9th for the Economy of France...

I was searching around for some more information on France's economy and came across the New York Times online, nytimes.com. Here, I found a site that talked about a company that has been around since 1690 and how France's government was able to keep this business around. They were also able to save 54 jobs that came with this company.

This company is called HB-Henriot in Quimper, France and they paint glazed earthenware by hand. It is one of the oldest companies of France but they were about lose their business when France's government came to the rescue. France held off the tax payments and gave money that would cover up to a month worth of salary for each worker. This was labor costs could be lowered and inventory without losing any employees.

They say that France has remained a strong economy compared to other countries, like Germany. Germany is very competitive, focusing alot on their exports. Which isnt the best way to be because when consumption decreased all over the world, Germany suffered.

This article claims that because of this situation with HB-Henriot, it shows that France can overcome economical issues and remain as one of the most stable economies in Europe. Another example of this would be in 2009 when France brought itself out of recession. France has always been a country that tries to save its companies. But no country is perfect and there is always room for some improvement which France is working on doing. The article mentions that now France's government to decrease growth in public spending to less than 1 percent a year from 2011.

A picture of the pottery this company creates!