Some politicians hope the fund will take the blame for painful spending cuts. Good luck with that.
Bad news, Europe: The International Monetary Fund won’t save you.
Late summer brings a curious trend across the Atlantic—speculation about IMF bailouts for Western European economies. This time it’s the U.K. and France. British economists over the past week have raised the alarm that London could soon face a financial crisis that would require a bailout from abroad. Not to be outdone, French Finance Minister Eric Lombard this week warned that his country also might need to stick out its begging bowl.
This is old ground for Britain. Having embarrassingly required an IMF bailout as recently as 1976, the U.K. suffers mini moral panics periodically when some wonk or another warns that the country is on an unsustainable fiscal or economic path. France is newer to this game but jumping in with reckless abandon. Mr. Lombard is the second official in recent months to raise the prospect of an IMF package for France; Public Finance Minister Amélie de Montchalin floated the idea in June.