On France’s Social Crisis

By: Abdelhak Azzouzi

CAIRO, Dec. 9 (SEE)- Yellow vest protests in France remind me of the results of the work of Professor Gijucz W. Kolodko, economist, politician and thinker, one of the main architects of the Polish reforms.

He wrote a great book of significant interest in dealing with the facts, mistakes and lies of the economy in a changing world; this Polish professor deliberately devoid his book of tables, charts and maps to become more appealing to readers.

According to Kolodko, the complicated concepts of economics is best explained using simple and expressive words; economists are supposed to describe what is happening and explain it. The best of these scientists know what is happening and can convince us, as problems arise when:

• They know what is happening, yet can not convince us.
• They do not know what is happening, yet try to convince us anyways.
• They know that the truth of sitituations change as they try to convince us.

Many have written a lot on how to mislead people with science, how they can insist on mistakes for long periods of time, putting their trust in nonsense but rarely wrote about it in economics.

I think Kulodko’s book is one of the rare references in this section; the economy in his view takes a middle path between the imagination as seen in movies and the accuracy of pure science. Actually, bringing economics to accuracy is better and the best is to combine the accuracy of mathematics And the thrill of movies.

One friend advised the economist to write a huge book containing various equations so that no one understands anything; Kolodko saved this valuable advice and decided to do exactly the opposite by not including in his book any equations and to write so that everyone understands ...

When Albert Einstein visited the United States for the second time in 1931, before settling there a year later, he asked to meet another great symbol of the 20th century, Charlie Chaplin.

After a presentation of his legend "The City of Lights," the public applauded the two extraordinary men. "They greet me because they all understand me and greet you because none of them understands you," Chaplin said.

The problem in economics, unlike some other sciences such as medicine, agricultural engineering, or physics, is not empirical. Basically, there is no place for economic laboratories to be a station where experiments are conducted to study the validity or invalidity of the hypothesis. Yet, usually the hypothesis is proposed then further checked for validation.

Following this path to truth is pricey. For example, in France we see the results of the economic, financial and fiscal policies of President Macron's government, where four people were killed and hundreds wounded on the sidelines of the demonstrations that began on 17 November, and now extend to students and farmers. 

The demonstrators wearing yellow vests, which all motorists in France have to carry in their cars, have blocked freeways across the country with burnt barriers and convoys of slow-moving trucks, blocking access to fuel depots, shopping malls and some factories.

Despite government calls for calm, yellow vests have spread to French territory abroad, including the Indian Ocean island of La Rioja, where cars have been set on fire.

Protesters oppose taxes imposed by Macron on gasoline to encourage people to move to more environmentally friendly transportation. In addition to the tax, the government offered incentives to buy electric or eco-friendly vehicles. 

The unrest is a dilemma for Macaron, who portrays himself as a hero in the face of climate change, but has been ridiculed for not connecting with ordinary people at a time when his popularity is declining.

The youthful French president, a few hours after the Prime Minister's speech before the National Assembly, which decided the government to give up the final increase in the tax on fuel, announced last Wednesday’s evening the cancelling of the increase for the year 2019.

President Macron understood the mistaken economic and social decisions that affect the pockets of the poor and middle classes. I think that all European regimes will take similar and proactive decisions in societies that are no longer accepted by Professor Gijosz Kolodko in misleading people in areas that affect their lives.