And Peugeot Citroën - The Essence of the Paris Riots
When will the French riots end? That’s easy. When the disgruntled “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” fire-starters run out of cars to burn on the streets at night. Not only that, these “Liberté, égalité, garçons de fraternité” are almost guaranteeing themselves jobs, as the French automobile manufacturers begin gearing up production to replace those lost vehicles.

One has to wonder about the French economy. It has been a disaster for years under the leadership of Jacques Chirac. However, one would think that their automobile manufacturers would be doing quite well. After all, in any normal month, thousands of French automobiles are torched by the “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity Boys”. The innocent youth say it is much fun to watch their neighbors’ cars become blazing infernos, and more often then not they are treated to the grand explosion of the cars’ fuel tanks. Those exciting spectacles makes it all worthwhile. Yet at the end of October 2005, the business news regarding France’s Peugeot Citroën manufacturer was quite gloomy.

Peugeot Citroen warns on profits: Peugeot is not expecting 2006 to be any better than 2005. Shares in car group PSA Peugeot Citroen, France’s number two carmaker, have fallen after it warned that profits were under pressure.

The firm said on Thursday that margins - the return on sales - could fall short of its 4% forecast. It has cut the forecast once already this year. The announcement was coupled with a warning that sales growth would also slow and production would be cut.

That was October. Now that “les jeunes hommes” are torching in one night as many cars on the streets of France as usually takes an entire month, expect to see an “explosive” surge in automobile manufacturing, and hopefully employment opportunities for “les jeunes hommes”.

One also has to wonder about French law enforcement and community standards. If American youths rampaged the streets at night, torching schoolbuses and their neighbors’ vehicles, it would not be fun and games. There would be hell to pay in their communities. Of course, American youths have to get up early in the morning to get to work or to school, so there is little time left for such “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” in the dark of the nights.