Jacques Attali, an eminent French economic theorist and intellectual, was born November 1, 1943, in Algiers.  He attended and was a brilliant student at several prestigious French Grandes Ecoles, among them Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale d’Administration which produce many of the leading figures in France’s political elite.  Attali first became known in French politics as the special adviser to President François Mitterrand from 1981 to 1991. In 1991, he founded and became first President of the Europ…