Jacob Soll

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Workers remove prosthetic limbs from a replica of the Venus de Milo at the Louvre-Rivoli metro station in Paris. Credit Christophe Archambault/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

As modern life moves forward, has our society left something important behind? Can it, or should it, be retrieved? We asked the thinkers, artists and opinion leaders below for their thoughts.

Society has forgotten an idea that had accompanied humanity from time immemorial: utopia. The notion that there is a new and better world to strive for and dream about has largely disappeared from our all too skeptical, one might even say cynical, society.

There are plenty of dystopias to give us nightmares, but a world without a utopia may be a world not worth living in; utopia is to our notion of history as the speed of light is to the cosmos.…  Seguir leyendo »

Germany’s Destructive Anger

A deal has finally been reached that could keep Greece in the eurozone. Few are happy with the outcome. We’ve heard a lot about how the Greeks feel humiliated. But we’ve heard less about German anger, and we know they are angry. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble was reported to have started yelling during Saturday night’s negotiations. France and Italy have both made huge loans to Greece, but neither country has expressed hostility to Greece. Why is Germany so angry?

As an economic historian, I got a taste of this resentment during a conference on Greek sovereign debt held in Munich last week.…  Seguir leyendo »

Greece is back as a focal point of the world financial crisis. While coming elections are spooking the markets, the supposed cause of the crisis has not changed. Greece has a declared debt of 319 billion euros, or about $369 billion, 175 percent of its 182-billion-euro ($210 billion) gross domestic product. This sounds like a nearly impossible task for any government: to govern effectively, spur economic growth and avoid default. The shackles of the declared Greek debt have effectively paralyzed the country. Yet maybe all of this debt drama is unnecessary.

The way this story is usually told, inside and outside Greece, is as a morality play: the profligate Greeks don’t pay taxes and their banks and elites, in turn, rob Greek citizens and foreign investors alike.…  Seguir leyendo »