As the wine flows, we consider a "fairy tale" from the 21st century regarding a new tax on wealthy second homes in New York City. While the proposal to tax penthouses sounds witty to the masses, Germanicus warns it is mere "Kabuki smoke and mirrors"

As the wine flows, we consider a "fairy tale" from the 21st century regarding a new tax on wealthy second homes in New York City. While the proposal to tax penthouses sounds witty to the masses, Germanicus warns it is mere "Kabuki smoke and mirrors" that will drive the wealthy to flee, drawing parallels to programs that destroyed communities and hampered natural mobility. He argues that only those who have lived under the "monstrous regimes" of the East — like those in Germany or Hungary — truly understand the devastation these ideas bring to the human spirit. Our evening concludes with a plan to visit the circus, preferring jugglers and marionettes to the exhausting drama of the modern age, as we depart the wine bar to offer our sacrifices to the divine Augustus. (3)
1550 ROME