Doesn't the US have barriers as well? If you look at the problems Tesla have selling cars in Texas, or the issues Uber have been having with taxi law, it would seem that the US is far from perfect in this regard either.
On the World Bank economic rankings of the easiest place to start a business, which is what Forbes have been using to bash France, France does score rather badly at 41st place, but the US is only at 20th place. Mind you, I am not sure if I should take these figures all that seriously. Rwanda is 9th, apparently, while being 53rd on ease of getting electricity.
It's not because the US is not perfect in that regard that it means it's not superior. We are not dealing with binary numbers here. Entrepreneurship freedom is usually way higher in the US than in France, but of course it depends on the States considered as well. But the trend is clear overall.
On the World Bank economic rankings of the easiest place to start a business, which is what Forbes have been using to bash France, France does score rather badly at 41st place, but the US is only at 20th place. Mind you, I am not sure if I should take these figures all that seriously. Rwanda is 9th, apparently, while being 53rd on ease of getting electricity.
http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings