cahn

My own impression was that Louis mostly paid for his predecessor's sins and yes, he did try some things, but was Joseph was reccommending was, among other things, austerity in life style, and that at least would have helped with the public perception problem which Marie Antoinette had even before the Revolution started. And the whole memorandum actually does contain the sentence: "»Ich zittere jetzt für Dich, denn so kann es nicht weitergehen; la révolution sera cruelle si vous ne la préparez.« - "I tremble now for you, because it can't continue like this; the revolution will be cruel if you don't prepare yourself".