Priorities, Priorities

This does explain a lot:

PARIS, Jan 24, 2007 (AFP) - French state support to businesses in 2005 amounted to 65 billion euros (85 billion dollars), nearly twice as much as the defence budget and than spending on education, a press report said on Wednesday.

A government study cited by Le Figaro newspaper said that public funding for businesses represented 4.0 percent of gross domectic product in 2005.

State aid to enterprises reperesents "a little more than total for national education, nearly two times the defense budget and about the same order of magnitude as hospital spending", said the report, drafted by the inspectors from the ministries of finance, social affairs and from the administration.