The French and money

Money and politics Facts and figures The well-off and their image The French and gold

Facts and figures about money		The well-off and their image...
Corruption : most French think that their State is more impartial and their civil servants more honest than in other countries. This belief is largely shared. Although this is a difficult domain to explore, most studies (including by NGO Tranparency International) show that the situation in France is just average compared to the other Western countries (ranking 18th) : see figures Emigration : one of the current problems in France is that the flow of people emigrating has become significant : either for tax reasons : wealthy people refusing to pay ISF, the tax on wealth, and moving to Belgium or Switzerland (several hundred a year) or for a better life : young well-educated professionals wishing to find a better paid job in London or in New York more rapidly (10 to 20,000 a year) As someone said : " The French keep hunting the rich and wonder why they fly away. They are the only hunters surprised to see the game trying to escape. " Envy : during the last presidential campaign, the Secretary general of the Socialist Party (François Hollande) was asked about the policy of the Left if its candidate was elected. As he had explained they would raise the taxes, he added " I must admit I don't like the wealthy ". When the journalist asked at what income he considered somebody wealthy, he said 4,000 Euros a month (5,500 $), which is only about twice the average income.		The image of wealth and rich people is extremely negative. For most French and for the French media : You can be an entrepreneur but please remain small ! The image of entrepreneurs is good (60% positive) for small companies (less than, 250 employees) and bad for bigger and international companies (25% only) (Source : IPSOS April 2004) The shareholder is a thief ! To the question " to whom does a company have duties " the answer was : to clients 78%, to employee 71%, to the State, the environment, etc.. (20 to 30%), to shareholders only 6% (same source) According to Forbes (2007) the richest Frenchman is Bernard Arnault, who created LVMH (Vuitton, Dior, etc...), with a fortune of $ 26 bn. Read about the 5 richest. The relationhip of the French to money is somewhat like the relationship of Puritans to sex : they like it but they pretend not to and they do not like to talk about it. In France, if you are rich you do not show it : it is considered very bad taste. A typical example being the traditional rich "bourgeois" from Lyon who drives in town an old dilapidated Peugeot to his garage in the suburb where he parks his sumptuous Mercedes. One of the main messages of Sarkozy when he was campaigning for president in 2007 was "It's cool to make money" : it was largely considered new and vulgar
Checks and chip cards : All French payment cards are Chip cards (since the end of the 1980s : see who invented them) and the smallest shops have the terminal to read them Contrary to the US, almost all cards are debit cards and the French use credit cards very rarely ; card bills are generally paid monthly by automatic bank wiring : read my opinion about credit cards ("Credit? No thank you"). The French use checks much more often than the other Europeans (29% vs. 11% in 2004) but this % is diminishing Money scandals : while Anglo-Saxon countries have sex scandals, France enjoys permanent scandals about money, bribes to foreign dictators (ELF 1990s), " gifts " to politicians (Beregovoy, Dumas, 1990s), insider trading (EADS 2007), private use of public money (Chirac 1970-2007), etc... Money vs. leisure : contrary to what you would expect, a majority of people (53%) understand that shops are closed on Sunday and, if given the choice, would refuse to work on Sunday and make more money. More about it. Gold : the French love gold and they are among the largest gold holders in the world : ingots for many, coins for most (there is always a grandpa or an uncle to present a little "Napoleon" gold coin to a kid). The reason : in case of war, you never know... See comparative figures. Money is dirty : the government has decided that the best scientists would get a bonus (15,000 Euros during 4 years) as a reward for their achievements (Le Monde, October 25, 2009) ; a highly regarded physicist, Didier Chatenay (Directeur de Recherche, CNRS) refused it and declared : "As a matter of principle, I am against any kind of bonus...". Making 4,600 Euros a month ($80,000), he says it is a "perfectly adequate" salary. A huge proportion of scientists and researchers share this view. Do you believe that ? More anecdotes about the French and money ; read Brunet. More to come USEFUL TIP...... If you pay for something and receive insults from the dealer, you must understand that for him/her, you pay for the product or the service only but you do not buy him/her, who remains free to express his/her feelings, including for your own good ! An example : you take lessons (skiing, piano, cooking, you name it) and you do something wrong. The instructor may treat you the way no American instructor would do and tell you that you are DISASTER (" Vous êtes nul(le) "), that you MUST do what he/she instructs you to do and NOT QUESTION it " Faites ce que je vous dis "), etc... If you say : " but I paid you money, don't bawl me out ", the answer is likely to be : "You paid me to teach you something : that's what I'm doing". Read more on education in France.		President Sarkozy and money : it is interesting to note that a large majority of the French were not shocked to see the new president divorce his wife and having an affair with glamorous Carla Bruni but a majority was shocked to see him celebrating his election on a yacht belonging to billionaire Vincent Bolloré. It is clear that Sarkozy wants the French to change their attitude regarding money and their view on people who became rich, but it will not be easy.... The French give much less to charities than Americans : this is largely explained by the very high level of taxes (you expect that the State will finance everything needed...) Why ? Most authors explain this by the influence of Catholicism, particularly after the Catholic reaction during the War of Religion in the 16th century (see Weber or Peyrefitte). People admire old traditional wealth more than recent wealth and they despise "nouveaux riches" (new money). DID YOU KNOW THAT....? The Franc, which disappeared forever on February 17, 2002 was created in 1360 by King Jean II "le Bon" ; this name means : the Valiant, and it is an absurd name for a king who was a notorious idiot, lost the battle of Poitiers and spent 3 years in London, a prisoner of the English. The Franc ("franc" means : free) helped free him for a huge ransom. Money and politics Do you know that, in France, the Communist party (among others) is financed by taxpayer's money ? In France the political parties are largely subsidized by the State (around 40% of their expenses : see detailed figures) according to a very complicated rule taking into account the number of votes and the number of elected officials in the various elections (having members elected is the only condition to get a check from the State) a special body (Commission Nationale des Comptes de Campagne et des Financements Politiques) is in charge of verifying and certifying the accounts : it can (and does) fine parties and can (and does) declare ineligible an uncompliant politician in addition to that : there is a 66% tax break on dues and donations by private individuals (donations by corporations are not allowed) and : in national and European elections,TV channels must run (for free) political ads (in proportion to the previous votes) people elected to an office (from mayor to member of the parliament) give to their party a part or even most (for the Communist Party) of their salary in 2008, the total budget of the 12 main national parties was approx. 171m Euros ($250m), 19% less than in 2007, which was a year of national elections more about politics
To related pages : intercultural differences, French attitudes, etc...

To table of contents To top of the page  Back to home page	Harriet Welty Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French. Order her books : "French Toast, An American in Paris Celebrates The Maddening Mysteries of the French", St.Martin's Press, New York, 1999 "French Fried, The Culinary Capers of An American in Paris", St.Martin's Press, New York, 2001 More on Harriet's books (excerpts, upcoming events, testimonials, etc..)
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