I see that Steve Rattner is using France as a cautionary tale: "If you want to live in France (economically), Elizabeth Warren should be your candidate." Just asking: would that be so terrible? 1/ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/opinion/medicare-warren-plan.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

France has plenty of problems — and the euro has turned into a terrible economic straitjacket. But France gets very bad press that isn't borne out by the facts. Did you know, for example, that prime-age adults are *more* likely to be employed there than here? 2/

Meanwhile, income growth for the bottom half of the population has been better there than here 3/

And thanks in part to universal health care, when it comes to life expectancy there's no comparison. (I liked the theory that it was all about red wine, but apparently researchers don't believe that anymore) 4/

France is no utopia. But the idea that it's some kind of hellhole is weirdly out of touch with reality. On the Rawls test — which society would you choose if you didn't know who you'd be — France surely beats America 5/