une précision

When I say I hate French public services, I don't mean the trains, the healthcare, the cheap universities, the housing subsidy (which I should get if they ever send my the paperwork), the steak and fries for 3.20 euros. I mean the administrative stuff, the stuff you would need to use if you ever (god forbid) had to run a business here. So that covers the postal system, the administration of visas and whatnot (though I doubt the US is much better than that), the banks, the ISPs (I have friends who have waited four months for DSL -- I realize that this too has been a big problem in the states too), etc.

I know, none of this is anything new, and I and other foreigners and French students spend too much time ranting about it, but it's good, it helps us bond. The US has plenty of its own stupid problems (it's not like going to the post office is a pleasure there either), but in regular life over there I know how to deal with them or avoid them for the most part. These complaints are clearly just the rantings of a poor, arrogant American who thinks he knows how the world should be run. OR, par for the course for most expats anywhere in the world, if I'm not mistaken.