The economy of France is a device that generates the GDP. Erasing that device is not the same as taking away the (one year's worth of) product of that device. I

The economy of France is a device that generates the GDP. Erasing that device is not the same as taking away the (one year's worth of) product of that device. If you erase the economy of France then you erase a lot of companies doing business with a substantial fraction of the world. So you shake the whole world economy not simply through erasing some money owned by someone but business connections. You'll have a lot of companies in trouble for losing either customers or important suppliers.