Nah..it must just suck to have such a cynical, superior and sarcastic attitude.

Are we sure that fint isn't a White House plant? <G>

You are the expert.

Look who's talking...it must suck even worse to continually claim one's own country does nothing right...
and insult anyone who disagrees

I'd rather be a White House plant than a terrorist's stooge

(Impartial) LOL! :D

fint:

I take that as a personal insult, friend....

Where have I EVER posted anything that claims my country does nothing right/ Where you, on the other hand, claim that anyone who does not believe the same as you is somehow unAmerican.

Grow up. I am not imperessed with people who exhibit such a superior attitude. Let me put it another way and this appies to you:

I an appreciate ignorance, since it can be rectified. I can appreciate arrogance if it can be backed up with facts. What really sets me off is an individual whoi is both ignorant and arrogant.

Back at ya! Don't throw rocks if you live in a glass house. Go back and read the post I was responding to and tell me just what a swell guy you are. Perhaps you should try posting regarding my argument and stay away from the personal attacks.

When you consider that Paris is the number one tourist destination in the world, you're definitely going to find some Parisians that are a bit sick of it. Doesn't mean that they're justified in being rude but it does give you some perspective.

With that said, I would say that your average Frenchman is probably less friendly than many other countries. But this doesn't necessarily apply just to foreigners--they can be downright rude to each other! In a business setting, it is not uncommon for a meeting to start off quite hostile with a lot of people arguing before things settle down and 'proper' discussions taking place. And they often refere to dealings with clients as 'la bonne guerre', or 'a good war'. In otherwords, a certain amount of conflict is tolerated, respected and even encouraged! Very different than Anglo-Saxon cultures in my experience.

I have lived in France for nearly two years now.

We French are pathetic losers, says ad chief
By Kim Willsher in Paris
(Filed: 31/07/2005)

The President of one of the world's biggest advertising agencies has issued a damning state-of-the-nation assessment that describes France as being in steep decline and his countrymen as "narrowed and stunted".

Maurice Lévy, the head of the media giant Publicis, whose company owns Saatchi and Saatchi and has offices in 100 countries across six continents, said France had failed to get the 2012 Olympics because the world now saw it as a nation of perdants - "losers".

For good measure, he described the 35-hour week as "absurd" and the wails of complaint that followed Paris's loss of the Games to London as "pathetic".

His forthright critique was published in the opinion section on the front page of the respected daily newspaper Le Monde.

It was in stark contrast to the slick advertising campaigns dreamed up by Publicis to promote its international clients, which include BMW, Renault, Coca-Cola, L'Oréal, and Club Med. Such campaigns helped earn the company net profits of €130 million euros (£90 million) for the first six months of this year.

Yet Mr Lévy, 63, told The Sunday Telegraph that he stood by every word of his criticism and had received scores of messages of support.

"What I wrote was hard, but true. France is not in a crisis, it's worse than that. A crisis is usually sudden and short, while we are in an endemic situation," he said. "I've just had enough and wanted to say what I felt."

In the article, Mr Lévy said the French had only themselves to blame for losing the Olympics, and that the country needed a wake-up call. "We have narrowed and stunted ourselves and we paint ourselves as losers, and no one wants to be among the losers. It's time we opened our eyes wide, took an icy shower and looked reality in the face: we are in decline, going down a slippery slope.

"The Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry has reminded us of our [public] debt and the fact that we are living beyond our means. We knew the figures, yet no government for the last 20 years has wanted to draw a conclusion from them. The figures that attest to our decline are known to all."

He said that unemployment, at more than 10 per cent, was a "cancer that gnawed at our society", complaining that companies had lost their competitiveness and that job creation had broken down.

"In the global economy we give the impression of being a Gaulois village, but unlike those in Astérix, it doesn't make us laugh and it will raise even less of a smile among our children and grandchildren in 20 years' time," he said.

"The general gloom is based on the idea that nothing can be done and nobody seems to have a solution. In fact our politicians have long played fathers of the nation, protecting their flock and hoping to save we the children from crises. It's praiseworthy and generous. Thank you. But it doesn't prepare us for the harsh realities of life.

"Remember the day after the first petrol shock, when the Dutch took to their bicycles to save petrol while our good president explained to us that we could (and deserved to) set off in our cars for our weekends away.

"Later, when it was necessary, alas, to make redundancies, the compensation was set at 90 per cent, therefore allowing those made redundant to earn yet more without working. Why in that case, make any effort to find a job? In doing this, trying to avoid any difficulties for them, we have turned the French into children.

"The final straw has to be the absurd decision to introduce the 35-hour working week when we were told repeatedly that we could work less and earn more. How on earth in this context can we expect the same French people to accept necessary reforms?"

Mr Lévy concluded that it would take a brave person to introduce the necessary changes, someone who would put his country first. "Is there a politician capable of overcoming their own ambitions in the cause of a certain idea of France?"

In an interview last week at his office on the Champs Elysées, he said his article had received acclaim from across the political spectrum. "I've had a lot of calls from politicians, business leaders, economists and journalists from the Left and Right of the political spectrum who support what I wrote," he said.

"I'm optimistic by nature. One day we will have to wake up, and in the end things will have to change."

Some in this country hold France up as the model for what America should be. I couldn't dissagree more.

I've said it many times: I've seen too many people coddled by their parents and by their government. Never allowed to fail, and consequently, never allowed to really acheive (even though they are told they are). They amount to worthless piles of human flesh.

A safety net has the curious effect of both creating a floor and a ceiling.