France's Imaginary Austerity

Talk of raising the retirement age is a red herring in this case. The reality is that existing retirees are already too expensive and need to have their pensions cut to balance the budget.

And it won't happen because it will be political suicide. So you can expect it to continue.

"...extreme measures, such as local curfews...."

The fcck? Amritsar was an example of extreme measures. A curfew is nothing.

France has been rioting and striking most of my lifetime on and off. It seems to be a national pastime.