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Balzac wrote, “The secret of great wealth with no apparent source is some forgotten crime, forgotten because it was done neatly.” The conversations I had about the financial climate in France began almost uniformly: “You are aware that money is a taboo subject in this country?” Yes, I would reply, but France isn’t Denmark. Inequality exists. There are plenty of grand houses, sumptuous clothes, people buying expensive paintings. “There’s a very egalitarian idea of what society should be, whatever hypocrisy it entails,” Christine Ockrent, the veteran journalist, told me. “It dates back to the French Revolution, which, by the way, was a very bourgeois revolution. The myth of equality is something which strangles any discussion about income.”
In America, a politician should not appear too literate; in France, he should not appear overly interested in sums. A sort of spiritual innumeracy is required to prove that he is a serious person. “Economics is considered an obstacle to ideology, a constraint politicians prefer to avoid if they can,” Chamboredon said. Politicians in France speak to “citizens,” not to “taxpayers.”
It had become advantageous in France, as elsewhere, to be seen as an avenger of capitalism. The Web site of Jérôme Cahuzac, the Budget Minister, featured a quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson: “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.” (Cahuzac, who, amusingly, called the loss of Depardieu a “big win for Belgian cinema,” is under investigation for allegations that he maintained secret bank accounts in Singapore and Switzerland.
Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...#ixzz2LIkzqwhl
In America, a politician should not appear too literate; in France, he should not appear overly interested in sums. A sort of spiritual innumeracy is required to prove that he is a serious person. “Economics is considered an obstacle to ideology, a constraint politicians prefer to avoid if they can,” Chamboredon said. Politicians in France speak to “citizens,” not to “taxpayers.”
It had become advantageous in France, as elsewhere, to be seen as an avenger of capitalism. The Web site of Jérôme Cahuzac, the Budget Minister, featured a quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson: “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.” (Cahuzac, who, amusingly, called the loss of Depardieu a “big win for Belgian cinema,” is under investigation for allegations that he maintained secret bank accounts in Singapore and Switzerland.
Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...#ixzz2LIkzqwhl
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