I didn’t watch the video but the finance.fortune.cnn.com article is such ideological bullshit that I don’t even know where to start.
Unit labor costs : France’s workers cost too much... No - it is German workers who are too cheap : France has closely tracked the agreed EU inflation target of 2%, while Germany violated the agreement, largely by repressing wage increases (what some call "social dumping). German Unit Labor Cost repression is the primary cause of periphery stress in Europe. Beside, France’s productivity is among the highest in the world and companies love the highly qualified workforce.
Social charges : “In France, 42 euros for every 100 euros in total expenses go to social charges, versus 34 euros in Germany, 26 in the UK, and 20 in the US”... Makes France look bad if you don’t take into account what USians pay for medical services and their own retirement : it may not be accounted as social charges but it is even more expensive - the USA is the worst medical insurance system in the world in terms of value for money.
Then the article argues that France’s companies don’t enjoy high margins because they fail in the market’s high-end - they sell cheap cars compared to the Germans. Did the author take any marketing courses ? Margins can be very high in the low-end - a whole range of low-cost products let their companies make piles of cash. Have you heard of Easyjet, Lidl, the Renault Logan ?
“It’s unclear when the crisis that’s going mostly unacknowledged by investors and the Hollande government will erupt into a panic” - nice FUD. Investors don’t acknowledge the crisis because they know that whatever problems France may have, they still want to be there - and French people who have traveled know why.