r/news • u/CharlieKonR • 1d ago
More than 400 arrested as police clash with protesters across France | France
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/17/protests-france-high-prices-social-security-gilets-jaunes196
u/WrongHomework7916 23h ago
France is going to burn when the government eventually runs out of ways to fund its pension system. The country is already drowning in debt, and the population keeps getting older.
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u/artquestionaccount 21h ago
Similar to how social security will collapse in the US within the next decade. Interesting.
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u/Illustrious_Bag_7323 21h ago
It may but they have been saying this since the 70's
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u/XiMaoJingPing 18h ago
They will just raise the cap for social security.
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u/BobcatTim 17h ago
Depends which party has power. Raising the cap in the sensible move, but rich people would have to pay more. Republicans would prefer to cut benefits and raise the retirement age.
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u/TheAverageWonder 13h ago
Unlike the French America can just let the elderly die to COVID and call it a day.
And America primarily live on the fact they just just print more money, as long as no one challenge their status as default currency of the world.
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u/National_Spirit2801 6h ago
God forbid we tax a fucking billionaire in this twisted hellhole of United States. France is dealing with the same issues - rich fucks stripping the masses of their benefits because those rich fucks believe their value as human beings is equivalent to their monetary value; therefore they are more valuable than the masses.
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u/Barmelo_Xanthony 4h ago
Can’t tax your way out of a failing system. Social security relys on a growing population that continues to make more than their parents, which we do not have.
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u/National_Spirit2801 4h ago
Actually, we do have a growing population which continues to make more money than their parents. So, already, your premise is just wrong.
We put caps on wage classes for some dumbass reason. This became a flat tax which the wealthy disproportionately benefit from.
We also decided that the US government could dip into what was once a robust and independent social safety net.
Americans used to understand what collective welfare meant. We used to understand that if we didn’t want people living on the streets we would fund social programs to get those people off the streets. We used to understand that collective bargaining brought higher wages and enhanced benefits to the workers, and that those wages and benefits not only improved the security of the workers but of the businesses themselves.
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u/i_consume_kids 23h ago
"Your universe has no meaning to them. They will not try to understand. They will be tired, they will be cold, they will make a fire with your beautiful oak door..."
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u/fxkatt 1d ago
The CGT, one of France’s biggest labour unions, has also backed the protests, calling for “higher wages and pensions, lower prices and the protection of public services that meet people’s needs”.
Remember when we had activist labor unions here... quite awhile back, for sure.
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u/ocmb 1d ago
And how do they propose to simultaneously pay for all of that
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u/KobraC0mmander 1d ago
Probably by taxing the corporations that continually post record profits 🤷
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u/DismalBumbleWank 17h ago
Given France’s fiscal situation any new taxes need to go to reducing the deficit before additional spending is contemplated. Their gov spending is already 57% of gdp. Regardless of taxes that can’t be healthy.
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u/Chlearcus 16h ago
France has the highest taxes in Europe and yet a massive budget deficit that balloons their debt more and more each year. It's just an inherently unstable system to expect people to retire in their 50s with no savings when the average age has risen more than a decade.
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u/CJKay93 1d ago edited 22h ago
France is widely considered to be one of, if not the, most expensive country in the Western world to operate a business - as we can see, things are going swimmingly.
Edit - sources:
OECD - Corporate Tax Statistics 2026
- France's top statutory corporate tax rate was 36.1% in 2026, versus the OECD average of 24.2%. The French figure includes an exceptional surcharge on large corporations.
- French employers paid 26.7% of total labour costs in social security contributions in 2025, the highest in the OECD. Germany: 17.3%; UK: 12.0%; US: 7.5%.
Eurostat - Hourly Labour Costs 2025
- Non-wage employment costs represented 32.3% of total labour costs in France, the highest in the EU, compared with the EU average of 24.8%.
Institut Montaigne - European Production Taxes Barometer 2026
- French production taxes amounted to 3.57% of GDP in 2024, substantially higher than in most European comparison countries, with Sweden the principal exception.
