I have had mixed feelings about French boycotts. I have no sympathy for the French, whose feckless appeasement emboldened Saddam Hussein, costing many lives. In fact, watching statist economies like France, Germany and Canada struggle provides a guilty pleasure.
But the WSJ Editorial Page is right today:
"But in today's global economy a boycott against a 'French' or 'German' company can easily be a blow against American workers. Our politicians are figuring this out, albeit slowly. A number of House Members recently sent a letter to the Pentagon demanding that the U.S. Marines end a contract with the French-owned catering firm Sodexho Alliance. But then Representative Chris Van Hollen pointed out that Sodexho's U.S. unit was based in his home state of Maryland, has 110,000 American employees (in all 50 states) and pays $646 million in U.S. taxes."
It would be fun, but not likely effective, to boycott all French products (not the mustard!) but it would be ineffective and counter-productive. Jokes, though....jokes are okay!