…or at least no sovereign defaults and - presto - no problems.

Reality may be as overrated as stress test results but it tends to be expensive to ignore. €10.4 billion of expense in this case – and that’s just the price of the insurance.

The involvement of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations has serious ramification for French residents like me: it may put an end to my wondering about curious year end spending in the commune (eg digging up the mayoral lawn and replacing a functioning sprinkler system with a new, functioning sprinkler system). 

But so it is the world over when local municipalities are preparing to justify next year’s budget by demonstrating they really needed, and so used up, this year’s.

Still, where else can one have fun with ~€10.4 billion?

• Brokering secret deals in Libya? 
• Buying a nice little tech company? 
• Keeping up with the neighbours’ tax policies? 
• Buying a few jobs ahead of elections?

Or, most relevantly in current context, kissing it goodbye.