800k involved in nationwide protests in France over rising cost of living

800k involved in nationwide protests in France over rising cost of living(cbc.ca)

15 points by geox 3 hours ago | 12 comments

ciconia 2 hours ago |

This is not only about the rising cost of living. The protests are lead by high school and university students demanding better school infrastructure, more teachers and shorter days (French high-schoolers regularly spend 10 hours per day at school, 4.5 days per week).

nomercy400 2 hours ago |

Riots a year before french presidential elections where a convicted populist right-winged candidate has a real chance to mess up European cohesion.

I wonder who will benefit from that...

altern8 3 hours ago |

I'm not from France but I see the same thing everywhere. We need to vote with out wallet. If a bag of chips is $10, don't buy it.

senordevnyc 2 hours ago | |

Where is a bag of chips $10?

I agree that we should vote with our wallet, but protesting high cost of living (as opposed to taxes, or some specific policy) seems pretty stupid to me. Down with reality!

Hopefully the actual protests are more coherent.

dh2022 29 minutes ago | | |

In the case of US protesting the increase in costs of living makes total sense: the goal is Dems to take over Congress and use the congressional powers to do whatever it takes to open the Strait of Hormuz (including making reparation payments to Iran and allowing Iran to toll ships going through the Strait).

Is as simple as that.

elmer2 3 hours ago |

When your entire economy is based on government-assisted handouts, you eventually run out of other people's money.

marcyb5st 1 hour ago | |

Very whataboutist view.

The problem is much more complex. Yeah, France with it's generous holidays, substantial pensions combined with a young retirement age has allowed their boomer population to live above its means. However, this is true for most of the western world.

The other problem is that the era of cheap money has come to an end, and France, like many countries, hoped that they could kick the can down the road a little bit longer so that, by then, the boomers would be dead. Without the biggest cohort (which is the one that votes the most) you could do reforms to lower lavish pensions, make them pay a bit more for healthcare, ... .

So now, with an oil shock that is slowly spreading to other facets of the economy France is fucked because it can't lower taxes to give their population more breathing room because of the above mentioned problems. Italy for instance, has now a lower yearly deficit than France and can borrow at considerably cheaper rates and It used this freedom to lower taxes on fuel since Hormuz closed.

harvey9 40 minutes ago | | |

Plenty of younger french people intend to keep the relatively low retirement age long after the post war generation has passed on. Politicians far from the centre in either direction are of similar views on this.

tene80i 3 hours ago | |

When your entire intellectual model is based on famous quotes, you eventually run out of ideas.

But besides, it’s not about a unique economic malaise. The USA has plenty of affordability problems too. The French, and in particular their students, are just very good at direct political action.

rayiner 1 hour ago | | |

The community of countries that are "good at direct political action" (i.e. rioting) include places like Bangladesh, where an unholy alliance of Islamists and college students recently overthrew the government. Not a group you want to be in.

senordevnyc 2 hours ago | | |

If that’s a good thing, you’d think they’d have better results in their society…

toomuchtodo 3 hours ago | |

Funny how this applies to the US government, its spending, and treasuries. An entire economy that lit $40T of other people’s money on fire for nothing. At least the handout is coming to an end.

https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/historical-debt-out...

https://usafacts.org/answers/how-much-debt-does-the-us-have/...

https://www.ustreasuryyieldcurve.com/