How France’s debt piled up — and why it’s fueling protests

From the French Revolution to the Gileon, taking to the street has always been part of French political life. For the last few weeks, the country has been rocked by students protesting underfunding in education with hundreds arrested or injured in clashes with the police. This as crunch budget talks loom and the country's financial outlook grows ever more muddy. A fragmented parliament is about to debate on next year's budget. The government aims to slash 54 billion euros of spending and bring deficit down to 5%. But with a presidential election in about 6 months, making this tough budgetary decisions is politically difficult. It's an election that brings its own extra share of political uncertainty with a far right currently leading the polls. All this as French bonds lead a selloff on the continent with the country's ballooning national debt top of mind for investors and no easy solution in sight. From Main Street to Wall Street, the pressure is on for France.