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Macron says €300B in EU savings sent to the US every year will be invested in EU

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Re: Macron says €300B in EU savings sent to the US every year will be invested in EU

#51
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

meanwhile 6-week vacations, high speed trains, walkable cities, generous child benefits, and, well, quality of life salute you from here

The issue is a lot of French people in the private sector (small businesses, contractors etc.) actually work really hard and often long hours to subsidise public sector employees barely working and retiring at 55.

At the end of the day, that just isn't sustainable politically and it's pretty questionable if it's morally correct either

Re: Macron says €300B in EU savings sent to the US every year will be invested in EU

#52
So, how is this going to work? Is he talking about the French Ministry of Economics and Finance? About the Banque de France? About the the ECB? Afaik the last two are, nominally at least, independent, while Macron is just a politician representing one of the 27 EU countries, so what authority does he have? What do the political leaders of Latvia think about this? Or of Malta?

Re: Macron says €300B in EU savings sent to the US every year will be invested in EU

#53
post #5

Macron is making up numbers. Unless the EU member states actually impose capital controls, investors will continue to send their capital wherever it can earn the highest returns. Profitable investment opportunities in the EU remain slim and so far they seem uninterested in pursuing a growth policy.

Politics drives decision making in addition to just seeking returns, especially for government affiliated funds, e.g.: https://www.reuters.com/business/swedish-pension-fund-alecta... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/danish-pension-fund-treasuries-... (And remember that India and China combined reduced their holdings of US treasures by at least $50B in 2025: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/amid-global-...…

The EU has $8T invested in US assets. That's not an easy choice like a soccer mom choosing to go to the Caribbean instead of Florida for a weekend. It's very serious business that needs real alternatives.

Re: Macron says €300B in EU savings sent to the US every year will be invested in EU

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politics drives decision making in addition to just seeking returns, especially for government affiliated funds, e.g.: https://www.reuters.com/business/swedish-pension-fund-alecta... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/danish-pension-fund-treasuries-... (And remember that India and China combined reduced their holdings of US treasures by at least $50B in 2025: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/amid-global-...…

Contrary to the implication, the Swedish fund that possibly sold $8b of its $100b worth of US Treasuries did not cite politics as its reason for doing so, and no part of the article backs up that claim. Additionally, selling out of the US dollar as the fed aimed to cut rates and as the dollar declined from historic highs against the Euro seems sensible regardless of politics. Denmark has been exiting foreign bonds fo…

>Contrary to the implication, the Swedish fund that possibly sold $8b of its $100b worth of US Treasuries did not cite politics as its reason for doing so

Which doesn't mean it wasn't the reason.

Re: Macron says €300B in EU savings sent to the US every year will be invested in EU

#55
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

meanwhile 6-week vacations, high speed trains, walkable cities, generous child benefits, and, well, quality of life salute you from here

At some point the money runs out for all of that stuff, it seems that in France that's just about to happen.

Re: Macron says €300B in EU savings sent to the US every year will be invested in EU

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> The only reason the IMF hasn't taken the reins of France yet is because France has the nuclear weapon and is the only country in the eurozone to have it, so they have some leverage with the other countries in the eurozone. Haha, what? How is France having nuclear weapons leverage over other countries in the Eurozone? What kind of thing do you think the Eurozone or EU even is? We don't use threats of violence agains…

I took it to mean more that europe relies on France for nuclear deterrence against outside threats so treats them with gentle gloves more than Europe is afraid of France nuking them. Right now more than ever they really need someone with nukes on their side.

Re: Macron says €300B in EU savings sent to the US every year will be invested in EU

#57
post #38
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

meanwhile 6-week vacations, high speed trains, walkable cities, generous child benefits, and, well, quality of life salute you from here

All great things for sure. But the French economy has been stagnant for decades. There is no growth. One option would be to allow more immigration, but not allow the immigrants to have access to the public benefits. Obviously that is a divisive political issue they struggle badly with.

> the French economy has been stagnant for decades. There is no growth.

This is one of the biggest reasons why it is trivially easy for USA, China, and Russia to squeeze them (and the whole EU) from all sides.

Re: Macron says €300B in EU savings sent to the US every year will be invested in EU

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politics drives decision making in addition to just seeking returns, especially for government affiliated funds, e.g.: https://www.reuters.com/business/swedish-pension-fund-alecta... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/danish-pension-fund-treasuries-... (And remember that India and China combined reduced their holdings of US treasures by at least $50B in 2025: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/amid-global-...…

Contrary to the implication, the Swedish fund that possibly sold $8b of its $100b worth of US Treasuries did not cite politics as its reason for doing so, and no part of the article backs up that claim. Additionally, selling out of the US dollar as the fed aimed to cut rates and as the dollar declined from historic highs against the Euro seems sensible regardless of politics. Denmark has been exiting foreign bonds fo…

To be fair, the Swedish pension fund specifically cited the US's "large budget deficits and growing government debt" for why they saw it as higher risk. That sort of thing is 100% politicians.

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/wealth-and-investment/article...

Re: Macron says €300B in EU savings sent to the US every year will be invested in EU

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politics drives decision making in addition to just seeking returns, especially for government affiliated funds, e.g.: https://www.reuters.com/business/swedish-pension-fund-alecta... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/danish-pension-fund-treasuries-... (And remember that India and China combined reduced their holdings of US treasures by at least $50B in 2025: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/amid-global-...…

Contrary to the implication, the Swedish fund that possibly sold $8b of its $100b worth of US Treasuries did not cite politics as its reason for doing so, and no part of the article backs up that claim. Additionally, selling out of the US dollar as the fed aimed to cut rates and as the dollar declined from historic highs against the Euro seems sensible regardless of politics. Denmark has been exiting foreign bonds fo…

> 1 USD buys nearly $1.40 CAD.

Right before Trump (2024), 1.42 CAD at the top. During Trump, barely hits 1.40 CAD, one time it touched 1.37 CAD.

Re: Macron says €300B in EU savings sent to the US every year will be invested in EU

#60
post #32
post #21

TIL EU savings rate is far more than US. 18.79% vs 3.50% Guessing that's somehow counting enforced deductions off paycheques. Would be a wild difference if not. https://tradingeconomics.com/european-union/personal-savings https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/personal-savings

There's no "enforced savings" that I know of in Europe. 3.50% in the US sounds extremely low to me. It has fallen a bit recently but the savings rate was about 25% in France in 2020. Common knowledge says to strive to save at the very least 10% of one's revenue around here.

There is a very large and growing portion of the US that maintains no savings at all. In fact it's the opposite and many are slowly spending their way into perpetual credit card debt.
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