And this means that in financial terms France has joined the club of advanced countries that have their own currencies and therefore can't run out of money — a club all of whose members have very low borrowing costs, more or less independent of their debts and deficits.
But a continuing lack of property for sale and very low borrowing costs should prevent a big fall in prices and house prices have a habit of doing better than expected, she said.
So, as a reminder, rates in Britain and the US: Every advanced country with monetary independence has seen very low borrowing costs, reflecting the expectation of low policy rates for many years to come.
Meanwhile, countries that didn't jump on the austerity train — most notably, Japan and the United States — continue to have very low borrowing costs, defying the dire predictions of fiscal hawks.
The company on Tuesday borrowed $17 billion in a record-size corporate bond offering to take advantage of very low interest rates in order to help finance a $100 billion payout to its shareholders.
Vlieghe also raised the prospect of decades of low borrowing costs.
"The Bain model is to go in at a very low price, borrow an immense amount of money, pay Bain an immense amount of money and leave," Mr. Gingrich said.
"The Bain model," he continued, "is to go in at a very low price, borrow an immense amount of money, pay Bain an immense amount of money and leave.
"The Bain model was to go in at a very low price, borrow an immense amount of money, pay Bain a great deal of money and leave.
"The Bain model," he Gingrich explained, "is to go in at a very low price, borrow an immense amount of money, pay Bain an immense amount of money and leave.
