We came across a French poll earlier this year that showed 80% of the people polled believed their country was bankrupt.
Well, here's France's new president, Francois Hollande, a Socialist many in European media gloated over when he won, calling for no new taxes, protecting defense spending, cutting state spending and red tape for businesses.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Krugman, are you paying attention?
French unemployment is in double-digit land and the spread premium between German and French 10-year government bonds widened again recently, up 16 basis points since last December.
More incentives for those drawing unemployment to return to work, unbelievable coming from a socialist politician.
But the real irony is many of these changes are mere extensions of those started by his free-market talking predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy.
According to polls Hollande is the most unpopular French president in 30 years.
One thing remains clear. Such changes, if they get implemented, would have digested a lot smoother had they been done a lot earlier.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-28/hollande-presses-french-to-embrace-social-revamp-to-spur-growth.html
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