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In popular morality luxury implies an idea of blame. The economic definition of "luxury" is quite different from the moral. In economics luxuries are contrasted with necessities on the one hand and with decencies or comforts on the other. Things belonging to the class last mentioned are such as have come into general use and serve to mark our social position. They are as essential to us as members of a social organism as the necessities are to us as individuals. Luxuries in this classification denote the articles that are somewhat strange to the average man or those he does not use regularly. Luxury often means merely the use of articles that to other persons or in other places would be comforts or necessities. Again it means the satisfaction of desires that are recognized as perfectly legitimate but are out of the reach of most persons. -Simon N. Patten, Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 578-579* * *Where there is great wealth, making possible a high degree of general cultivation and refinement, it seems that a certain amount of waste (and worse than waste) expenditure is inevitable, and perhaps a certain amount of admiration for mere luxury. If, when the loss of happiness produced by luxury is weighed against the gain, the former is found to preponderate, luxury of such kind and degree is to be condemned. But if the luxury of individuals brings on the whole a gain to the community, such luxury is not to be condemned. In fact, to put the matter paradoxically, luxury is only desirable when it is not luxury. - E. E. C. Jones, International Journal of Ethics, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 129-132

Capitalism is failing us. Instead of bringing a decent life for the majority, it generates an outrageous gap between the rich and the rest, unaffordable housing, a profit-driven healthcare system, skyrocketing educational debt, racial and gender inequality, and the threat of climate disaster. Economist David Kotz argues that it’s time we built a new socialism for the unique challenges of the twenty-first century. The problems of capitalism are too profound for reform, Kotz writes. Reform can help, but only temporarily, and not for all. Nor can we turn back to the socialist experiments of the twentieth century. But we can learn from those experiments, both their successes and failures, to build a democratic and participatory economic and political system. The result would be a sustainable future of economic justice, equality, material comfort, human development, and meaningful freedom. The journey towards a new socialism may be difficult. But Kotz combines a clear and rigorous account of how socialism can be made to work with a realistic strategy for how to get there. This is the book we need to help us escape the cruelties of our capitalist present.

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