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Ryan Bridge: The OECD's report needs to be taken with a grain of salt · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It is somewhat ironic the latest lecture we're getting from
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: an office of global boffins is headquartered in Paris. No
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: offense to the French, but they are screaming out for
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: a lesson in basic economics. Their debt to GDP ratio
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: one hundred and eighteen percent. Their debt is sixty percent
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: above the EU limit, breaking all sorts of records for
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  Speaker 1: the wrong reasons. You're used to hearing about the Italians
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: and the Greeks in the EU, but the French are
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: up there with them too, in the top three most
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: indebted nations in the Bloc. The country nearly fell over,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: remember that, trying to cut back on pension spending. Poor
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: old Macron they spend billions on stuff that we would
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: consider nice to have. Basically, you ask them, do you
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: want to spend something, and they say that's the French.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: The OCD is, of course, a multi nation group, just
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  Speaker 1: happens to be based in Paris, been around since the sixties.
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  Speaker 1: But they've come up with a bunch of stuff that
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: they think that we need to do, including linking pensions
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: to life expectancy. So if you're on average meant to
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: live longer, you'll get your pension later. That's the idea. This,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: of course is a problem because not everyone is the average.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Why should somebody gets super before you, only for you
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: to get hit by a bus or hit by cancer
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  Speaker 1: and only end up with a few years on your
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Gold card getting discount public transport. This is the same
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: group that wanted us a few years back, you might
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: remember to tax property and shares. I know they are
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: also saying we should have quotas for women on boards
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  Speaker 1: in publicly listed companies. I mean even Haln Clark doesn't
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: think that's a good idea. So a lot of this
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: is to say that it should be taken with a
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  Speaker 1: grain of salt, and probably actually better shouted out the
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  Speaker 1: window of their offices in Paris. For more from Early
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talks at
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: b from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.