As they swarmed back from the seaside and the mountains last week, their August vacations over, France's wage earners got a cheery greeting from Finance Minister Felix Gaillard. "You will find," said Gaillard in a nationwide radio broadcast, "that price cuts have been made in household appliances, pharmaceutical products and a goodly number of articles that your children are going to need when school reopens."
Despite his optimistic tone, brilliant young (37) Fiscal Expert FĂ©lix Gaillard had really little to be optimistic about. While Gaillard's countrymen had been disporting themselves (and he himself got...