Subject: Re: Record debt threatens growth
From the NYTIMES article.
Record or near-record debt in the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Japan threatens to hamstring growth and sow financial instability around the globe.

https://www.reuters.com/busine...
Germany headed for biggest deficit since reunification, Bundesbank says

What I believe what is key [from NYtimes article]:
More and more countries are being squeezed by demographics and slow growth. In Europe, Britain and Japan, aging populations have driven up the government’s health care and pension costs at the same time that the number of workers who provide the necessary tax revenue has shrunk.

EU countries have generous retirement and healthcare systems and declining number of taxpayers[as does the USA].
France is an extreme case:
https://fortune.com/2025/09/16...
65-year-old retirees in France now have higher incomes than working-age adults
Due to France’s relatively young retirement age, lofty governmental spending on pensions, and high wage replacement rate, they’re now out-earning citizens with jobs as the country’s officials try and make unpopular changes.
https://www.politico.eu/articl...
French parliament votes to suspend Macron’s controversial pensions reform
In hitting the pause button, the legislature eased domestic political tensions but invited criticism it isn’t taking the country’s debt and spending problems seriously.

I suppose governments no longer have the option of kicking the can down the road for future representatives to deal with the problem. Though it seems France's representative refuse to recognize that time has arrived.