Unfortunately, the strikes come just as output is showing signs of life and Valls has warned the protests could derail the recovery. Although large businesses have the capacity to mute the impact of strikes, small to medium businesses will have difficulties making deliveries and getting supplies, and, therefore, fulfilling their potential as a business. However, although unions still play a key role in negotiating work contracts in France, they have never been weaker; Roughly 8% of French workers belong to a union compared to 11% in the U.S and 18% in Germany. Moreover, membership of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) (by some measures France’s largest workers union) has fallen to 700,000 compared to 4 million in its heyday. Furthermore, although the public usually remain stoic during strikes, 63% recently said they had a poor opinion of the CGT. Therefore, French strikes aren’t as fearsome as they once were thanks to declining membership of CGT and a 2007 law requiring a minimum service for public transport. Consequently, recent work stoppages have caused nuisances for commuters without bringing transport to a standstill. In conclusion, an overdue reform of the French economy has started. Though, with presidential and legislative elections due in 2017, much will depend on who forms the next French government. The unions are unlikely to support Hollande and may make a deal with an incoming administration that offers no change to the status quo. Since Bernie Sanders entered the race for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in April 2015, his seemingly unstoppable surge surprised many Americans, as he fervently brought seismic shocks towards the political sphere, as well as bringing the air of hope and changes to many in the grassroots. The progressiveness of many of his policies fired up debates in the Democratic Party camp, and greatly changed the way different Presidential candidates responded to his vast base of support. Though, he also received strong criticisms from famous journalists, as well as intellects like Paul Krugman, who claimed Sanders’ “political theory of change, his waving away of limits, seemed utterly unrealistic. 14 ” Noticeably, Sanders remains to be a rather controversial politician in the US. However, one should re-examine the significant policies and credos that Bernie Sanders espoused, and delve into how radical, anti-establishment figures have actually contributed and will continually matter to the political discourse of the time being. Bernie Sanders claims to be a socialist; he suggested that society should be more egalitarian in way that aims to mitigate the wealth gap. He argued along his campaign that university education should be free, and he also greatly sought to spread the message of building a universal free healthcare system, namely Medicare, and to have it follow the UK’s National Health Service model. Sanders at the same time wished to introduce policies like the minimum living wage of $15, a stable social security and pension system, and he also believed that the government should actively invest in the manufacturing industry, as to allow more productions to be relocated back to the US, which would gradually increase domestic employment. However, the practicalities of his economic policies divides opinion. On one hand, Gerald Friedman, an economist from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, argued that Bernie Sanders’ policies would trigger a significant multiplier effect in the US economy, when he expected there would be more exports at a rate of 3% growth each year, and consequently greater tax revenue that supports the $14 trillion of new spending in the economy 15 . On the other __________________________________________________________________________________________ #FeelTheBern – The significance and influence of Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign T IMOTHY L O
14 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/opinion/sanders-over-the-edge.html 15 http://www.dollarsandsense.org/What-would-Sanders-do-013016.pdf
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