For a brief moment before Christmas, self-doubt gripped France. The beloved French actor Gerard Depardieuâ??who recently played Obelix, an even more beloved French comic book characterâ??announced he was moving to Belgium because President Francois Hollande had threatened to tax millionaires at 75 percent of their income. The nation plunged into depression. Opponents of the wealth tax geared up to attack the president. Pictures of Depardieu in his new "home" in Nechin, a Belgian town just across the French border, appeared in Paris-Match alongside an article titled "France, which is a haven for rich Qataris, is a hell for its own inhabitants."
Soon after, Depardieu made another announcement. He wasn't moving to Belgium. He was moving to Russia! Off he flew to Sochi, where President Vladimir Putin, vacationing at his private seaside cottage (construction cost: $1 billion), personally arranged for him to receive a passport. The French rolled their eyes, forgot about national decline, and instead remembered Depardieu's limitless ego and his fondness for drink.
