Four months ago, we perceived some improvement. Following the publication of a drop in unemployment in January, we wondered, two months ago, if the recovery was finally here. So where are we really now? Commentators are optimistic. But this is a kind of forced optimism. Members of the government cannot react otherwise. The Minister of Labour is doing his job when he notices that, arithmetically, the monthly increase of unemployment in the first quarter is low, even if it is mostly due to the exceptional decrease observed in January.

Nevertheless one can tell him that the number of full-time job ...

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"Where there is a will, there is a way," said the sage Lao Tzu. What does China want today and where does it go? Most of the commentators focus nowadays on the growth slowdown and the impact of the debt accumulated by real estate promoters and local governments on the financial and social stability of the country, which could threaten the global economy. This is not what is at stake.

First, comparing the growth rates over a long period of time is not relevant. In 2005, China had a GDP equivalent to that of France or the UK. Ten years ...

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In less than a year, three key companies of the French industry found themselves in a critical situation. The first, Alcatel, has been bought by a competitor, the second, Areva, has announced considerable losses and asked for the support of its shareholders, and the third, Alstom, had to sold two-thirds of its businesses. Telephone networks, nuclear power plants and turbines are not low-cost jobs destined for relocation. They have always been considered the strengths of French economy. So what happened? As surprising as it may seem, the same scenario happened in all three cases.

The combination of strategic mistakes of ...

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