6…7 you say?
Get out.
6 7
They were rioters…
The problem is that they have too much debt and they can’t just ignore it anymore. They can complain but they have to cut spending somewhere or increase revenue. Now they can raise the retirement age for everyone. Or they can take the money from the billionaires. But that still doesn’t get you closer to lowering the deficit which is very high well over 100 percent of GDP. That means the protests are really just complaining that France doesn’t have enough money but you can’t keep the spending going as is without a lot of drastic cuts. All you can do is cuts now or kick the can down the road and hope something changes. Or just default on the debt and say fuck it.
Or, we could collectively own and manage production and distribution according to a scientific plan, without needing to stuff the pockets of capitalists that dominate the entirety of society.
Yeah, so raise taxes. France is like a lot of neoliberal governments around the world, pretending that raising taxes when you have a structural deficit isn’t an option. Macron especially is being disingenuous here.
if Macron raise taxes the right will gain more power. He is already on shaky ground.
That is one of the weaknesses of the centrist neoliberal platform. Nothing they do is concerned with building a popular support base for tax hikes when necessary, because it’s all designed around economic growth above all. It’s a rare politician who can both deal with the rich and raise popular support when necessary.
Thanks for pointing out the nuance there, btw. I had indeed made it seem like a simple thing to do.
The current state of French debt is manufactured to justify budget cuts left and right. We’ve had Macron for 10 years and the only thing he did was to add 1000 billion to it, and increase the wealth gap.
At some point we have to realise that these people are entirely responsible for the situation, and doubling down on their stupid neo liberal ideology will just make things a lot worse.
they can take the money from the billionaires. But that still doesn’t get you closer to lowering the deficit
Username checks out
Raise revenue you say? There’s plenty of disgustingly wealthy people who could do with less wealth.
How does the billionaire and taxation problem in france compare to the us? I assume it’s more “fair” but I know basically nothing about it
We’re basically considered a tax haven for billionaires.
Read up on the so called Zucman-tax proposal. That would close down loopholes but it would still only fill around 10% of their deficit today, while costs will keep increasing
Damn… So what is the solution there? The EU bails them out (if they even can) and they try to boost the economy by… Doing what exactly?
Socialism.
Cut costs and weather the protests
By doing what you’re told to do when you get bailed out by the EU: gutting whatever welfare you’ve left, privatizing essential services, letting private companies dictate school syllabi etc etc
That… Sucks…
