Data - Chiffres : Economics - Economie

Discussion

Here's an interesting statistic:

Annual income per household (from quid):

USA: 226,316 FRF/yr (29,276 $/yr) France: 205,400 FRF/yr (26,570 $/yr)

Not sure about the year of these, but it might be a couple of years out of date, because more recent data says $37,000 for the US (this number just said income, not household income). Also, it is unclear whether this is an average or median, but I'm guessing median because that is what is usually reported. Anyway, let's assume that the top two numbers are calculated in the same way so that they are a fair comparison.

It appears that household incomes are very similar, with the US being just a little bit higher. At first glance that says that Americans are slightly better off financially, but really you also need to know the cost of living, which I could not find anywhere. From my limited experience of traveling in France, I'm guessing that prices are higher in France. Also, I suspect income taxes might be higher, but I don't know. So my point is that while Americans may not earn much more than the French, they may be able to buy more. This is probably why we have those huge refrigerators that you were talking about.

A question: does anyone have information on the cost of living, income tax, and sales taxes?

I'm also curious about the total percentage of income that goes towards taxes in France, but I can't seem to find it. I did come across something interesting though -- the legal work week was shortened from 39 to 35 hours per week. I think it's to help create jobs or something, but I'm not exaclty sure. But, I still think it's interesting. Perhaps the most interesting thing I've ever encountered in my entire life.

I was looking through the statistics for people living under the poverty level in France and what I found amazed me. I found that there were about 1,305,000 people living under the poverty level in France, and that three-fourths of the people living in poverty earned under 42,000 F each year. I never really thought about the economic crisis that France was going through. I always figured that France was well off on its feet and that it didn't have much economic worries. I just assumed that France was France and that poverty problems happen more commonly in Latin American countries and in Africa (maybe that is also a misconception...).

Unemployment is a big concern here in the States and it also worries many people that live near the poverty level here in the States. Many of the families near or at the poverty level here in the United States have only one provider and that one provider must make ends meet with the little money they earn. There are families that need help from the federal government and fortunately there are some people that recieve federal assistance. I was wondering if there programs such as these in France? I was also wondering what the cause of the Economic crisis in France was all about? I also remember someone mentioning that the fact that France beat Brazil in the World Cup Championship brought the country together. Did that natiolism have a long term effect?

I couldn't find any data on the % of people in poverty from france if anyone finds it please post it. thanks

The US spends 3.7% of its budget for military purposes whereas the French spend 2.7%, so it's apparent that the American government is more concerned about defense than the French. How important do you feel defense is, and do you think your government should spend more on it?

I noticed that some of the main causes of diseases in the US are AIDS, accidents, and homicides. These were not listed on the French side. This sort of makes me ashamed of America; all of these are stupid things caused by people themselves, not by something they could not prevent. To me, this seems to indicate that French people thing more before they do something, while Americans just act rashly in the spare of the moment. Do you guys think this is true?

Hi!

In general I think the US does better in economic terms, while France does better in social terms. For example, the GDP per capita in the US is $30,430, while it is only $24,460 in France. Also the US has been growing faster than France in recent years. ITs GDP has been grwoing at around 4 % while Fance has achieved 2-3% growth in the past couple of years. Further, unemployment in the US has been at 4%, while it has been at around 10-11% in France.

Pour obtenir toute les informations chiffrées a propos de la france :

INSEE

SMIC : Salaire Minimum Interpro de Croissance

C'est le salaire minimum en france, qu'en est-il au USA ?

Aujourd'hui :

42,02FRF/heure (6.4´) , soit au mois 7101,38FRF (1082´)(pour 169h)

Pour répondre à Diana V Albarran, d'après le site du US Census Bureau, "The poverty rate dropped from 12.7 percent in 1998 to 11.8 percent in 1999--the lowest rate since 1979. In 1999, 32.3 million people were poor, down from 34.5 million in 1998. " En France, ce taux était de 9,9 % en 1994 d'après le Quid. Donc, selon ces chiffres (relatifs au niveau général des prix dans chaque pays), le taux de pauvreté est à peu près similaire aux USA et en France. La différence vient du fait que ,l'aide sociale étant plus élevée en France qu'aux USA, le chômage est beaucoup plus élevé chez nous alors qu'aux Etats-Unis, la plupart des gens travaillent mais le revenu de certains n'est pas suffisant pour leur assurer une vie décente. Tout dépend de la mentalité : soit on indemnise un minimum les gens au chômage soit on les incite à travailler à tout prix même pour des salaires très faibles. Votre système a le mérite d'être plus incitatif mais il est à mon sens plus générateur d'inégalités.

Salut Tim ! Au départ, les 35 heures de travail hebdomadaire ont été présentée comme un moyen de réduire le chômage (qui est important en France).

