Bonum Certa Men Certa

Understanding Thierry Breton: The “Cost-Killer” Tries to Tame the National Debt

Overview





Understanding Thierry Breton



Further parts pending review and research




Breton at Bercy
The new boss at Bercy strikes a hawkish pose.



Summary: The oligarchic policy of Thierry Breton at Bercy

Breton's economic policy focused on the need to reform public finances, specifically to reduce the national debt.



In June 2005 he declared that France was living beyond its means, a sentiment echoing the words of the Prime Minister Raymond Barre in 1976. He announced to the French people that the entirety of their income tax was only sufficient to finance the interest payments on the national debt and declared that his primary goal would be the maintenance of public deficit below a level of 3% of GDP in 2005 and 2006.

"Breton's economic policy focused on the need to reform public finances, specifically to reduce the national debt."At the end of 2005 France's deficit fell to 2.9% of its GDP after three consecutive years of surpassing the figure of 3%. In 2006 the public deficit was further reduced to 2.5% and public debt was recorded to have dramatically fallen to 63.9% of GDP. For the first time since 1995 the country's budget was in a situation of primary surplus.

Although Breton gained some acclaim for his efforts in tackling the national debt situation, the general perception of him was as a pro-business advocate of ultra-liberal reforms for the benefit of the few rather than the many.

"Although Breton gained some acclaim for his efforts in tackling the national debt situation, the general perception of him was as a pro-business advocate of ultra-liberal reforms for the benefit of the few rather than the many."For example, in an interview with Le Figaro, Breton criticised France's wealth tax, "l'impôt de solidarité sur la fortune" (ISF) stating that it had become "no longer a wealth tax, but simply yet another tax on the savings and housing of our fellow citizens, who are by no means all wealthy". For Breton, it was a "costly" and "economically dangerous" tax.

A cartoon from this period pokes fun at his stance on the ISF by referring to the "intense emotion" generated in the National Assembly with a plea to the parliamentary deputies to open their hearts to "all those poor wealthy people who are obliged to leave this country of misery in a clandestine manner in their luxury yachts…"

Breton cartoon
Breton generates intense emotion with a plea to parliamentary deputies to open their hearts to "all those poor wealthy people ... obliged to flee France in their luxury yachts".



Breton's term as Minister came to an end on 15 May 2007 at the conclusion of Jacques Chirac's five-year term as President of France. His successor was Jean-Louis Borloo, appointed as Minister of the Economy by the newly elected President, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Breton walks
The Minister for Funny Walks preparing to return to the greener pastures of the private sector



Before looking at what Thierry did next, we will take a small diversion to examine some "incidents" which cast a shadow over his term of office in Bercy, most notably "Rhodiagate", the Vivendi Universal affair and the insider trading scandal at EADS.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Speed of GNU/Linux
The media seldom speaks of the dangers of "proprietary software"
Proprietary Windows Versus "Linux" News (Trying to Keep People on Windows, Never Exploring GNU/Linux)
Good editors know better how to recognise threats and not give them lip service
Ensuring That Every Computer User Anywhere in the World Can Take Control of All His or Her Computers
We must fight the people who attack general-purpose computing, in particular those who push this agenda very aggressively inside Linux
Gemini Links 28/04/2025: Autism and Structural Navigation
Links for the day
What Happened to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Elections: The Purge, the Cover-up, and the Witch-hunts
OSI has gone "full Microsoft"
 
Links 28/04/2025: Canada's Election, Pakistan-India Conflict
Links for the day
Glue Inside Your Pizza (or Why People Will Get Fed Up With Slop)
People are given "answers" from non-intelligence word dumpsters
Links 28/04/2025: Cyberattacks Happening, Chatbots Disappointing, and "Free Speech Under Fire"
Links for the day
Phone Adoption Very Low in Vatican, Windows Usage Fell Nonetheless
Even in places where people still use desktops/laptops most of the time (and have access to these) Windows is gradually losing ground
GNU/Linux 9% in Cuba, Vista 11 Waning, Android Dominant
Microsoft has pretty much lost Cuba
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, April 27, 2025
In 24 Countries Observed by statCounter Vista 11 is Still Less Than a Quarter of Windows Users Despite All Other Versions Being 'Expired'
They ought to move to GNU/Linux
Links 27/04/2025: Pope Goodbyes, "Politics of Fear", Slop Redux and More Google Shutdowns (Google Debt Had Grown This Year)
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Serenity Dialectics, Hockey Jersey Ethics, and More
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Death of Nest Thermostats, Death of Metaverse
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Projects Workflow and Discovering Technology
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 26, 2025
Microsoft Isn't on the Map in USSR
To them, it's either Google or Yandex
In Central America Windows Became a Small Force
These are countries where Windows used to have well over 95% of the "market"
What's Very Vexing to GAFAM, EPO and Others Is That It's Incredibly Hard to Censor Us (and Nobody Ever Successfully Did That Before)
resist, do not capitulate
Site May be Even Faster Now
It basically takes less than a tenth of a second to serve the page
Receiving SLAPPs and Collecting Them Like Trophies (the SLAPPs Always Fail)
People who file lawsuits bring even more attention to themselves (or to embarrassing statements about them)
Year of GNU/Linux on the Laptop?
It's not happening only in Lenovo
What People Must Understand About the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
some facts about the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
Many of the Scandals Are Interconnected (Overlapping People and Corporations)
We're only getting started
More Copyright Lawsuits Against LLM Slop Providers and Suppliers of LLM Slopfarms Would Benefit Society
It's not just bad for the Web and for society; it's also legally dangerous
Links 26/04/2025: General Assassinated in the Town of Balashikha, US Promoting Seafloor Mining
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025