Margaret Warner:

As we know, many Western European countries have far more generous social benefits than the U.S., yet several have trimmed them without this kind of outcry. What is it about France that explains this violent reaction?

Stephan Richter:

Revolutionary traditions, 1789, 1848, 1968. It's part of the French identity that you sometimes need to be on the barricades, as we see today. It's also, unfortunately, a feeling that the French have a sense of that they're a little bit better than the rest of us, never mind the Americans.

France has had the tragedy to have right-of-center governments who, for too long, have never had the courage for real reforms and now risk a general strike.

But in Europe, whether it's the Danes, the Germans and lots of countries have gone through severe adjustments following, really, the United States, where in our life here change is a daily occurrence. It's not a cosmic event. We know it's a founding condition of this country.

And the Europeans, at long last, have embraced this message, not willingly, but because they realize, with the onset of China and everything else, there was no choice. And in this sense, America actually has led the way, not that the Europeans on any other matter willingly follow the United States, and they do it grudgingly on this one, but I think it's important that that has worked.

Margaret Warner:

This past weekend, French President Chirac did offer the students have a loaf. I mean, he went halfway in his speech. He said, "I understand the concerns of these French students and their parents. I want to speak to them." Why wasn't that enough? I mean, what he's proposing now is fairly mild.

Stephan Richter:

It is, but he just doesn't have any credibility anymore. This, after all, is the man who, for the first time, was prime minister of France in 1974. He's been with most French people as one of their leaders for as long as anybody can remember.

Where the French protest too much, we in the United States protest too little. There is a fair balance in the middle.

It takes him until the year 2006 to mouth words about we're not just glorious France, but we actually do need to change. There's a world out there. We have to react like everybody else.

But he has had two full terms in office which, in the case of France, are seven years each. He has not done anything meaningful on the economic reform issues until now. His predecessors have done it. He has failed the country. He has misled the young people, the old people, everybody.

He has pretended France is such a glorious place, and a wonderful place to be. But the need to change is there, and politicians ought to lead that change.

Chirac has been the biggest failure at advancing liberty, and removed prime ministers, which is the prerogative of the president of France, but has always blamed somebody else. If it wasn't the Americans and bad market capitalism, it was prime ministers and so on. And that's just not cutting it anymore in today's world.

Margaret Warner:

Are the protests in France a symptom or a manifestation of resistance to kind of this new global capitalism that we are seeing in other countries, even the U.S.?

Stephan Richter:

Where the French protest too much, we in the United States protest too little. I mean, we've had pensions totally disappear and lots of other things. We don't even have health security for most people for a vital part of America. And even those at large companies, it's shrinking and shrinking. So there is a fair balance in the middle.

The socialists who are hoping to be in government will face the same things plus some. Somebody has got to resolve this mess that the French have gotten themselves into.

But I think what is important also to remember is that, as much as we want to talk about globalization, globalization means change; change means evolution. It's been the human condition since way before the Romans.

And what we don't understand, in the case of France, the tragedy really has been that, in order to move a society, it's better if you had a left-of-center government, as proven by the case of Germany, the case of Denmark, and various Scandinavian countries.

In order to make sensible adjustments after these decades of big benefits for workers, you need to bring the unions along, and left-of-center governments have a much better chance to do that.

And France has had the tragedy to have right-of-center governments who, for too long, never had the courage for real reforms and now risk a general strike, which is what we're close to now, while other countries have had the good fortunes to have more, wiser leftist leaders.

Margaret Warner:

So the Nixon-to-China syndrome. Very briefly, how do you think this is going to end? Will the government fall?

Stephan Richter:

I hope not, because it doesn't make a difference. And if the socialists who are hoping for it are asking to be in government, they'll face the same things plus some. So somebody has got to resolve this mess that the French have gotten themselves into. And it takes a leader, whoever that will be.