Great Idea!

Jacques Chirac has announced that the hotly contested job plan will go ahead with a few changes. He has reduced the time period for firing young workers from two years to one. The changes will also require employers to state reasons for any firing.

But the Unions arrayed against the law will not budge. They are going ahead with planned strikes next week.

"We don’t want to negotiate … we don’t want it at all," Bruno Julliard, head of the largest students’ union, said on TF1 television. "The president had the chance to give a clear answer, which he didn’t do."

Unemployment is at 22% for younger people in France - the highest unemployment in Western Europe.

So, instead of getting more young people hired, the unyielding opposition will likely cause even more companies to move out of France, leading to more unemployment, etc. etc. You get the idea. Oh well, the mobs can always keep fighting over the dwindling supply of cell phones for recreation.