Jupiter Macron Does Seem To Be Having Economic Problems

M. Macron has, famously, compared himself to the most powerful of the old Gods, Jupiter. Able to do just anything, to move us mere mortals around in order to achieve his higher goal. Then there’s that pesky reality outside the window as les paysans in their yellow vests seem to be less amenable to such high handed direction. The idea that they should be paying even more into the pot in order to keep the French state and it’s vanguard on the sauce chemin de fer not being quite to their liking.

Well, that’s OK, Jupiter can simply reduce taxes and increase spending, right? Well, no, it’s not that simple:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Emmanuel Macron’s bid to buy off France’s “gilets jaunes” protesters with instant budget handouts threatens to blast through eurozone’s fiscal limits, fatally damaging his credibility as the champion of the European project and the guardian of French public accounts. The package of short-term measures announced in a theatrical mea culpa on Monday night leaves President Macron’s putative “grand bargain” with Germany in tatters. He had pledged root-and-branch reform of the French economy and a restoration of spending discipline after 11 years in breach of the EU’s Stability Pact. The calculation was that Berlin would in return drop its long-standing opposition to fiscal union and shared liabilities,… [/perfectpullquote]

That’s not going to work, is it? Asking Germany to share their tax pot just as you’re blowing out your own? Further, we’ve that set of rules which says that a Eurozone country can’t do this, can’t do that and yet must also do this third thing. Like, have some sort of reasonable relationship between taxes and spending?

Such a bore this Olympian ruling thing, isn’t it? Us mortals being rather more fractious and disagreeable than the model presupposes.