--- In [email protected], "sramanist" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Excellent article above with some very apt insights, many of which > maybe throw light onto why the "French system" suffers its > inefficiencies. After all, the question initially raised was not > about British food. It was about the apparent unfairness of the > percentage of agricultural subsidies that disappear into an > arguably inefficient French agricultural system, and this is > what needs to be addressed.
How addressed? Yes, there are government subsidies in France. But the thinking behind them is interesting. It's to preserve one's 'patromonie,' or tradition. So if not all the French farmers can afford to stay in business, they occasionally subsidize them to enable them *to* stay in business. This preserves jobs, but more importantly, preserves what the French see as valuable, a way of life, the link to their past, so that this link is not lost. One sees the same phenomenon here in may other ways. Why are there so many bookstores in Paris, basically one on every block? Well, duh...to understand this one all you have to do is check the prices in each of them, and then in the larger chain bookstores. No difference. Discounting of books is illegal. Therefore, without any need for subsidies, the small bookstores can stay open, and not be forced out of business, as has happened to something like 70% of small bookstores in America since the advent of Borders and Barnes and Noble and the other big chains. Another interesting French way of handling things can be seen in the delayed, but inevitable, arrival of super- markets. If you know French culture, you realize that *nothing* could be more antithetical to that culture and tradition than the notion of "one stop shopping." One goes to the boulangerie for one's bread, to the boucherie for one's meat, to the poissonerie for one's fish, etc. And you have *relationships* with all of these shop owners. They know you by name. They ask how your kids and old Aunt Alice are doing. They know your preferences. "Your people have been doing business with "their people" for decades, possibly longer. Well, the French looked at the idea of supermarkets, and then they looked at the reality in America and in other countries where they were allowed to pop up anywhere the owners wanted them to. The statistics were quite convincing. Within two years of a major supermarket chain moving to a town, 80-90% of the small food businesses had closed, unable to compete. This is simply not acceptable in France. So they came up with a system that allows the supermarches to flourish, while subsidizing to some extent the smaller grocers so that they can stay in business. The bottom line? Everybody has a *choice*. If the supermarkets had been allowed to flourish in a "free market" the way they have in America, the consumers would no longer *have* that choice, because there would be no small, independent grocers any more. So it's a tradeoff in France, between slightly higher costs and the desire to preserve one's traditions. The article that was posted got a little of that. In my book it's a good thing, and many countries would be saner if they'd adopted it long ago. > When visiting friends in France, Belgium or Austria the > phrase "Bon Apetit" or "Guten Apetite" is often heard before a > meal. I have been asked "What is the English wish given before > a meal?" I have to say that we have no such readily given > expression. For a laugh I sometimes say that in the UK we say > "Bon Chance" :-) Unc To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
