This article from a few weeks ago helps explain the matter, perhaps. It came in the midst of the French presidential election (won eventually by Nicolas Sarkozy) and highlighted some of the major issues of the campaign, which included some angst concerning the many extensive benefits guaranteed to the French people by the French government. Such as? For example, many of those who take jobs with French government-owned companies (such as the national railroad) can retire with a generous pension by the time they reach the age of 55. Many in France work only a 35-hour work week. The government guarantees them a month-long summer vacation with pay. They're guaranteed free health care. Sound wonderful? But the key is the costs. Such spending leads to huge bureacracy and a stagnant economy. In France, public spending accounts for 55 percent of its national income. Unemployment there has not fallen below 8% for over 25 years (the U.S. unemployment rate under the Bush administration, by contrast, is only 4.5%). It's very difficult to hire and fire employees in France, because of various government regulations guaranteeing all the right to a job. So many companies simply won't do it. Instead, new hires get only temporary contracts; indeed, 70% of all new employment hires in France are on temporary contracts.
And, as the article details, despite all these government benefits, many in France are discontented. Material things, indeed, don't always bring you happiness--and that goes not only for material things purchased by rich folks, but material stuff provided by governments, too.
