The French protests are indicative of a broader trend of the West becoming increasingly difficult to govern. Decades of low productivity growth, poor demographics, and unsustainable promises to retirees have been papered over by deficit-funded fiscal policy. But what can't last, won't. And with bond markets rebelling, there isn't a clear way for politicians to meet voters' rising expectations within tighter fiscal constraints. Politicians get elected by making promises that fiscal reality prevents them from fulfilling. When those promises disappoint, voters swing to the next party offering new pledges. Eventually, people tire of the whole system, and take their frustration to the streets, demanding what government no longer has the ability to give them.