Tuesday, November 10th, 2026
Bill Bonner, from Paris, France
We’ve come over to see for ourselves. Each day, the media reports on riots, arson and looting in the French capitol. After so much ‘incendiary’ coverage, we half-expected to find the city in ruins…a smoking cinder, like Gaza with an Eiffel Tower. But when we drove into the center of the city last night, we saw nothing unusual.
And this morning…all is calm, under rainy skies. This is the best season to visit Paris. The tourist crush is passed. The summer heat is no more. The restaurants have empty tables. And a cozy mist collects on the window panes.
The real problem for France is money. ‘Le spread,’ they call it. It’s the difference between the interest rates France has to pay to borrow money...compared to what the Germans pay.
To make a long story short, the French are in much the same situation as Americans. They owe too much money; and carrying debt is getting more and more expensive.
More on that tomorrow...
Back in the USA, politics has taken center stage. There too, the problem is largely a matter of money.
Politics is a win-lose racket. In today’s American democracy, if you can win an election, you will have immense power. The US economy is about $32 trillion in GDP. About half of it is either directly or indirectly under political control.
In a nutshell, the political winners take the money and (within limits) do what they want with it. Most often, the voters are only dimly aware of what happens to it...and they only voice a serious concern when the most outrageous programs are shoved under their noses. ’ Pew Research:
Iran Conflict Remains Deeply Unpopular as Many Americans Expect It To Go On for Months
Another deeply unpopular government program is using inflation to pay for excess government spending. Charlie Bilello:
According to election exit polls, nearly 9 in 10 voters said the cost of living was a crucial or major factor in their vote, while roughly two-thirds blamed President Trump for high prices. And nearly 80% said inflation had caused financial hardship for their families over the past year.
The Fed set a 2% target. Low enough so most people wouldn’t notice. But target, schmarget. The Fed first missed its target in the 2nd quarter of 2021. It has missed it in every quarter since then, so that prices are now 14% above where they would be at the 2% target rate...and nearly a third above where they ought to be with no inflation at all.
Sugar is 39% higher. Rice is 68% more expensive. And diesel fuel is famously also 68% more.
Why would the feds allow it? Inflation was obviously going to cause trouble...not just for the common people, but for their leaders too.
And just look at medical insurance. We grew up in a family of four children...with very little money. When we got sick, we went to the doctor and paid in cash. We had no insurance. But somehow, we lived to tell about it.
Now, insurance is considered a necessary expense. In 1999, the average family paid less than $6,000 a year for it. Now, it is more than $28,000. How can they afford it...when the median household income is only $87,000? The employer may pay a large chunk of it, but one way or another it must be reckoned as a cost of labor...which would otherwise go to the employee. Harvard:
Health care is becoming increasingly unaffordable. In the last year, the costs of public health insurance rose at nearly double the rate of inflation, and private health insurance at roughly triple the rate. Next year, employer-sponsored health insurance premiums are expected to jump by more than 8%. The upshot? More people are feeling the financial squeeze—even to the point of foregoing medical appointments and treatments.
Is it any wonder people are disgusted with their leaders – in France as well as the US?
So why do they do it? Why would an administration in danger of losing control of Congress allow the two things that voters most don’t want — inflation and war? The war could have been stopped in a minute. “Now they’ll never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump could have congratulated himself.
As for the price increases, he could have ended the tariffs too…and actually cut deficits to take some of the pressure off of consumer prices and interest rates. Republicans’ political future – the thing they cherish most in life…more than their first born – was at stake. Why didn’t they take action to protect it?
The same questions might be posed to France’s elected officials. Why would they allow services to deteriorate...opportunities to evaporate...and inflation to proliferate? Didn’t they know that ‘le peuple’ might soon want to burn the country to the ground? It wouldn’t be the first time.
More tomorrow…
Regards,
Bill Bonner