$DXY hits an 18 month high today. Risk is relative and Europe and many other countries have way more problems than we do.

In France and the UK, large majorities say the economy is getting worse, 67% in France and 63% in the UK, far above the global median. This tracks years of high taxes, heavy public spending, immigration, and expansive welfare systems that produced weak growth and rising debt rather than broad prosperity. Left promises may sound nice in theory, but they never work. Majorities notice something is wrong with the promised left prosperity.

High taxes and generous welfare blunt incentives to work, hire, or invest. When the state claims a large share of output and spending outpaces the productive base, private capital formation is crowded out. Both countries show the pattern: subdued growth, difficult debt dynamics, and stagnant living standards despite high spending.

Public opinion registers the gap between the promised left model and results. Improvement requires tighter control of spending, better-targeted benefits that do not discourage work, and tax structures that reward productivity. None of this will happen, the left in both countries seriously demands even higher taxes and more state, which would throttle growth, progress, and innovation further. Imagine the pessimism rates then.