Let's Hope This Strike Heralds the Demise of Macron

Based on Adam Nossiter's description (see "French Strikes Are a Fresh Test for Macron") one would think that France has devised the ideal pension system:

The official retirement age is 62, but many retire before. Pensions as a percentage of working-age salaries are among the world’s highest, hovering at around 70 percent, and often even higher for state workers. Retirements tend to be long in France, and public leisure facilities — concerts, museums, theaters — are often full of vigorous retirees with lots of time on their hands.

The results of this complex system of 42 different pension plans are remarkable: France has among the world’s lowest old-age poverty rates, and average incomes of those over 65 are slightly higher than incomes under that age, a global rarity.

But as we know, vigorous, financially secure retired working people with time on their hands is not acceptable according to the bankrupt neoliberal consensus. So French president and neoliberal champion Emmanuel Macron, presently hailed in the mainstream media as the tribune of Europe, and who I have argued is the last great electoral achievement of neoliberalism, has vowed to overhaul the French pension system.

Reuters says that:

Macron wants to set up a single points-based pension system in which each day worked earns points for a worker’s future pension benefits.

That would mark a big break from the existing set-up with 42 different sector-specific pension schemes, each with different levels of contributions and benefits. Rail workers, mariners and Paris Opera House ballet dancers can retire up to a decade earlier than the average worker.

Currently pension benefits are based on a worker’s 25 highest earning years in the private sector and the last six months in the public sector.

Today there is what amounts to a general strike in France, with the transportation workers leading the way. Macron's disapproval rating, at 70 percent for much of last year because of his violent suppression of the Yellow Vest movement, has started to tick down into the 60s. That should reverse with the pension overhaul strike.

The next French presidential election is 2022, which is farther away than the mind's eye can see. My guess is that Macron will be thoroughly blown out by then.

Close at hand is next week's election in the UK. The negativity and obscurantism of that campaign provides a glimpse of future campaigns to come. We'll see what it delivers. Impasse appears to be on the horizon with a splintered parliament making it difficult to form a government, like in Spain and Israel.

I'm still hopeful that Tory losses in Scotland to the SNP combined with an under-the-radar better-than-expected showing by Labour will pave the way for a coalition government.