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France's birthday gift to 18y-olds: A subscription to the newspaper of their choice
- dhimes 18y agoLet's see. How can I get the press to write nice things about me? Oh, I have an idea....
- bingaman 18y agoStill, not a bad idea (shit, it's working!)
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- helveticaman 18y agoAwesome...I mean, sure, a part of me dislikes government anything, but if they have to promote education, this is a pretty sweet way of doing it.
- corentin 18y agoWhat in hell makes people think that reading a French newspaper is in any way "education"? We're not talking about "The Economist" here...
- galactus 18y agoI almost never comment on this forum, but reading this just made me laugh/cringe. I lived in France for seven years and I now live in Canada (where I read mostly american magazines/newspapers). One of the things I miss from France is the quality of mainstream newspapers and magazines compared to what I get here. "The Economist" is such a superficial magazine compared to, say, Alternatives Economiques, which you can find in any, any french "tabac" (well, it's not exactly the same kind of magazine, but using "The Economist" as an example of a good magazine that the french could not produce outraged me). Fortunately there is always Harper's and The Atlantic on this side of the ocean.
- gaius 18y agoThen, umm, why is the French economy in such a poor state?
- galactus 18y agouh... the french newspapers can not be good because the french economy is "in such a poor state"? I dont quite follow your reasoning. Anyway, let me quote Krugman on the french economy: "let's ask how the situation of a typical middle-class family in France compares with that of its American counterpart. The French family, without question, has lower disposable income. This translates into lower personal consumption: a smaller car, a smaller house, less eating out. But there are compensations for this lower level of consumption. Because French schools are good across the country, the French family doesn't have to worry as much about getting its children into a good school district. Nor does the French family, with guaranteed access to excellent health care, have to worry about losing health insurance or being driven into bankruptcy by medical bills. Perhaps even more important, however, the members of that French family are compensated for their lower income with much more time together. Fully employed French workers average about seven weeks of paid vacation a year. In America, that figure is less than four. So which society has made the better choice?."
- gaius 18y agoAltho' your French economics magazine may be appear to be of a high quality, perhaps it is printed on very nice paper, clearly that doesn't necessarily translate into high quality thinking behind it. It is like a French pastry, regardless of the quality, it is all air. Give me an English pudding any day.
- galactus 18y agoenglish pudding??? ... I rest my case! ;)
- corentin 18y agoYou're right about the magazine but you're dead, dead wrong about the pastry. Come on... edit: I don't know if you're talking about the real french pastry you can buy in any village in France or what passes for french pastry anywhere else in the world. It's not the french name or the tricolor flag on the packaging that makes the quality.
- mynameishere 18y agoIn a speech to industry leaders, Sarkozy said it was legitimate for the state to consider the print media's economic situation. "It is indeed its responsibility ... to make sure an independent, free and pluralistic press exists," he said. ...he then ate a baby and declared his responsibility to not corrupt children.
- simon_kun 18y agoDoes a state that shores up an ailing media form because of personal links and dresses it up as a "present for the children" not bother anyone a tiny bit? Newspapers are dead, get over it.
- run4yourlives 18y agoWell, given auto-bailouts, what state isn't shoring up ailing businesses these days?
- gravitycop 18y agoAutomobiles still serve useful purposes. What useful purpose does print media serve?
- bk 18y agoReach. You'll reach people who otherwise wouldn't (have) access (to) comparable information. I'd even go as far as arguing that informed citizens on public transportation are better than uninformed ones in cars. This is besides the politics behind this particular decision.
- gravitycop 18y agoReach. You'll reach people who otherwise wouldn't (have) access (to) comparable information. Certainly, print+internet reaches more people than internet alone. However, I would suppose that print's exclusive reach is increasingly toward an audience that does not matter. http://www.google.com/search?q=%22not+on+the+internet+you+don%27t+exist%22 http://www.google.com/search?q=%22not+on+the+internet+you+do... informed citizens on public transportation Increasingly, they (citizens on public transportation) use portable internet-enabled information devices. I would think that smartphones and Kindle readers would work well on a crowded subway. http://www.ilounge.com/gallery/iphone_asia/Tokyo-Subway-iPhone.jpg http://www.ilounge.com/gallery/iphone_asia/Tokyo-Subway-iPho... http://www.iphonesavior.com/images/2007/08/07/ftrain1.jpg http://www.iphonesavior.com/images/2007/08/07/ftrain1.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3202/2677315976_94a9b2122b.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3202/2677315976_94a9b2122b.jp...
