as it applies to France.)  Also, how do you propose to build/nurture/cultivate "a more confident, but more modest elite" in France?  Would you recommend that other EU countries -- indeed, even the EU itself -- do the same?

Sorry for the long post (if there is a different format/forum where I should have put it, please let me know!)

Bruno-Ken

Point n'est besoin d'espérer pour entreprendre, ni de réussir pour persévérer. - Charles le Téméraire