France’s Grave Retirement Mistake

Andy Snyder|March 27, 2023

We hope Americans are paying attention. But from what we’ve seen, they’re just pointing and laughing.

The situation in France is serious. Voters are furious. There are massive riots in the street. Ol’ slick-talkin’ Macron has gotten himself in quite a political pickle.

“La casse du siécle,” the protestors chant.

In English, it’s “the heist of the century.” It’s also the French title of the iconic Wall Street flick The Big Short.

In case American news is all you’re able to keep up with, France’s president sneakily sidestepped the nation’s traditional lawmaking process recently and pushed a highly unpopular (with both voters and politicians) law onto his people.

He pushed the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Cry me a river, right? The poor babies have to work a couple more years before they can live fully on the government dole.

The friendly octogenarian nodding at Walmart shoppers likely isn’t overflowing with empathy.

But he should be.

This isn’t a lesson in living a relaxing lifestyle or getting more than we deserve. This is a lesson in the freedom of having money and the cancerous plague of depending on the government for what you want… or, worse, need.

Culture is important here.

In France, there are three chapters of life – school, work and retirement.

The government funds them all.

But retirement is the ultimate goal.

The typical Frenchman isn’t defined by his job. You likely won’t hear him say, “Bonjour, I’m a baguette maker.” No. Work is not their life’s identity. It’s a means to an end.

It leads into what’s dubbed the “troisiéme age” – or the third age (after school and work).

That’s when life really begins. It’s when a true identity emerges, and it’s what the previous 62 years (now 64) of a person’s life have been leading up to.

It’s when the state pension kicks in… paying an average of about $1,500 per month.

Taking away two years of the troisiéme isn’t just taking away two years of relaxing and tinkering in the wood shop. For the French, it’s like shaving two years off their life… They aren’t alive until they retire.

And don’t forget, French citizens will have paid quite a sum by the time they reach this early retirement age. The nation’s personal tax rate tops out at close to 45%… with a value-added tax pushing most sales up another 20%.

The government has ripped huge sums of money from its working class. And the working class expected what it was promised. It depended on it. After all, saving for your own retirement is quite a task when over half your income has already been taken from you in the name of good socialist living.

France created a nation that is dependent on the state. It created a nation of indentured servants… all working toward an ever-moving goal.

The people have no choice. Their votes don’t count when a single man with a lot of power can take years from their lives.

The government grossly misused the funds it took from its people. And now the people are paying for it.

There should be protests in the streets. Lots of them.

We must pay attention. We should do whatever we can to opt out of our own broken system as it corrodes under us.

The French are right. Our work shouldn’t define our lives.

But their grave mistake was letting the government define their futures for them.

They’re suffering because of it.

Don’t make the same mistake.