- gojomo 18y agoRelated idea: maybe we should stop collecting sales tax on books. TV and the internet are great but long-form books seem to play a special role in the development of 'human capital' -- competence, expertise, and civil values.
- corentin 18y agoTo start with, in France, you'd have to remove price control on books...
- jerf 18y agoThis doesn't matter. I have a "free" subscription to my local paper. In this case, this means my "free" subscription is tossed like so much litter on my driveway every few days and if I could stop it, I would. I certainly don't read it; it simply goes in the trash. About once a month, a headline catches my eye and I read it as far as I can without taking it out of the bag (too much work), then toss it. Newspapers aren't dying because nobody can afford them... or lack access in any other way. This solves the wrong problem. 18yos are very aware of the state of newspapers and are unlikely to change their minds as the result of more information.
- tjic 18y agoIt's not a gift to 18yr olds. It's a gift to the newspaper industry.
- numair 18y agoPerhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but most significantly wealthy people I know read the newspaper (usually, several newspapers), and I think keeping up-to-date on the world around you is an important part of being a successful member of society (regardless of whether we define that as monetary, intellectual, etc). As such, I would have to say that this is really a gift to the 18 year olds. I often try to explain to my friends in Northern Europe (who are in their late teens, early 20s) that the average American doesn't read the newspaper. They really don't believe me, but then they start to think about it and realize that this is one of the reasons we have such a ridiculous political system. When you have a large populace that doesn't read, their source of news is entirely through sound bites; thus, everything becomes dumbed down and sensational (for example, Howard Dean yells at an event and is suddenly no longer a viable political candidate? WTF?). You can't have a working democracy in a land of illiterates.
- alaskamiller 18y agoI believe complacency to be more endemic than illiteracy in America. People consume news in a myriad of ways. Trying to say newspaper reading would resolve some problem is silly.
- baltoo 18y agoPerhaps newspaper reading is not so common and complacency is more widespread in the US, I don't know, but some forms of media are more suited for more in-depth analysis while others are not. I'd say that the newspapers format gives the publisher space enough to give needed details on subjects and the reader can peruse it in the speed one needs to comprehend and analyze it. Actually, this goes for most written media. Of course, newspapers per se don't solve problems but I think that a literate people can make more informed decisions and thus have a greater chance on making good decisions.
- jobeirne 18y agoThe joke's on French taxpayers!
- icey 18y agoHow funny, I came in here to ask about French taxes. Is there anyone here who can tell us what the French generally pay annually in taxes? I'm paying almost 40% of my annual income in taxes in the US, and in exchange I don't get health care, I don't get paternity leave paid for by the government, and I sure as hell didn't get a newspaper subscription when I turned any age.
- codegenerator 18y agoThere's many different taxes as you can imagine, but I'd say a little bit more than 50%. With that you get plenty of benefits (school, health care, unemployment, you name it)... but we also have a huge government deficit. At some point, we'll have to change stuff. And that will be painful ! (Meaning that do should really not plan your vacations in France at that time)
- Xixi 18y agoIt's not that easy to calculate (and most French people probably don't even know), because it's quite obfuscated... For healthcare, retirement, various helps for unemployed people and other social benefits, companies are paying roughly the equivalent of your net income directly to the state. The so called "charges". Then according to your revenues you will pay between 0 and 50% of your net income in tax (it's maxed out to 50%). For your average software engineer with a master degree, probably around 30%. So that's a total of 65%. Hardly ever less than 50%, and hardly ever more than 75%. Now the real obfuscation comes from the so-called "charges". They are payed by companies so some people consider them part of company tax. I don't, because "charges" are tied to an employee... fire him/her and you won't have to pay them. The double obfuscation on "charges" is that only a part of them is showed on the payroll... so most people tend to see them as lower than they actually are. And then the VTA is 19.6%... So yes, French people pay an incredible amount of tax. And wages are not even high to begin with (much lower than in the United States, at least NYC where I used to be working). Then again, nearly free education and nearly free healthcare is nice too... the "Grande Ecole" I went to, top tier, was 800 euros a year. Books and all materials included in the price. Definitely affordable.
- pclark 18y agoworthy of simplyhappynews.com - what an inspiring and ingenious idea.
- pclark 18y agosorry, I'm not sure why I thought I'd write that comment. /headslap :)
- friism 18y agoWe have have a similar thing in Denmark, it's called "stamp-support" (due do the cost of distributing). The logic goes that print media still serves as feeder for stories that eventually gets published online and therefore newspapers should get special support. I remain unconvinced.