He ridicules the ambition of German writers to be classic, as Lessing had ridiculed their eagerness to be French. “Let us,” he says, “be idiotistic writers, adapting ourselves to the peculiarities of our people and our language; whether we are classic posterity may find out."

Mickey: Dags! D' ya like dags?

a leafy avenue

In recent decades, America has experienced the financialization of its economy. In 1980, Congress repealed regulations that had been in place since the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, allowing banks to merge and charge their customers higher interest rates.