The hunting gardens of Versailles...
...Louis XVI's massive palace.
Here's an Article [click to read] in Political Mavens that I must confess I have been waiting for, Michael LeGault [click for bio] has written a great comparison of Barack Obama to the French monarch. You probably remember Louis XVI's wife, Marie Antoinette. When advised that the peasants had no bread, she is reported to have said: "let them eat cake."
"The president’s fondness for a party has been likened to the Roman Emperor Nero’s questionable emergency response tactics. A more fitting comparison is to Louis XVI, his wife Marie Antoinette and their court at the Palace of Versailles in pre-revolutionary France around 1788. Like the United States today, France in the time of the Louis XVI was saddled with enormous debt. The Seven Years War against Britain had depleted the treasury, and the fiscal crisis was compounded by the extravagant, often gluttonous lifestyle of the King and his attending aristocrats. In order to finance the deficit, a 5 percent tax was levied on all revenues. When further tax increases were blocked by parlements, the King and the French government enacted a policy of taking out large international loans. Sound familiar?"
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