Virtue postponed indefinitely

Hypocrisy, according the French aphorist La Rochefoucauld, is the tribute which vice pays to virtue. That description is certainly apt for the implausible claim that the French government will bring its 2006 deficit just below 3% of GDP, the limit set by the EU’s Stability and Growth pact. The government, mindful of the 2007 elections, has preferred not to make the virtuous sacrifices that would surely bring the deficit under the limit. Why bother with higher taxes or a real cut in spending? Th...