To Fight Inequality, Blue States Need To Shift Focus To Blue-Collar Jobs

Appearing in: Forbes In the coming election, we will hear much, particularly from progressives, about inequality, poverty and racism. We already can see this in the pages of mainstream media, […]

America Down But Not Out

Appearing in: Orange County Register America, seen either from here or from abroad, doesn’t look so good these days. The country that maintained world peace for decades now “leads by […]

America’s Opportunity City: Lots of New Jobs and a Low Cost of Living Make Houston a Middle-class …

Appearing in: The City Journal David Wolff and David Hightower are driving down the partially completed Grand Parkway around Houston. The vast road, when completed, will add a third freeway […]

Growth, Not Redistribution the Cure for Income Inequality

Appearing in: Orange County Register Ever since the publication this spring of Thomas Piketty’s book “Capital in the 21st Century,” conservatives and much of the business press, such as the Financial […]

There Will Be No Real Recovery Without The Middle Class

Appearing in: Forbes What if they gave a recovery, and the middle class were never invited? Well, that’s an experiment we are running now, and, even with the recent strengthening […]

Energy Preferences to Play Big Role in November

Appearing in:

Orange County Register

The November election will be played out along all the usual social memes – from gay marriage, racism and immigration to the “war against women.” But what may determine the outcome revolves around one key economic issue: energy. This has all come to a boil now as President Obama has backed an Environmental Protection Agency effort to accelerate tougher emissions standards, something that could shutter hundreds of coal-fired power plants and slow fossil fuel development across the country.

Dawn of the Age of Oligarchy: the Alliance between Government and the 1%

Appearing in: The Daily Beast When our current President was elected, many progressives saw the dawning of a new epoch, a more egalitarian and more just Age of Obama. Instead we have witnessed […]

The Cities Stealing Jobs From Wall Street

Appearing in: Forbes When we think about American finance, the default image is of a pinstriped banker on Wall Street. But increasingly financial services is shifting away from the traditional bastions […]

European Style Going Out of Fashion at Ballot Box

Appearing in: Orange County Register The recent political earthquake in Europe has great implications for the United States, both internationally and domestically. The unpopularity of European Union institutions produced record-breaking […]

America’s New Industrial Boomtowns

Appearing in: Forbes David Peebles works in a glass tower across from Houston’s Galleria mall, a cathedral of consumption, but his attention is focused on the city’s highly industrialized ship […]