HE'S NOT THERE TO PROVIDE HEROIC MEDICINE...:

Nicolas Sarkozy Is in a Hurry: The French President is moving fast, but can he act quickly enough to prevent France's ailing economy from getting any worse? (Carol Matlack, 12/21/07, Business Week)

Nicolas Sarkozy hit the ground running, and he hasn't stopped. In the past week alone, France's new President has met with the Pope at the Vatican, launched negotiations to overhaul labor laws, led an environmental-protection delegation to the endangered Camargue region—and still found time for a stroll through Disneyland Paris with his new girlfriend, ex-supermodel and singer Carla Bruni.

But can Sarkozy, 52, move fast enough to keep France's sick economy from getting even sicker? [...]

[H]e has barely scratched the surface of other problems that are growing more acute by the day. France's economy is set to grow an anemic 1.9% this year, compared with a European Union average of 2.9%. The national debt is rising rapidly, and the EU has warned that by 2009 France's public finances will be the shakiest of any of its 27 member countries.

...just palliative care.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 21, 2007 8:23 AM