Ah, the French magic of government pronouncements.

FRANCE'S VILLEPIN AIMS TO CUT
UNEMPLOYMENT TO 6 PCT FROM 8 PCT

PARIS January 8, 2007 (Forbes/AFX) - French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin stated his goal of cutting the country's unemployment rate to 6 pct from the current 8 pct, but did not specify a time frame.

And that, gentle reader, is the whole of the report.

LE JUJU
Wish It Low Makes It So

Stop and consider this amazing pronouncement. Jack & co. took office in 1995. Since day one of the Jack presidency, the unemployment rate has never dipped below 8%. Barring political miracles, Jack's presidency -- and with it Dom's government -- is due to expire in a few short months. Yet Dom is confident his government -- without specifying how -- will further reduce unemployment by a full 2% before its expiry.

What, we wonder, does this government plan to do tomorrow to reduce unemployment that it could not have done yesterday? Or the month before? Or on its very first day in office?

Imagine this government possesses the magic necessary to make good its pronouncement. Why has it waited till its withering to act for the public good? [We sit quietly, legs crossed, hands folded cupping the super knee, and wait for the revealing answer. We uncross our legs and reverse the crossing. We continue waiting.]

But there is no magic. This is merely a wand wave, another Jack & co. wand wave. There is no agency other than wishing things so.

PFFT (What is this?): Wand wave 4 | Jack magic 0 | Rayonnement français 0

If the USA had had an unemployment rate such as that of France (and Germany) over the last ten years, there would have been a revolution.