According to the economic brains of MS NOW Money, Power, Politics host Stephanie Ruhle, author Brendan Greeley, and former CNBC and CNN correspondent John Harwood, the problem with both France and the United States amid riots in the former is that both countries are plagued by “income inequality” and taxes that are too low. That France is now a cautionary tale of socialism—even democratic socialism—was of no concern to them.
Ruhle began by trying to tie French unrest with our country’s upcoming midterms. She asked Greeley, “We are continuing to see this unrest, these riots in France, and the root of it, the root of it, is really frustrations with the economy and government services. Income inequality. Can you draw a through line, or I'm going to say we can see a through line from the frustration in France, which is erupting to income inequality frustrations here as we're 11 days out from the midterms, what should government leaders be paying attention to as we watch this unfold and business leaders?”
Greeley began by blaming tax cuts, “So one way to compare France to the United States is that Emmanuel Macron cut wealth taxes, and he cut corporate taxes in America, very similar to what we—sorry, in France, very similar to what we've been doing in America. So that bill has come due.”
According to MS NOW, France's problem (and the U.S.'s) is that it's just not socialist enough with its low taxes. (France's taxes are not low)
Stephanie Ruhle says, "We are continuing to see this unrest, these riots in France and the root of it, the root of it, is really… pic.twitter.com/acSMd3iqrW— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) October 23, 2026
He also insisted, “It worked fine before COVID, there were increased tax receipts from business activity before COVID. Since COVID, France has not been able to catch up, and they do not have the luxury of running deficits in the way that the United States does for as long and as high. So, the problem is they went through a period of tax cuts seven or eight years ago that they have not been able to recover from in the last two or three years, other than cutting services.”
Fact-check: France still has the second-highest top income tax bracket in Europe and has either the highest or sixth-highest corporate tax rate in Europe depending on how much money you make. It is the least tax competitive among OECD countries. At the same time, government spending accounts for 57 percent of GDP. For comparison, the U.K., with its single-payer health care system, clocks in at 45 percent. France has a spending problem, not a tax problem, and the protestors want to make that problem worse.
Nevertheless, Greeley also blamed America for France’s woes, “If you combine this with the sudden shock of gas prices, which are true everywhere in the world, not just America, because of the war with Iran, you have a situation that's looking increasingly similar, at least to the dissatisfaction that we have in the United States.”
He wrapped up by adding, “Of course, there's the old joke that Americans live in hell, but think they live in heaven. The French live in heaven, but think they live in hell. So perhaps their dissatisfaction boiled over before Americans’ did. But we're looking at comparable economies in a way.”
Meanwhile, Harwood agreed with Ruhle about income inequality being to blame, “Well, there's a commonality to the populist sort of unrest around the world. It tends, on the right, to be about demographics, about race, about immigration. On the left, it tends to be about income inequality. That's a very, very long developing problem. Nobody, even if you're governing during the high point of the cycle, nobody has resolved the structural inequality that we are dealing with.”
He also echoed Greeley’s point about taxes:
And, you know, that's why you've got a movement for democratic socialists, for example, that is getting some traction within the Democratic Party. But doing something about this is very, very difficult. You know, the free market economy is the engine of prosperity that we've seen. How much can you adjust the gears to produce different outcomes? Do you do it after, you know, is it post-earnings tax redistribution? Is it something you can do before taxation and redistribute income as it's earned? Not easy to do. And you know, it's going to take a lot of unrest or a huge electoral victory for one side or the other that is compelled to do something about it and feels willing to do something about it.
France literally cannot afford to give in to the protestors. France is Margaret Thatcher’s warning that the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money, but for MS NOW the answer to the problems posed by socialism is even more socialism.
Here is a transcript for the October 23 show:
MS NOW Money, Power, Politics,
10/23/2026
9:35 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: We are continuing to see this unrest, these riots in France, and the root of it, the root of it, is really frustrations with the economy and government services. Income inequality. Can you draw a through line, or I'm going to say we can see a through line from the frustration in France, which is erupting to income inequality frustrations here as we're 11 days out from the midterms, what should government leaders be paying attention to as we watch this unfold and business leaders?
BRENDAN GREELEY: So one way to compare France to the United States is that Emmanuel Macron cut wealth taxes, and he cut corporate taxes in America, very similar to what we—sorry, in France, very similar to what we've been doing in America. So that bill has come due.
It worked fine before COVID, there were increased tax receipts from business activity before COVID. Since COVID, France has not been able to catch up, and they do not have the luxury of running deficits in the way that the United States does for as long and as high.
So, the problem is they went through a period of tax cuts seven or eight years ago that they have not been able to recover from in the last two or three years, other than cutting services.
If you combine this with the sudden shock of gas prices, which are true everywhere in the world, not just America, because of the war with Iran, you have a situation that's looking increasingly similar, at least to the dissatisfaction that we have in the United States.
Of course, there's the old joke that Americans live in hell, but think they live in heaven. The French live in heaven, but think they live in hell. So perhaps their dissatisfaction boiled over before Americans’ did. But we're looking at comparable economies in a way.
RUHLE: John, what's your take?
JOHN HARWOOD: Well, there's a commonality to the populist sort of unrest around the world. It tends, on the right, to be about demographics, about race, about immigration. On the left, it tends to be about income inequality. That's a very, very long developing problem. Nobody, even if you're governing during the high point of the cycle, nobody has resolved the structural inequality that we are dealing with.
And, you know, that's why you've got a movement for democratic socialists, for example, that is getting some traction within the Democratic Party. But doing something about this is very, very difficult. You know, the free market economy is the engine of prosperity that we've seen. How much can you adjust the gears to produce different outcomes? Do you do it after, you know, is it post-earnings tax redistribution? Is it something you can do before taxation and redistribute income as it's earned? Not easy to do. And you know, it's going to take a lot of unrest or a huge electoral victory for one side or the other that is compelled to do something about it and feels willing to do something about it.
