Like all of us, I have watched in recent days as economists and oracles wail a chorus of lament on every screen, in every newspaper. First came the downgrading of the US credit rating, in effect the downgrading of a nation. Then came the stock market crisis. The same thing would soon happen to France, pundits of all kinds claimed. Our era of prosperity was over. Europe was in decline. We were doomed.

Such talk was intolerable. I have run a company for 23 years; I am accustomed to tough competition and downturns. But I cannot simply accept decline. Yes, our countries have been living beyond our means. The social model of western European societies is not sustainable without strong growth. We are trapped by our handouts and welfare support, and the price is unfeasible budget deficits and mounting debt. But France and Europe also have enormous assets. I believe strongly that we can maintain our rank, economically and in every other way.

So what could I do? I took up a pen and started writing. Just as no French government in the past 35 years has been able to resist running a deficit, with the exception of finance minister Thierry Breton (2005-07), no government has truly reformed our country’s abundant and complex social systems and bureaucracies. They may have made sincere attempts but with the exception of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s reform of pensions and the non-replacement of 50 per cent of civil-servants going into retirement, these efforts have not yielded results.