Building the New America: Report on trends shaping the migration of people and jobs

Report: Building the New America

How do we build a new urban model for America — one that is better aligned with the aspirations of most Americans? This newly released report examines the housing trends that are driving today's migration of people and jobs.
Aerial view of Washington, D.C.

The Pandemic and the Strengths of Our Networked Government

by Aaron M. Renn — America's system of federalism provides plenty of opportunity for fighting among various levels of government. But as the coronavirus response is showing, this system also has underappreciated strengths that we should take care not to overlook.
Farm workers are shown harvesting crops

Who Will Prosper After the Plague?

by Joel Kotkin — Who will prosper after the plague? By disrupting smaller grassroots businesses while expanding the power of technologies used in enforcement, coronavirus could further empower both tech oligarchs and the “expert” class.
Democratic Presidential Debate, Biden and Sanders

Oligarchy and Pestilence

by Joel Kotkin — It’s January 21, 2021 and President Biden’s first full day in the White House. Surrounded by cheering key Democratic Party constituencies and financial backers, the new president proclaims a “climate emergency” – placing essentially the entire economy under Washington’s control.
Illustration of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19

The Coronavirus is Changing the Future of Home, Work, and Life

The COVID-19 pandemic will be shaping how we live, work and learn about the world long after the last lockdown ends and toilet paper hoarding is done, accelerating shifts that were already underway including the dispersion of population out of the nation’s densest urban areas and the long-standing trend away from mass transit and office concentration towards flatter and often home-based employment.
Photo of Brooklyn Bridge

COVID-19: A Call to Connect

by Charlie Stephens — With COVID-19 we are going through something practically no living soul has ever experienced. It may be forging new realities, and could place us at the edge of a big change —politically, economically, culturally, and spiritually. What this will look like nobody really knows...
Houston traffic

Stop Bagby Closure, Oil Import Tariffs, MaX Lanes, Covid-19 vs Density vs Heat

Want to stop closure of the Bagby and Brazos entrance/exit to/from the 59 Spur? There's now a opposition website to the closure where you can sign the petition.
Working class protestors in Paris, France

The Two Middle Classes

by Joel Kotkin — Politicians across the Western world like to speak fondly of the “middle class” as if it is one large constituency with common interests and aspirations. But, as Karl Marx observed, the middle class has always been divided by sources of wealth and worldview. Today, it is split into two distinct, and often opposing, middle classes.
San Jose housing not affordable

Make America’s Housing Affordable Again

by Randal O'Toole — Fifty years ago, housing was affordable everywhere in the country. The 1970 census found that the statewide ratio of median home prices to median family incomes was greater than 3.0 only in Hawaii (where it was 3.04). Price-to-income ratios were under 2.5 in every other state, and under 2.2 in California, New York, and other states that today are considered unaffordable.

Discouraging Panhandling, Airport Wag Brigade, 6-Figure Incomes, and More

Gattis urges Houston to discourage panhandling in favor of promoting comprehensive charitable services and to get a wag brigade of cuties roaming area airports for PR buzz that money can't buy. Airport therapy pig, anyone?
The Economist cover - and some housing facts

To The Economist: Planning, Not Home Ownership, Caused the Housing Crisis

by Wendell Cox — The January 16, 2020 cover story in The Economist magazine trumpeted “The West’s biggest economic policy mistake: It’s obsession with home ownership undermines growth, fairness and public faith in capitalism...”