France’s latest provisional accounts put public spending at 57.3% of GDP, below the 60% figure Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin cited in a warning to young Americans.
France’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) reported the 2025 figure in its latest national accounts and marked it provisional. An earlier March release put the figure at 57.2%, before a later update. Griffin cited 60% but gave no year or method for that figure. Without a period and method, the percentages cannot be compared on the same basis.
Griffin invoked protests in France during a Bloomberg interview with Dani Burger. “I think Paris should be a real wake-up call to every single young American,” he said. Griffin also compared events in France with Chicago in 2021 and 2022. Bloomberg released the interview Wednesday, Oct. 21; Burger spoke with Griffin at Citadel Securities’ annual Future of Global Markets conference in New York. Bloomberg’s interview also covered AI, U.S. fiscal policy and midterm elections; EconoTimes previously covered Griffin’s conference remarks.
France’s Interior Ministry reported attacks on public institutions and law-enforcement officers, as well as shop looting, in several cities during the Saturday, Oct. 17 mobilization. Turnout estimates differed: the CGT put attendance at 800,000, while The Associated Press reported that French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez estimated 550,000. The CGT described the broader demonstrations as opposition to living costs and support for young people’s demands.
The ministry and union accounts describe the reported violence and the demonstrators’ stated aims; they do not tie the incidents to France’s spending level. The CGT has called for a broader strike on Nov. 5, citing living costs, weak wages, job insecurity and pressure on public services.
