The alternative is to change our view of what kind of work is socially valuable and to recognize that what happens outside of wage labor — work that sustains and reproduces all of us — should be held in equal esteem.

Davis seems to consider cities a kind of black box into which one can dump the human population and worry later. Cities come in all shapes and sizes, but if there is one rule, the bigger they are, the larger their populations, and so the more resources they require.

To save the euro we need to implement policies that will make it economically impossible for Germany to exit the Eurozone. Even though Germany does not wish to exit presently, it knows that its “option to exit” guarantees it the exorbitant privilege of enormous hegemonic power within the zone.

Ekaru Loruman lay beneath a flat-topped acacia tree, its latticework of branches casting a soft mesh of shade upon his body. He wore a silver earring and khaki shorts, and lay on his side with his arm twisted awkwardly beneath him.

On October 5, there were two tragedies. The first, under cover of twilight in New York City, unfolded after a thousands-strong Occupy Wall Street march against economic inequality. Some occupiers thought they might take their first amendment rights for a stroll down Wall Street, a public street, and got pepper sprayed, thrown on the concrete, and carted off by armed men in the bankshadows of the financial district.

One thing we can be certain of is that capitalism will end.

Occupy Wall Street has thrown off many sparks. A little one landed in academic economics.

My eagerness to dismiss the protests as so much ego and vanity speaks to a deep and pervasive cynicism about the political sincerity of the Left, and particularly middle-class leftists, who some would say have no legitimate reason to be complaining.

Crack down on raves, but let people listen to DJs in places where there are dress codes, the bathrooms are monitored and the drink costs are in the double digits. Annihilate wildstyle graffiti from trains, but let a few art speculators round out their painting collections with works by a handful of artists.

Now, instead of saying “our socioeconomic system is failing us,” an entire generation of children will learn to say, “I have failed myself.”