We’re still trying to make heads or tails out of the French election returns, but the left-wing, New Popular Front, won the largest number of seats in Parliament and thus could dominate a governing coalition. The alliance is still being formulated – and how far to the looney-tunes-left they can take policy is an open question.

But here’s a headline from the London Times that should leave every investor somewhere between jittery and apoplectic:

According to the story: “The programme features a 90 per cent tax rate on annual income of over €400,000, a reduction in the retirement age from 64 to 60, a block on the price of “essential goods”, a 14 per cent increase in the minimum wage and spending commitments of at least €150 billion over three years.”

Eric Coquerel, a leader of one of the New Popular Front says that the tax would “not be considered confiscatory” because it would only have an impact on “the highest portion of a taxpayer’s income.”

So much for liberté.