Ritualistic Attack on France

Whenever American conservatives need a whipping boy, they ritualistically invoke France as if it is some sort of laughable socialistic basket case. In todays WSJ, Matthew Kaminski argues that California has become France.

This is ludicrous. On dozens of completely objective economic and social indicators, France out scores the US. It has a higher GDP/Capita, higher labor productivity, shorter work weeks, higher life expectancy, greater literacy etc. Whatever the problems of either France or California, France is hardly some backward basket case in need to a neo-liberal shaking up.