The riots in France continue, and are beginning to spread to more European countries. This is bad stuff, but so far it's not apocalyptic. Despite my disdain for the French, I don't want to see their country destroyed by this. What I'm really wondering is whether this turns into a general Muslim uprising all over Europe, or if it stabilizes as a bunch of disgruntled immigrants that the French have neglected. For all the tlaking smack they did against the US during the Rodney King riots, saying how we're a racist society and all that, the feeling I've been getting reading up on France is they are generally disdainful of their Muslim immigrants, wanting them to "clean the toilets and stay out of site." Not a good way to assimilate a new group of people. I hope that the French government is able to find a solution to this, perhaps by shrinking the welfare state so that actual jobs are created. There are definitely two factors that led to this, the welfare state, which creates high unemployment and little hope for a better future, and the disdain of the immigrants, which will, of course, create simmering resentment, which seems to have boiled over. These are both things that Americans who value free market capitalism and low levels of government regulation of the economy have been warning about for years. Now the chickens have come to roost and we have reason number 1 billion why cradle to the grave security won't work.