The Unemployed Professional: Moi Thierry F. Chomeur Professionnel

The French don't need the Americans to tell them about the flaws in their social system. They are already well aware. We saw on the news recently a report about Thierry F., a self-described "unemployed professional" who just wrote a book about his experience of collecting sizeable benefits from various bureaucratic agencies for 24 years. He manipulated the system, and found all the sneaky ways to capitalize on its generosity, even though he's perfectly capable of working.

Likewise, there have been reports in the news about people making bundles by reselling free French medicine for sizable profits. There's a whole black market out there.

On the one hand, I believe that there are con-artist parasites everywhere in the world, and it's better to have a system where the sick are cared for, the unemployed provided for, than have people fall through the cracks and live hungry on the streets. On the other hand, recent reports indicate that this is a widespread phenomenon in France, and not just a few isolated crooks who are profiting. The French have come to expect the big State apparatus to care for them (taxes are enormous, after all!), and some actively look for hand-outs and ways to benefit from the system.