O Protecionismo Francês: O Ridículo Caso da Peugeot

A França é a pátria predileta e fonte de inspiração dos idiotas de todos os partidos. Não existe idéia ruim que não tenha sido criada, exposta, popularizada ou posta em prática por um francês, em particular pelo seu governo. Em economia a ortodoxia mercantilista cala fundo na alma gaulesa. Considerem mais um capítulo da estupidez protecionista agora protagonizada pelo governo socialista de Hollande: The French government and the unions want to prevent Peugeot from closing its plant in Aulnay-sous-Blois, outside Paris, and slashing 8,000 jobs. But if politicians and labor leaders are successful, they will only make things worse. Perhaps they'll manage to save a few thousand jobs in France in the short term. But, by doing so, they will put the company's future into even greater jeopardy.(...) President Hollande reacted immediately, saying that PSA's downsizing plans were "unacceptable" and had to be renegotiated. Minister Montebourg said that he had little faith in company management and speculated that perhaps the car company was merely playing the "imaginary invalid." He also said that he had a "real problem" with the company's strategy and the behavior of its main shareholder, the Peugeot family, which owns more than a quarter of its shares and received a substantial dividend last year. Both CEO Philippe Varin and Supervisory Board Chairman Thierry Peugeot were called on the carpet, and the Peugeot family was forced to hear Montebourg deliver a lecture on patriotism. The company, the minister said, doesn't just belong to its shareholders, but also to "the history of France, a territory, a national idea."