All around her, Caroline Blet can see signs of the slump that has beset the once-flourishing town of Ris-Orangis (pop. 25,000), 15 miles south of Paris, for more than two years. Things went from bad to worse in March, when the big LU cookie factory closed, taking 412 jobs with it. Shopkeepers complain of declining sales, and on May 25, five buses carried protesters from the town hall to antigovernment demonstrations in the capital. Blet, 41, runs a small real-estate agency that has so far escaped the downturn, as falling interest rates continue to boost house sales. But she has no...
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