Market thuggery

 From the lead article in the business section of the May 7, 2012 edition of The New York Times:

“Markets will not attack France right away,” said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “But there is a risk that if Mr. Hollande does not act early on, France will become the next sick man of Europe.”

And to close the article:

“There’s a sort of ‘Nixon goes to China’ element where, as a Socialist, he will be able to pressure the unions toward more concessions on various labor market reforms,” said Mr. Kirkegaard of the Peterson Institute. “But it still means he’s got to be willing to take the confrontation. That will determine where France goes from here.”

Question: when organized crime applies muscle, does it do so more or less subtly?

And do we shrug our shoulders and say, “There’s no choice but to accept the influence of the syndicate?