FRANCE: Fugitive Francs

Ever since the French Revolution, the specter of a militantly left-wing government has periodically caused wealthy Frenchmen to dispatch their gold and cash to safe harbors abroad. This year an unknown number of businesses and petits bourgeois have been illegally transferring their liquid assets to Switzerland, Liechtenstein and other countries with strong currencies and discreet bankers. The reason for this unseemly flight of capital was explained by a recent public opinion poll. It showed that President Georges Pompidou's Gaullists and their allies were fast losing ground to the Communist-Socialist coalition in...

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