Let Them Eat Burritos
A country deeply in debt due to a series of wars and financial mismanagement ; lavish expenditures on the head of state who fails to understand the problems; a tax system that exempts the wealthy and puts the burden on the middle class and poor; a business environment plagued by frauds and bankruptcies; a vast standard of living gap between those at the top and the vast majority at the bottom.
Sound familiar? Of course, it’s 18th century France and it resulted in the series of events that are grouped as the French Revolution. Gee, what did you think?
Oh, by the way, no one said: “Let them eat cake.” “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” would be closer to “Let them eat cheese blintzes.” Marie Antoinette was about 10 years old when Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote it in Confessions, published after his death. The Swiss philosopher attributed it to an unnamed princess, but the appearance of the book in 1782 may be why people assumed the reference was to her.
