Of course the NYT would never do this sort of mind reading on the intentions of the French president. Instead it told readers about changes to the labor code that were “intended to stoke hiring.” It would be nice if the NYT could limit itself to reporting what politicians say and do instead of telling us what their intentions are.

The piece also refers to tax breaks of 6 billion euros targeted to workers and and 18.8 billion euro reduction in payroll and other business taxes. It is unlikely that many NYT have much idea how large these cuts are for the French people or economy. If the cuts are for one year (this is not clear from the piece), the reduction in taxes for workers comes to roughly $100 per worker. The business tax cuts are equal to a bit less than 0.9 percent of GDP.