Madame Can-Do will get France workingWHEN Christine Lagarde, France’s first female finance minister, returned to Paris in 2005 after a six-year stint at an American law firm, she was bewildered by the change that had come over her countrymen. Nobody seemed that keen on working.
“They were more interested in chatting about their holidays, about their long weekends,” said Lagarde, a willowy figure of 51 in an elegant suit. “Doing nothing was very much the mantra and work was disregarded.”
Since then Lagarde, former head of Baker & McKenzie, the world’s largest law firm, has set an example: her diligence has helped to turn her into the most powerful woman in France, the key general in President Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign to get the country working again.
Speaking of France: I was eyeballing investing in Total S.A. (TOT), until I heard that they are basically financing Iranian terrorists in Iraq killing American soldiers. Hmm... that'd definitely go against my investing ethos.
Perhaps there will be other investment opportunities now that the French have decided to rejoin the real world.
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