They’ll Find out that Belt-tightening has Nothing to do with S & M

In a land where people don’t have any disposable income thanks to taxes and “syndicalist” consumer price bloating, any form of reality bites.

Budget cuts that might once have sent French people marching into the streets look set to pass in silence as anxiety about debt and deficits, long non-issues in free-spending France, loom large in voters' minds ahead of a presidential election.

And you can always expect the usual teenager-like passive-aggression:

Yet the response has been muted, and early signs are that little outcry is to be expected. Labor unions issued statements denouncing the new round of cuts as unwarranted austerity. But they are vague about any plans to respond with protests.