Naked Hunger

Tourists in Paris see luxury, refinement, urban amenities, seductive restaurants, etc. It is hard therefore to notice that there are people who look hungrily into bakery windows, staring covetously at prune and rhubarb tarts that are beyond their means. It is easy to see why the average retired person does not buy pastries or have coffee in the countless cafes that line the streets, conjuring fantasies of urban sophistication and philosophical virtuosity: a double espresso costs four euros or five dollars at today's exchange rate.

On the other hand, the average doctor's visit costs 20 euros out of pocket. But still to walk into an old woman staring at a pie ok tart gave me a sense of the desperation and deprivation that drove the people mad in 1789. The disparity between rich and poor is resonates actually in historical terms at this moment and the only people who seem to have a feeling for the sense of hopelessness are those on the populist Right. It is a politically dangerous situation.