As recounted in a recent New YorkTimes article, President Emanuel Macron of France has been trying to persuade supporters of the Yellow Vest protest movement that his proposals will alleviate their economic pains.
Some in the movement have called for an increase in taxes on the wealthiest citizens, in order to make more equal the current tax burden, and also for higher wages. President Macron has rejected such ideas. “Our country has suffered for years from lack of investment in industry,” he is quoted as saying. “But investment today means jobs of tomorrow.” He added, “How can we jump-start production in our country? You’ve got to incite people to invest in the economy.”
Whatever else one thinks of Mr. Macron, it is interesting to hear a modern president describe his proposals in such language. Do others in France believe that an increase in production must be central to any economic strategy ― is essential, even, to economic progress? The article does not say. But the debate raises a similar question to the one raised by this blog. How well is the role of production in human life understood? To what extent is it valued?
How the debate over the solution to economic malaise will play out in France remains to be seen. But presuming that both sides desperately seek to attain economic well-being for all, it is a debate worth having.
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