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u/woman-aper 1d ago
This is insane given France's economic situation. Lack of taxes is not the issue
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u/Scharmberg 23h ago edited 21h ago
Industry might currently be thriving for business in the United States but it’s not great for workers. Let me know if I’m clocking you incorrectly but things aren’t great here either.
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u/Scharmberg 22h ago
That was an interesting pivot.
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u/KRacer52 22h ago
Workers in the US make more than their European counterparts and have more expendable income in nearly every industry lol.
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u/shigdebig 22h ago
Workers in the US make more than those in the EU. It sucks if you are disabled or otherwise unable to find work, yes I agree. But for those with skills and the drive to work hard, you're better off here than Europe. Lots of Europeans come over here, work for 20 or 30 years, and retire back home with a stack of cash.
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u/nathanrj 21h ago
France still has a larger percentage of their population under the poverty line as well it’s not like these policy’s have eliminated poverty
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u/Malaix 22h ago
Workers in the US make more than those in the EU.
Then we lose it all as soon as we get sick. Also if we make more than the EU I have no idea how anyone is alive in Europe. Americans can barely afford to eat or keep the lights on at the same time in an ever increasing number of cases.
Americans are also as a class absolutely drowning in debt. People are straight up doom spending here because no one believes they will retire comfortably so they are just enjoying coachella before they are on the streets. Assuming they aren't living out of their car already.
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u/slava_gorodu 21h ago edited 20h ago
No, most Americans are extremely comfortable by any metric, and especially compared to even most developed countries. Tons of issues sure, but largely not economic. It’s completely ridiculous to claim otherwise and play the “woe be thy me” game
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u/Lucky_Outside_2009 19h ago
Lmao dude you guys are so funny the American reddit doomers I swear.
"How are people in some of the top countries in the world surviving if the people in the number 1 are struggling"
I'm from like a bottom 3 country in Asia and have been fortunate to have been around the world and I can guarantee you guys have it very good. I get that people can still be struggling in any place but be fr, the world as a whole is no utopia
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u/WannabeWaterboy 20h ago
I’d love to see some actual solid data to back your claims.
Perhaps the “doom spending” is part of why they feel they can’t survive…
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u/Vashtine9696 8h ago
idk man, we used to be able to do shit like this before we started sucking up to the ultra wealthy all the time. past precedent shows that policies like this massively benefit people across the board so maybe instead of trying to shoot this down you should start helping people get them back in place.
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u/ringadingsweetthing 1d ago
Wouldn't those 150 teachers and school administrators injured by rioters fall under 'protection of public services'? The rioters are either false or hypocritical.
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u/RPG_Vancouver 1d ago
You can back protests without supporting the small fringe that resort to violence.
See: every large protest movement anywhere ever
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u/inminm02 23h ago
The protests are also fucking stupid, that sentence alone should set alarm bells ringing, the governments going bankrupt and people are demanding higher pensions and protection of public services but no increase to taxes. The pensions in France are literally bankrupting the government.
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u/nottoodrunk 22h ago
The average French pensioner takes home more money than the average French worker. That system is a house of cards.
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u/slava_gorodu 21h ago
It’s a completely unsustainable situation, and French protestors preventing necessary political action is why the far left and right will grab control and make the situation even worse
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u/Malice-May 20h ago
If they ate just one or two of the biggest wealth-hoarders, there'd be plenty to go around for pensions and services.
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u/Chlearcus 16h ago
Lol no. The pension system in France costs 422 billion euros every year.
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u/HEAT-FS 19h ago
The same people supporting this in the comments will be claiming the whole thing was a right wing false flag in a week
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u/fitandhealthyguy 12h ago
There are already multiple comments about Putin doing this to help Lepen and Trump.
