2023-10-05 14:01:27
TRIBUNE / ANALYSIS – A question posed to the readers of France-Soirbecause in private, many of my acquaintances from all walks of life tell me they are nostalgic for the professionalism demonstrated by Raymond Barre, Michel Rocard, Pierre Mauroy and Pierre Bérégovoy (to name but a few) and the budgetary rigor for which they opted.
They obviously prefer this to the uninhibited amateurism with which they accuse Édouard Philippe, Jean Castex and Bruno Le Maire (to also name a few) under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron.
This is all the more so since their predecessors chose budgetary rigor, on the one hand at a time when France’s public debt was significantly lower (1), and on the other hand in circumstances much more critical than the Covid “crisis”. The latter, which was sold to us in cash and not on credit, against the backdrop of “We are at war”, would have had apocalyptic consequences if the government had not opted for a distribution of hundreds of billions. There public debt was 2,200 billion in 2017. It reached 3,049 billion in the second quarter of 2023. The brakes have failed!
Budgetary laxity leads inexorably to a total loss of control of public finances. It’s just a matter of time. And during the Covid “crisis”, it was not two or three billion here and there that were distributed, but hundreds in a short-term vision. Expenditures repeated every month for more than two years and without ever an equivalent income coming to offset the budget even a little. It was an escalation of successive commitments, without any real assessment of the relevance of the spending.
Let’s take an example: while billions are being distributed all over the place, the Ministry of Health, in a memorandum responding to the action of the BonSens.org association, does not find the budget equivalent to a 15-day job full-time (a few thousand euros) and specifies that such a commitment could disrupt the proper functioning of its analysis department, the DRESS. It should be noted that BonSens.org supported researcher Laurent Toubiana’s request for access to all-cause mortality data with vaccination status. A request which does not seem unfounded since it would allow an impartial evaluation of the vaccination health policy!
After “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves” (remember that a book by Jean Montaldo appeared in 1994 under the title Mitterrand and the 40 thieves) “Emmanuel Macron and the 847 billion”.
History has unfortunately proven time and time again that a stock market crash is often followed by a world war. And it is sad to note, but with the bankruptcy in the formalization phase (1) of France, this announced crash is dragging all the NATO countries which have forgotten budgetary rigor (the members of G7) unlike BRICS, an organization which forms a set of sovereign nations.
Yes, I fear it, decline is setting in, the loss of control is accelerating. They lead us straight into conflict. Emmanuel Macron has constantly called for this war since the first day of the Covid “crisis” and its “We are at war.”
This is why, rather than telling us about the real problems, the media, repeating the executive’s speech, talk to us about the extreme right, migrants or the abaya: smoke screens to hide the real problems, perlimpinpin powder .
Wasn’t it a French “Scalp” missile that was launched by kyiv on Russia? A backdoor attack, emanating not from the French people, but decided by those who are in charge here?
What would Moscow’s reaction have been if an important Russian figure or critical infrastructure had been hit? A risk analysis note from a strategic advisor is undoubtedly on the President’s desk! And what could it contain? An assessment of the risk of launching a missile on our flagship, the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle ? Or worse ?
At present, Vladimir Putin is showing us patience and tolerance. But for how much longer?
For the moment, this silent war which does not bear its name, this war between the aging, over-indebted and fragmented West, and the BRICS, a nascent organization, bringing together countries “united for the occasion” and with surpluses, is not taking place. is not materialized by “classic” bellicose acts.
However, in response to the utopian attempts to bring Russia to its knees economically (sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, asset freezes of Russian oligarchs, etc.), it is French citizens and our businesses who are severely affected by inflation, restrictions and shortages.
Let us add to this that France is also hard hit internationally, particularly with the loss of our historical influence in Africa. The government analyst will probably have added in his note that this loss of influence is undoubtedly the number one act of Russian reprisals against France.
However, France owes this all-out decline in Africa essentially to the undeniable gift for diplomacy of our last three presidents, Emmanuel Macron in the lead.
Does the analyst’s note contain a draft letter declaring an exit from NATO with a view to protecting the French against possible large-scale retaliatory measures if the escalation in engagement continues?
The lack of rigor of the members of the G7 combined with the significant loss of freedom clearly echoes the sentence of Paul Valéry: “The greatest freedom is born from the greatest rigor.”
With that, I leave you with two other important quotes:
The first can echo the affairs that affect Macronie and the political class: “A French citizen has two kinds of equally formidable enemies: those who violate the laws and those who observe them rigorously. » (Alfred Capus, French journalist and writer).
“The secret of any authority lies in the inflexible rigor with which it persuades people that they are guilty.” (Raoul Vaneigem).
(1) The amount of current debt is of the order of 3047 billion according to INSEE at the end of the second quarter of 2023 while it was “only” 2,200 billion in 2017, an increase of 847 billion under the Macron presidency. Bercy believes that debt burden in 2023 is 55.5 billion (compared to 51.7 billion planned in the 2023 finance law, an increase of 7.4%). In this document, Bercy is careful not to inform us about the amount of the total debt and to compare them.
(2) Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labor, Full Employment and Integration, announced the day before yesterday: to avoid bankruptcy, the State will have to draw on savings and pension money.
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