The Fruits of Deficit Reduction in France

The NYT had an article about how French consumers are cutting back on their spending, hurting retailers and the economy. The piece notes that unemployment is rising and that the French economy is struggling to recover from its second recession since the 2008 collapse.

It would have been worth mentioning that this is a direct and predictable outcome of the government's austerity policies. The government has cut spending and raised taxes. This directly reduces demand in the economy. Unless the...