Bossnappers

The future now:

Almost half of French people believe it is acceptable for workers facing layoffs to lock up their bosses, according to an opinion poll published Tuesday.

Staff at French plants run by Sony, 3M and Caterpillar have held managers inside the factories overnight, in three separate incidents, to demand better layoff terms -- a new form of labour action dubbed "bossnapping" by the media.

Le Parisien found that 56 percent of blue-collar workers polled approved of bossnappings while 41 percent disapproved. Among white-collar workers, 59 percent were against the practice while 40 percent thought it was acceptable.

"These hostage takings, we know how it starts but no one knows how far it can go," said Xavier Bertrand, a former labour minister now secretary-general of the ruling UMP party.

"Our country must avoid entering a spiral of violence..."

Little late for that isn't it, Xavy?

Gaze, dear readers, upon America 2050. Or maybe 2030, with a few more consecutive Democrats in the White House. That's the fruit of populism. It's what happens when a republic becomes a democracy. Pretty, isn't it? It's what brought Athens to destruction. And that's exactly what the liberals in this country want to encourage.

I wonder if they can even find Greece on a map.