The real cause, they say, has more to do with France's extremely tight money and fiscal policies of the last few years. Determined to join Germany in leading the formation of a new single European currency . France had locked its monetary policy in step with the stringent policies of the German central bank. That sent interest rates soaring when growth was already stagnant and it sent the franc rising against the dollar, crippling exports. To the casual consumer of French election news, this take on France's economic problems sounded extraterrestrial.
Unemployment thus stays in the double digits.
The suggestion that monetary policy, rather than taxes and regulations, may be responsible for high unemployment in France made a brief and unobtrusive cameo and then disappeared. What remained was the ubiquitous sentiment that austerity is not only good for France but inevitable. But again, Andrews' New York Times article provides insight that eludes mandarins like those at The New Republic . People are saving their money at record rates . . . because they worry about holding on to their jobs. . . . While household budgets are quite strong . . .