France, Sept. 2 -- French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou has warned that France's excessive debt puts it in danger, which is why his says his government's proposed budget, which cuts into public spending and freezes pensions and other social payments, is crucial. But is the debt really such a danger? And how did France get to be so indebted?

France has not run a budget surplus in over fifty years. The last time was before the 1973 oil crisis.

"Since then, our deficit has not stopped increasing, and so our debt has not stopped increasing," Francois Ecalle, a former member of France's high council on public finance and an honorary senior adviser to the Cour des Comptes public auditors, told RFI.

France's debt at the end of the first seme...