Following the European elections, the French credit default swap has soared to a post-2020 record of 39 points. Many commentators blame the rise of the National Front for market turmoil, which has sent all euro area spreads higher. However, none of this would have happened if France’s debt was low, finances were strong, and the euro area economies enjoyed healthy economic growth.

France is the world’s poster child for statism. The same statism that some politicians seek to impose on the United States has economically devastated France, a wonderful country with excellent human capital and outstanding entrepreneurs.

Deficit spending is not a growth tool. It is the recipe for stagnation.

The latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) budget and economic outlook estimates show the extent of the challenges of the United States fiscal nightmare.

The CBO expects a budget deficit of $1.9 trillion in 2024, a year of alleged robust economic growth and record tax receipts. They expect revenues to reach $4.9 trillion, or 17.2 percent of GDP, in 2024, which will rise to 18.0 percent by 2027 and remain at that level until 2034.

This report’s main finding is alarming. Despite expecting no recession and rising tax revenues from 2024 to 2034, the budget deficit will explode from $1.9 trillion to $2.8 trillion by 2034.

The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey plummeted to its lowest level in seven months. The index reading for June came in at 65.6, down from 69.1 in May and under the consensus expectation of 72. In the current conditions and expectations categories, the survey fell below economists’ expectations.

Year-ahead inflation expectations were unchanged this month at 3.3%, but above the 2.3–3.0% range seen in the two years prior to the pandemic, according to the press release. Long-run inflation expectations rose from 3.0% last month to 3.1% in June, significantly above the 2.2-2.6% range seen in the two years pre-pandemic. This survey indicates how weak the U.S. economy is and how consumers are feeling the persistent inflation.

The ECB decided to cut rates by 25 basis points the same day it elevated its own inflation estimates for 2024 and 2025. You simply cannot make this up. If you wanted unmistakable proof of the lack of independence of central banks, this is it. The ECB only has one mandate, price stability, and has violated it for nearly four years. Why? The purpose is to fund the biggest expansion of the government’s size since the euro’s inception and uphold the delusion of a sovereign debt bubble.

We must remember that the ECB has not implemented a restrictive policy at all. It has kept the “anti-fragmentation tool,” which disguises the real risk of sovereign issuers and should be called the “anti-market tool.” This has allowed governments that have increased their fiscal imbalances to keep an artificially low-risk premium versus the German bond. Furthermore, the ECB continues to repurchase part of the bond maturities and the EU launched the Next Generation Fund, which is another massive money-printing exercise.