News Summary: "Shock therapy" for French economy?
WAKEUP CALL: Responding to a request for help, a prominent French businessman recommends a big cut in payroll taxes, improved labor relations and less red tape for business as part of a "competitiveness shock" to restart its economy.
THE EXPERT: Louis Gallois, who once ran the defense and aerospace giant EADS, the parent company to Airbus, said France must raise the level of products it makes if it's going to be able to maintain its standard of living.
THE OUTLOOK: There are doubts that President Francois Hollande will follow the suggestions, having for weeks called for a different strategy — a slow tinkering rather than a shock for the world's fifth biggest economy.
