Paris boards up the windows while the estimates stay wide open
As protests rage, the real cost of order is felt by those who live in the city.
The story
French police used tear gas and water cannons after some protests turned violent. Shopkeepers boarded up premises, while authorities and unions reported sharply different attendance estimates.
Source: fortune.com
Our reading
In Paris, the windows need plywood, but the attendance figures have room to expand. The Interior Ministry and the CGT union produced different estimates of the same demonstrations. Neither version makes an optician’s storefront any easier to board up.
The protesters want more teachers and better conditions in education. The authorities have supplied more policing. These are both forms of public expenditure, although only one requires the crowd to disperse before it can appreciate the investment.
Akram Ahmed, the contractor boarding up an optician’s shop, has the least ambiguous assignment in the report. There is a window. It needs covering. His work can be measured without choosing between the government’s estimate and the union’s. By the end of the day, someone in this story will have delivered a finished public-facing barrier.
