Paris Notebook
JACOBS, NORMAN
Paris Notebook The good times, though, may not go on forever. The sticking point could be the inability of Japanese leaders to come up with a solution to the nation's enormous trade deficit,...
...In the meantime, the Japanese can laugh at the naivete of Americans who pay fortunes to sell products in this tough market...
...The sticking point could be the inability of Japanese leaders to come up with a solution to the nation's enormous trade deficit, expected to surpass $25 billion with the world and $16 billion with the United States during the current calendar year...
...In October, unemployment hit a new high in France, topping the 2 million mark, while the annual inflation rate hovered around IS per cent...
...Thus far, save for an increase in the cash entitlements of a few of the most hardpressed groups-those working for the minimum wage, impoverished families, the elderly?nothing much has happened...
...Regardless of whether the Americans are paying the Japanese or the Japanese are paying the Americans, however, some Japanese are charging more -And getting much, much more for their money as long as they don't get caught, or even if they do...
...record expansion of cultural and scientific research budgets...
...What the reaction will be next year, after the Socialist legislative program has been enacted, is another matter...
...Nor are the Japanese likely to cease buying all the friendship they can, wherever they can-Any price is a bargain, considering the stakes...
...Opinion polls here currently show Mitterrand enjoying the confidence of his countrymen by comfortable majorities...
...The Socialists have repeatedly promised, however, that 1982 will see the tide of unemployment begin to recede and inflation brought under control...
...The conservative Figaro, whose co verage of Mitterrand and his government has been blatantly tendentious, headlined its reaction to the event with the words "Ledesenchante-ment...
...If these promises are kept, Giscardians and the supporters of Jacques Chirac should resign themselves to a long sojourn in the political wilderness...
...There is widespread awareness that Mitterrand has inherited the unemployment and inflation from the previous government, and that neither can be resolved overnight...
...It can be safely predicted that the public will judge the government less by how it alters the shape of French society than by its success in coping with unemployment and inflation, the two problems that resulted in the defeat of Valery Giscard d'Estaing...
...Mitterrand won last May's presidential run-off election with a promise of sweeping changes ("le change-ment") in the lives of the people of France...
...abolition of the death penalty and prison reform...
...Francois Mitterrand marked the sixth month of his election to the French Presidency last November 10, and the French press celebrated the semi-birthday with its customary partisanship...
...liberalization of laws concerning the rights of immigrants...
...It is the way of doing business here...
...It seemed Allen had gone on leave from the White House none too soon...
...The legislation embodying Mitterrand's preelection pledges is still working its way through Parliament, where the opposition parties are engaging in stubborn, if ultimately fruitless, rearguard delaying tactics...
...When the Socialist program is finally enacted into law, it will affect virtually every aspect of French economic, political and social life...
...and-perhaps most important of all in terms of its ultimate impact?a sweeping decentralization designed to return to the regions, dipartements and cities administrative powers tightly held by the national government in Paris since the days of Napoleon, if not before...
...Pro-Socialist LeMatin, on the on the other hand, observed the occasion with a long editorial sympathetically analyzing the difficult task the Socialists have undertaken...
...The timing was totally coincidental, to be sure, yet the combination of the scandal and the trade dispute dramatized Allen's vulnerability-And the desperation of Japanese for American "friends...
...Paris Notebook The good times, though, may not go on forever...
...a new statute for what it is insisted will be an independent television and radio authority...
...Among other things, it envisages the nationalization of major industries and of credi t; a shorter work week and earlier retirement...
...But even his political foes would acknowledge his intelligence, knowledge and competence...
...revision of the penal code...
...officials began talking about expanding on the deal whereby Japanese automobile manufacturers were forced "voluntarily" to limit exports to the U.S...
...If the market opens slightly wider, as Suzuki has promised, the competition among exporters may intensify-And Japanese politicians may expect to demand greater windfalls...
...The same day that the Justice Department cleared Allen on the $1,000 magazine payment, U.S...
...If they are not, Mitterrand and his government can expect to hit stormy weather before 1982 runs its course.-Norman Jacobs...
...These figures prompted charges of failure from some opposition personalities, but most French were not convinced...
Vol. 64 • December 1981 • No. 24
