The students of France have taken to the streets to protest a new bill that would allow employers to give them at-will employment for the first two years. I'm a victim and unfortunate advocate of at-will employment. While most people would like to have an income through working sometimes its not possible in the current market.
Currently I'm a freelance web developer and nothing makes me sweat more than the time between projects. But it has its rewards. I get calls from recruiters on occassion who ask me about my workstatus and when they find out I freelance they assume I'd never go back to being corporate. My response, "If the money's right I'll work in the mailroom."
What I'm trying to get at is the students and youth have a skewed view of what the state can provide in the form of security. Sometimes to provide security you need to let the market correct itself and let in some insecurity. You can lose a lot of traction and let the country continue to slide or loose/gain a lot from free-market forces.
For those that don't know spend some time reading Thomas Friedman.
Gimme a book or column title, or do you mean this Thomas Friedman:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Friedman