Par la suite, d'autres arguments sont venus se greffer sur ce thème. Certains considèrent la loi sur les 35 heures de travail comme un moyen d'améliorer la qualité de vie des Français. Ils considèrent en effet que la politique la plus efficace consiste à contraindre les entreprises. Celles-ci, lorsqu'elles sont laissées libres de décider des horaires de leurs salariés, les poussent à travailler le plus possible,les "exploitent".

Réponse au message #7

Chère et douce Elina,

Je ne pense pas que les Français agissent de façon forcément plus réfléchie qu'aux Etats-Unis. Pour les homicides, cela est certainement dû au fait qu'il est (je crois) relativement facile de se procurer une arme à feu aux States, alors qu'en France j'ai essayé mais j'ai pas réussi. Et pour le SIDA, c'est peut-être que les relations amoureuses et sexuelles sont plus dans les "coutumes" françaises, et donc l'emploi de préservatifs vient plus naturellement (question d'habitude). Enfin bon, ce ne sont que des suppositions...

A +

P.S. : une petite question qui n'a rien à voir : comment se prononce ton nom de famille (aussi intrigant que ton prénom) et quelle en est l'origine? Merci

Hello Charles, Fire arms are not the only way to commit a suicide. I am sure that if as many French people wanted to do it as Americans, they would have not trouble finding a way... Perhaps the life in America has more pressures to it? About AIDS, maybe you are right. I think a lot of American teenagers have sex as an expression of rebellion from their parents, so they think the less precautions they take, the more rebellious and "cooler" they are.

What does A+ mean? As for my name, you pronounce it just like it is written. Why? Are you planning to write me a poem? The origin of it is Russian. Apperently my mother really liked some actress when I was born, and this actress's name was Elina. So she named me that :)

P.S. Stephane!!! Ca va, mon cheri? Tu me manque! Hier, Nerville a dit que tu lui manque aussi. Maintenent, je n'ai pas ni garcon, ni chocolate!

While a dolist system has interesting merits, in my mind it begs the question of just how far we can take the notion of equality. I firmly believe in equality of opportunity, but I don't believe in a general all-purpose equality where everyone is treated exactly the same. People should have the ability to try for the things they want, but they should not necessarily be handed those things simply because they want them and have tried for them. A person should have the right to run for public office, the right to try out for a basketball team, etc., but they shouldn't necessarily be guaranteed success unless they can meet the standards set up by these institutions.

And I think it is okay to have standards, and to enforce them. I also think it is okay to rank people based on how well they measure up to those standards. This is a recent decision that I've come to, and it has taken a lot of soul searching, for a large part of me wants to celebrate the unique creative mind that each of us is endowed with, and to consider that one person is just as equal as another in all respects.

But this notion simply breaks down when applied to certain arenas, like school. Schools cannot be bastiens of equality, no matter how much we might want them to. Trying to mold them in this image elimates fundamentally important ideas like competition, and rigid standards by which to judge the progress of students. These concepts are necessary for a school to successfully educate its students.

I think these basic ideas have become background considerations in US schools, and I am worried by this development. Are French elementary and secondary schools competitive? I know that you put more faith and stock in standardized exams than we do at the higher levels, but is this true at the lower levels as well?

Salut Elina !

Tou d'abord, 'A +' est l'abréviation de 'à plus tard', et pourrait donc se taduire par 'see you soon' ou quelque chose du genre...

Ensuite pour ce qui est des suicides, je pense aussi qu'on peut très bien le faire sans armes à feu, mais ce commentaire était valable pour les homicides, les meurtres... (c'est bien cela qui était cité dans les chiffres, non ?). Et je crois qu'il est plus facile de commettre un meurtre avec un revolver qu'avec un couteau par exemple... Les blessures par balle sont souvent plus mortelles...

Enfin, pour ce qui est des questions sur ton nom, c'est juste que je trouve que 'Elina Kamenetskaya' est un nom assez intrigant... Ca n'avait pas l'air très américain, et je m'imaginais donc une belle slave mystérieuse...(et d'après stephane, je ne me suis pas trompé) Bref, ma curiosité était excitée. Je n'avais pas l'intention de t'écrire un poème, mais maintenant que tu as soulevé l'idée, pourquoi pas...

A bientôt. Je t'embrasse.

Pour repondre à Diana à propos du niveau de vie en france, moi je ne suis pas du tout étonné qu'il y ait 1.3Millions de personnes qui vivent en dessous du seuil de pauvreté en france. Cela représente 6 ou 7% de la population. Je ne suis pas sur que ce taux soit inférieur aux états-Unis. Les etats Unis sont certes globalement plus riches que la France mais les inégalités n'y sont surement pas moins marquées. Dans l'autre sens il faut savoir que la plupart des problemes sociaux ou autres existent aussi en France. L'INT est à EVRY, une "ville nouvelle" et certains quartiers ne sont pas vraiment fréquentables. Il y a ici d'énormes problemes de sécurité et de pauvreté.

Comme l'a dit Antoine, en france tous les chiffres économiques ou sociaux se trouvent sur www.insee.fr Quel est l'administration equivalente aux Etats-Unis ?

engage