Re:The plot against France
by humanrebar on Tuesday November 12, 2013 @04:35PM
(#6721340)
To be even more pedantic, saying France is not as bad as other countries is hardly a point in favor of France's medium-term growth prospects.
I don't want to give a point-by-point rebuttal. I just find the whole column facile, argumentative, and not befitting HackerNews. I'd rather not be facile and argumentative in expressing that opinion.
The responses I've been getting here have been arguing or reiterating Krugman's points, not convincing me that it's good content for HackerNews.
Again, there are many other aggregators more suitable for this sort of column.
It is. It is a point in favor - relative to countries of relevant comparison. Which is relevant since credit ratings and investment advice is always relative.
And why do I think that the original post is relevant to HN - besides being interesting, well argued and factual? Because of this: http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/28232.html
The relevant point of bringing up ageing is that this is an area that is often brought up as a medium/long term financial sustainability problem, but one for which France has better stats (b/c of birthrate) than most countries of relevant comparison - however Krugman feels that this point is ignored by "fiscal scolds" (certainly true for the two articles he mentions).