Alain and I will resume our series on “Adam Smith and the salons of pre-revolutionary Paris” in our next post. In the meantime, via Wikipedia (footnotes omitted): “As of April 2025, 90 emergencies have been declared; 41 have expired and another 49 are currently in effect, each having been renewed annually by the president.” Why am I reminded of Aesop’s fable “The Boy Who Cried Wolf“? (Cf. this 2019 report by Katharina Buchholz, from which the infographic below is taken.)