From 62 to 64, and they rioted. For comparison Canada retirement age is 65 and many is states is 67. Your statement implies that the French retirement age is an outlier and it’s really not.

If you’re talking about the recent policy, the protests did not fix that. The president ignored public opinion, the labor unions, and then ignored Parliament, who voted against the measure, and forced it through. It’ll be interesting to see if that ends up permanent. If macron lasts longer than the new retirement age.

Actually:

June 4th, 2023, 300 Germans set fire to police barricades and attacked Leipzig police officers. The rioters were protesting jail sentences for people who attacked neo-nazis.

Source:

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/06/04/europe/leipzig-germany-lina-e-far-left-protest-intl/index.html

These are protests to breaches by authority against standing political, social and economic infrastructure rather than the infrastructure itself you are referring to; that infrastructure is as in place in France as it is in Germany.

“Astronomically”.

This is like making fun of a fireman using a bucket of water that’s twice as large as your bucket to put out a house fire.

They pay twice as much in taxes. Vs the ludicrous cost of most basic citizen necessities in the United States .

Pay twice as much in taxes, you get affordable/basically free healthcare and adorable/basically free higher education(medical school is 2k a year in France). Affordable, reliable long-distance transportation/physical transportation infrastructure, a living and functional social security, but sure. Careful of those taxes you could pay that would cover all basic human necessities plus all major financial concerns until you croak.

As an example, instead of paying $3,000 in taxes per year, you could pay $6,000 in taxes per year, and you would be free to pursue any education you liked, including medical school, for $1000-$2000 per year instead of paying 30k per year just to learn core classes. Good thing you saved that 3k during tax season.