May as well call it the Sarcophagus plan.

It’s all they know how to do.
And again, like the carpenter said of his piece of wood,
no matter how many times I cut it it’s still too short.

France Unveils New Budget Savings as Growth Slows

By Alexandria Sagr

November 7 (Reuters) — France will announce about 8 billion euros of budget cuts and tax hikes for 2012 on Monday, imposing more pain on voters to protect its credit rating and curb its deficit in a gamble for President Nicolas Sarkozy six months from an election.

Sarkozy’s center-right government says extra savings are urgently needed to keep France’s finances from going off the rails, since it cut its growth forecast for next year to 1 percent from 1.75 percent last week.

The announcements could be make-or-break for Sarkozy as he tries to reassure financial markets and ratings agencies without costing him his re-election chances with French voters.

The measures, to be unveiled by Prime Minister Francois Fillon, come on top of 12 billion euros in savings announced just three months ago.

Le Monde newspaper said he would flag cuts totaling up to 17 billion euros by 2016.