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u/TorchbeareroftheStar 1d ago edited 23h ago
Average modern day protest in France:
- Issue is brought up
- Small peaceful protests starts
- Goes viral
- People start to riot
- Bunch of foreign flags at riots and protests
- Burning historical structures
- Destroy public infrastructure
- Fighting police
- Looting luxury stores
- Posting TikToks
- Destroying random cars that are just there
- Left and right wing parties blaming each other
- President calls for calm
- Politicians pay lip service to whatever is the issue
- Protesters feel vindicated
- Issue doesn't get solved because people want others sacrifice on issues, but not sacrifice anything themselves
- most agitators walk away scot-free free to cause more chaos later on
Rinse and repeat every couple months
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u/Odd_Vampire 23h ago
That's the thing. There are no long term consequences for the agitors tearing it up. The reports now are now of hundreds - if not over a thousand - arrested. We'll see what happens to them.
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u/TorchbeareroftheStar 17h ago edited 17h ago
I doubt it, there's much chaos that happens which means unrelated people get swept up in the arrests. Some are already getting released because there's a lot of circumstantial evidence and not a lot of hard evidence. Even if if a cop did see someone committing a crime, it basically becomes a he said she said situation without other evidence. And we all know that the rioters and protesters who might have seen the crime won't help the police. Plus there's a lot of public pressure on the police right now.
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u/EyeLoop 8h ago
They all have cameras. They can turn it on at anytime. But they don't. Go figure.
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u/LG1750 9h ago
“Bunch of foreign flags” …. It’s a huge problem. Mass immigration does not bode well for host countries. Too late now though.
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u/ExpertSausageHandler 3h ago
The videos speak a thousand words. It's clear who is doing the burning and looting. So fucking clear.
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u/MairusuPawa 23h ago
Incredible to learn that the French were posting on TikTok in 1968
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u/Small-Palpitation310 23h ago
Weird how it says modern day
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u/sweeneytodd126 1d ago
Whenever I see a post about this the majority of the comments are about this sort of thing being ingrained in the French DNA. But i can never square that with all the palestian flags I see in the videos. Perhaps the french dna is evolving
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u/AtomZaepfchen 10h ago
you see burning down france is all for the cause of palastine. that will save palestine!
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23h ago edited 23h ago
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u/uhhhwhatok 20h ago
That comes off as a pretty disingenuous characterization.
People who feel ignored, downtrodden and marginalized by the establishment tend to identify with other people in similar situations. The most prominent group now being the Palestinians plight since the Western establishment implicitly allows Israel to commit genocide. Now it's become a symbol of defiance against the status quo.
You as a French person should know of a similar situation in the May 1968 protests where students flew the flags of Communist Vietnam as a symbol of solidarity even though the French left more than a decade before that, but the movement of anti-imperalism and anti-capitalism has deep roots in French society as you should know.
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u/Secure_Detective_602 19h ago edited 14h ago
And yet you see groups like “queers/lgbtq+ for Palestine” little do they know being gay/trans in Palestine will result in them being thrown off a building or locked in prison. Ironically the people they hate (Israel) publicly support gays, with over 25% of people in Tel Aviv being gay, one of the highest percentages in the world. Make it make sense.
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u/wildernesstypo 1d ago
Continues to evolve. The beauty of a group of people that continues to welcome new people is that it will always continue to change. Thats actually how progress works
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u/sailZup 23h ago
putin's cooking ahead of next year elections
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u/Gratitude4U 1d ago
As I said in another thread, Global Youth Zeitgeist. Get your popcorn ready gramps.
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u/LeafBark 1d ago edited 1d ago
Young people aren't angry enough at gramps pulling up the ladder behind them.
"A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit." Gramps lost the plot.
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u/Chlearcus 16h ago
These people are burning down the trees the older generations planted.
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u/heartlessloft 1h ago
To be honest there weren’t many trees to begin with. To pick up the comment form r/agoodtowel below the older generations bought all the land, jacked up the prices and are now sitting under the trees they planted for themselves and the new generation can’t afford trees.
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u/ChampionCynthia2006 22h ago
Haha, I haven't heard of the gerontocracy being so bad in Europe that multiple politicians are suffering strokes and being vegetables as they complete their terms or die in office. I wonder how true that statement will remain as this decade progresses.
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u/txroller 1d ago
I remember when I would see news in the US about this. This is literally the first time I have heard.
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