Commentary of “The fall of France”

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 By Lucas Burckel and Mathieu Kuhm, Monday, 24th march 2014

The article is entitled « The fall of France ». It was written by Janine di Giovanni and published on the Newsweek’s website on January 3rd 2014. Newsweek is an American quality press magazine founded in 1933. This article is available on internet (link : http://www.newsweek.com/fall-france-225368 ). Janine di Giovanni makes the analysis of the situation in France. However,di Giovanni made some errors, the article becomes a biased one . Newsweek is considered as a reliable source; it is the second largest news weekly magazine in the U.S.

This article explains us ,how and why, France has lost both its prestige and power. Janine di Giovanni quotes some examples that show us the issues you have to tackle  when you live in this country.

For example she says that “since the arrival of the socialist president François Hollande in 2012, income taxes and social contributions in France have skyrocketed”. She says that the people creating economic growth are leaving France to develop their talents elsewhere, because of the top tax rate. She explains that for the two past years there has been a noticeable decline in France. “ The socialism increases the difficulties to start small business”, that’s why young graduates escape to London, to plan their future. In this article, we can read that the cost of  everyday life in France is astronomical. Janine di Giovanni writes she saw people taking wild advantage of the system. She gives the example of a cameraman who works only five month a year and spends the other seven months in his house in the south of France living from the states subsidies. She says that:”all this handing out money left the state a bankrupt”.

She writes that the tunnel-vision philosophy will kill France. In fact they refuse to look outward. We can read that “the best thinkers of France have left the country”, that “France is dying in a slow death” etc…

She says that she won’t leave this country she has adopted.She encourages France to wake up and reinvent itself.

Janine di Giovanni, who has lived in Paris for 10 years, made some errors in the analysis she makes about France. Some examples... :

The article says that the top tax rate in France is 75 %. The top income tax rate is 75 %, but only people who earn more than one million euros, pay this rate.They don't pay it for the whole income, but for the sum over a million euros. Moreover, she says that there is no French word for “entrepreneurs”. It’s strange.... the French equivalent for “entrepreneurs” is “entrepreneurs”. This word is a French one and the Anglo Saxoncountries borrowed it from the French language . So, she makes error. Then, she says that Paris beats now London as one of the world’s most expensive cities. London is the 2^nd most expensive city in Europe and Paris only the 12^th. Giovanni says that she lives in France but her sources aren’t very reliable... For example, she tells us that a half liter of milk costs nearly 3 euro in Paris. Once more, her sources are false. She must buy her milk in a jewellery... I don’t know. In a normal supermarket, half a liter costs 75 cents. The journalist claims that “diapers were free” and that “free nurseries existed in every neighbourhood”. Once more, these assertions are false. Diapers aren’t free : you have to buy them, like everywhere in the world in the world and there are no free nurseries in France. Unless you lived in an utopian society,  they wouldn’t be free. This article loses his credibility with these errors, Janine di Giovanni too. 

To conclude you should never believe everything you hear, see or read. You should always have a critical mind when you receive information. Do not hesitate to check if what is writte is true or not. Everybody can make errors and sometimes it changes the whole meaning. We may regret that these mistakes  were made by a famous journalist and published in a quality newspaper.