[goldstategop]

What no one in the media mentions is how all this poverty and squalor exists in the midst of the French welfare state. Wasn't all those entitlement programs supposed to eliminate these conditions? And why hasn't it happened already? I'm sick and tired of the MSM droning on about "root causes." My ass - the people being hurt by this wave of violence are precisely the people for whom the French welfare state can do nothing. But that will escape our liberals here at home who think Europe is a model of social harmony. Think again.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We're Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[Unam Sanctam]

Yes, it all demonstrates the vast superiority of the European social model, doesn't it?

[jonrick46]

It is just this liberal social welfare system that is the perfect situation for terrorists. A terrorist can live off the welfare system. When does not have to work for a living, they can spend full time being a terrorist.

[Alberta's Child]

Someone here on FR had a very interesting perspective on this yesterday. The primary culprit in all this is not the welfare state and its entitlement programs for these immigrants -- it's the "closed shop" environment among France's powerful labor unions that keeps young French people (native and immigrant alike, with more of an impact on immigrants simply because there are so many of them) pretty much unemployed through their mid-30s.

This explains why there is apparently a very clear line between immigrants from the last generation who have been gainfully employed for most of their lives, and their children in the current generation who have nothing to do but hang around all day and collect their government checks.

The French government mandates ridiculous work rules and labor laws to keep the unions happy, and French employers (including the government) can only stay in business by hiring as few people as possible. The "welfare state" benefits are the price those people of France who are currently employed (and generously compensated) pay to keep the permanent underclass content.

Looks like the system just broke down this week.