“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul,” noted famed English author George Bernard Shaw in 1944, lamenting the British political system. Today, a Frenchman has issued a similar warning for Americans.
Brivael Le Pogam, co-founder and self-proclaimed “techno-emperor” of the French AI company Argil, recently warned American voters ahead of their midterms with a message that went viral.
In his post, Le Pogam wrote: “I’m French. I want to talk to Americans who are about to vote Democrat. Not to insult you. To warn you.”
Le Pogam described how France has implemented what progressive politicians promise: free healthcare, free college, generous welfare, strong unions, heavy regulation, high taxes on the rich, and a state that takes care of everything. Public spending in France approaches 57% of GDP — one of the highest globally.
But from the inside, France’s system has led to stagnation. The nation hasn’t balanced its budget since 1974, with debt exceeding 3,300 billion euros. Interest payments on that debt now dominate the national budget. Hospitals are collapsing despite record funding, schools rank lower each year, and young graduates cannot afford apartments in their home cities. Many of France’s best engineers have moved to London, Zurich, and San Francisco, while the wealthy also departed — taking jobs with them.
“The promise was protection,” Le Pogam explained. “The result is stagnation.”
He added: “The worst part is that nobody in France voted for decline. Every single step sounded generous, compassionate, reasonable. One more program. One more regulation. One more tax to fund it. Each step alone makes sense. Fifty years of them, and you wake up in a country that can no longer build a nuclear plant on time or keep its streets safe.”
Le Pogam noted: “Many Frenchmen did vote for the decline — they just didn’t want it. There’s a difference.” He praised America as “the one place on earth where people still believe they can build something from nothing,” crediting his self-taught journey to Silicon Valley with changing his life. “That spirit is the most precious thing your country has.”
Before voting, he urged Americans: “Ask yourself: Is the program you’re voting for making America more like America, or more like France?”
He concluded: “Trust me. You don’t want to be France.”
Le Pogam highlighted that the United States already bears similarities to France — in this case, national debt exceeding $40 trillion. While France’s debt-to-GDP ratio stands at approximately 115 percent, America’s is slightly higher at about 123 percent. However, the U.S. benefits from the dollar being the world’s reserve currency.
He also noted that interest payments on U.S. debt now exceed the defense budget — a staggering figure. France’s economic challenges stem from the welfare state, which he linked to Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman’s warning: “You cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state.” France has long had both, leading to consequences Le Pogam described as “the halal chickens coming home to roost.”
The government’s proposed solutions — higher taxes, spending cuts, or more borrowing — are increasingly uncomfortable choices. Americans often claim their country isn’t France and Democrats aren’t socialists. In response, Le Pogam urged voters: “Look at what has gotten cheaper in America over the last 25 years: TVs, phones, software, clothes, toys. Now look at what has exploded: college tuition, healthcare, childcare, housing.”
“What separates the two lists?” he wrote. “The first lives in competitive markets. The second is exactly where government is most involved: subsidies, mandates, licensing, zoning, regulation.”
Le Pogam explained that problems Americans face are not due to failing free markets but where government has replaced market forces — and the solution being offered is more of the same. He cited Elon Musk and thousands of builders like him as proof that “the pie is not fixed” through AI advancements collapsing intelligence costs and robotics reducing labor expenses.
He warned that even if these technologies lead to abundance, fundamental human nature would remain unchanged. Citing Anglo-Irish philosopher Edmund Burke: “It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”