The Yanks Aren't Coming

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Thursday, July 31, 2003

[TroutStalker]

The nation of haute cuisine, insolent waiters and all-around haughtiness wants the sneaker-wearing, loud-mouthed, empire-building Americans back. Badly. Yes, the French apparently miss us.

More to the point, the French miss U.S. dollars. Americans accounted for just 5% of visitors to France last year but were responsible for 15% of all tourist spending. The French tourism ministry puts the decline in American visitors at 30% in the first five months of this year, and blames a weak dollar and edginess about trans-Atlantic travel after 9/11.

[Rodney King]

I was in Paris two weekend ago. Everyone I talked to was paranoid about the boycott, and they all asked how long we woudl hold this grduge against them. As I was a guest, I didn't say "hopefully forever", but I did say "It's a fair bet that as long as American soldiers are dying in Iraq, you can expect the boycott to continue."

[sc2_ct]

Well, I sure hope it continues to hurt their economy for some time to come...

[freekitty]

Too bad. We Americans don't like trash.

[Helms]

" Don't tread on me" so my worn out Michelins
are being replaced by Dunlop's.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I always thought that Michelins were the most overrated and overpriced tire out there. They charge $125 for what everyone else is charging $75 and then refuse to give road hazard warranties.

[rrrod]

how about as long as there is a france?

[Blood of Tyrants]

I would have told them that the grudge ends when the French stop stabbing us in the back, admit that they were wrong and tried to screw us over, ask forgiveness, stop being so snotty, and straighten up and fly right.

In other words, it will be a long time.

[Ciexyz]

I'm still boycotting Lancome makeup, which is on the boycott list. Instead of paying $38 for a compact and $15 for eyeliner, I'm buying Almay makeup at the drug store: compact is $7.99 and eyeliner is $5.99.

[Paleo Conservative]

About the only American who should not boycott France is Lance Armstrong. I hope he wins another five consecutive Tour de France races.

[Rodney King]

Yeah, but I was a guest in the home of some long time friends, so I toned it down a little.

[woofie]

I was in France for 3 weeks....people were mighty nice to us....seemed to miss our money as the article says

[Blood of Tyrants]

Yea. But if it had been someone in a cafe that you had no relationship with...

[RonF]

My daughter was in Paris for a few days this spring and reported to me that she was treated properly by the locals at all times.

[org.whodat]

My daughter was in Paris for a few days this spring and reported to me that she was treated properly by the locals at all times.

have you no shame??

[RonF]

have you no shame??

I'm just reporting the facts. I take it as a sign that the public is not necessarily in tune with their leadership in France.

[toomuchcoffee]

The Tour de Lance.

[Im Your Huckleberry]

We had been planning a trip to England and then a hop over to France to see the ending stage of the Tour De France.

Guess what? I won't give the backstabbing weasels one cent.

So, instead of that, we decided to take a vacation here in America, and and spend our dollars in our own country on our own citizens.

I'm a Civil War nut, so we went to Tennessee and Mississippi. Visited with the fine southern people of Savannah, Tennessee and Memphis, and then the very fine folks of Vicksburg, Mississippi and surroundings.

Those southern folks appreciated us deciding to vacation there and spend our dollars in their towns. And I felt great doing it. They've been hard hit by the economic downturn in this country as much as anyone, and they were very grateful for our business. It was a great feeling to know I was helping out my own instead of wasting money on any of those foriegn ingrates.

I highly recommend seeing the sights in your own country. We have more to see and do here than anywhere in the world. And the scenery in this country is prettier than anywhere else on earth too.

Spend your money in America this year!

[chiefqc]

Not to worry, their fearless leader, Jock Strap, will solve all their problems.

[McGavin999]

It's foolish to think that the anti-Americanism is merely the GOVERNMENT of france. The people made their opinions very well known in the run up to war. They completely supported their government. Now I'm willing to bet that perhaps 20% of them did not, but the other 80% did. That's the truth of the matter.

As to them being "nice" when you visit, just remember what they do behind your back the minute you've spent your hard earned dollars. They are laughing at you.