Even the IRS is on strike here

Day 5 of the strike and things are starting to get fun. The three branches of public-sector unions have called for a 24-hour strike tomorrow (Tuesday) out of solidarity with the SNCF. Half of all schools will be closed tomorrow; the IRS, post offices, France Telecom, Banque de France, EDF and GDF, the air controllers, Air France employees and hospital workers will all be on strike. All of this started out because of the retirement reforms that Sarkozy's government is trying to impose. Now it seems that everyone and their dog will go on strike because they feel that their pouvoir d'achat, or how far a salary goes today, is in decline.

It seems like this is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.