There’s a theory that you can’t trust any message conveyed by a person’s most public expressions and gestures. Instead, the theory runs, you have to study the fleeting look, the involuntary movement. The micro-expression that lasts a second or two, before the welcome smile is fixed in place. That theory sounds good to me — […]

Five weeks ago, the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, was a happy man. He said, ‘The [Greek] problem is solved. How happy I am a solution to the Greek crisis … has been found.’ Which is good. Everyone, even presidents, deserves a little sunshine.  Looking on the bright side: France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy should not think […]

Rumors have been circulating for some time about the health of French banks. Those rumors play a huge part in the recent surge in worries about the creditworthiness of the French state. After all, the Irish banks came pretty close to bankrupting Ireland. The British banks knocked a huge hole in the British government balance […]

You’ll recall, I’m sure, that the newly formed M. Feierstein Ratings Agency broke the news that France has lost its AAA rating. Although we’re a newly formed agency and, if you want to be pedantic about it, we have only ever issued one rating, nevertheless we like to think of ourselves as a market leader. […]