So, Trump, the "laughingstock," is on his way here to Europe. Here's my take on what is going on:

[DFW]

27. Hollande already had all he could ever need from other people's taxes. He didn't need the rest.

But he did harass the middle class by sending out terror squads of financial police to do "audits" with the sole commend of "don't come back empty-handed." They confiscated things of value (sometimes for their own pockets), and levied unjustified fines on practically everyone. One guy I know was fined €1500 for the crime of not having his invoicing software updated to the fastest version available. When he went to the office of the finance authorities to pay it under protest, the head guy apologized and reduced it to €1000, saying, "it's wrong, but if I reduce it more or cancel it, then I get in trouble." Another guy I know had Hollande's terror squad in his shop for over a week. He offered them coffee. The boss of the squad snarled that his coffee didn't taste good. He offered to get her one from a nearby café. She said, "and out of what black money fund are you going to pay for it?"

France already has around 20% or more of all employees working in the public sector (compared with about 15% in Germany and the USA). We have an office there, and we pay a whopping 55% in payroll taxes on top of their gross salary. Our guys there take home about 25% or less of what it costs us to employ them. That is not exactly conducive to getting employment figures down, and Hollande, as one who sucked his entire lifetime income off other peoples' taxes, did nothing to make it easier to employ people in France. Having both the workers AND employers against you is not a good formula for re-election, and Hollande, with his 17% approval rating (less than the percentage of public sector employees!!), knew it. Sarko just got greedy, and didn't get away with it.