By: June Williamson
At: Three Sixty City
Two of the world’s sharpest thinkers in design and demography discuss ways to make suburbs better: Joel Kotkin joins June Williamson to discuss some of the challenges of the sprawling suburbs, and how the thoughtful design and retrofit of low density neighborhoods could lead to more connected, equitable and environmentally sustainable futures.
By: Louise Perry
At: The New Statesman
The final report from the Times Education Commission, set up in 2021 to examine the future of education in Britain, makes for very grim reading indeed. It states clearly that the government wittering on about literacy and numeracy has little relevance for schools in the most deprived parts of the UK. Not when some four- and five-year-old children are unable to say their own names, and others are still using baby bottles and asking for “bot-bot” when thirsty, incapable of forming a sentence as complex as, “Can I have a drink?”
On: The Purple Principle Podcast
By: Barbara Bogaev and Rob Pease
“In the past, middle class and working class people trying to improve their lives came to California,” says Kotkin, who feels Texas now offers some of that upward mobility. “I don’t think they come anymore for that.”
Has the California dream given way to a cost of living nightmare? NPR veteran and LA resident Barbara Bogaev co-hosts with Rob Pease for an in-depth discussion on the challenges faced by vast and diverse California as primary voters head to the polls.
One Golden State, one great co-host; two Democratic parties, two insightful guests, Dan Schnur and Joel Kotkin, on this episode of The Purple Principle.
On: The Pacific Century
By: Michael Auslin
Michael Auslin talks with Joel Kotkin, uber-geographer, about the coming neo-feudalism and “zaibatsuization” of America’s economy, how Chinese and American economic models are converging, and how to preserve liberty in an age of oligarchic tech dominance.
On: GBNews
By: Inaya Folarin Iman
Joel Kotkin joins GBNews to discuss the upcoming mid-term election this fall, and whether the concerns of voters are being addressed by either party, but focuses on the current Democratic political leadership. Voters seem to be most concerned with inflation and basic economic challenges. Kotkin states:
“The Biden administration seems to be in some weird space that has very little reality”
By: Anthony Furey
On: The Full Comment
Voters around the world are saying they’re angry. They’re unhappy that the promise of upward mobility is over and they’re frustrated that government policies animated by elitist values keep making life harder for the middle and working classes, Joel Kotkin tells Anthony Furey this week. Younger voters around the world are already flocking to more extremist solutions after feeling abandoned by the establishment, explains Kotkin, a noted authority on global economic, political and social trends from California’s Chapman University. It’s all creating a powerful political volcano, he says, and the explosion won’t be pleasant. (Recorded April 28, 2022)
Listen to this episode:
By: Jane Wells
On: Wells Street
How will the likely ending of Roe v. Wade affect corporate relocation decisions? Companies have been leaving, too. Stanford’s Hoover Institution reports 265 businesses relocated their headquarters outside California from 2018 through the first half of last year, including Oracle, Schwab, and CBRE.
Most of those companies moved to Texas, where abortion is currently banned after about six weeks of pregnancy. Elon Musk moved Tesla’s headquarters to Texas, along with one of his other ventures, The Boring Company. Could SpaceX follow? One can only imagine what Twitter employees in San Francisco are thinking. “I’m not moving to Texas, especially not now.”
“The Roe decision will probably have more impact on highly educated white women than minorities,” says Joel Kotkin. “They [are] more likely to be able to afford living in some of the more expensive blue states.”
Watch this episode:
By: Dale Buss
On: Chief Executive
The U.S. Capitol chamber of the House of Representatives has spotlighted dozens of distinguished guests for applause during presidents’ State of the Union addresses, including war heroes, scientists, civil-rights pioneers, athletes and entrepreneurs. But honoring CEOs has been rare in the 40 years since President Ronald Reagan started the tradition. Read more
By: Ed West
On: UnHerd
Today the richest 40 Americans have more wealth than the poorest 185 million Americans. The leading 100 landowners now own 40 million acres of American land, an area the size of New England. There has been a vast increase in American inequality since the mid-20th century, and Europe — though some way behind — is on a similar course.
These are among the alarming stats cited by Joel Kotkin’s The Coming of Neo-Feudalism, published just as lockdown sped up some of the trends he chronicled: increased tech dominance, rising inequality between rich and poor, not just in wealth but in health, and record levels of loneliness (4,000 Japanese people die alone each week, he cheerfully informs us). Read more
By: John Donovan
On: Intelligence Squared Debates
New York. Los Angeles. Boston. San Francisco. Call them America’s “superstars.” With mega populations, these urban hubs have long reigned as the nation’s economic, social, and cultural capitals. But big cities have also been the hardest hit by the pandemic. “Zoom towns” are springing up across the country as professionals leave the city in droves. Even more, the pandemic has brought economic and social inequality into sharp focus for the nation’s lawmakers. And some, particularly in large cities that boast the most obvious cases of such inequality, are enacting new progressive policies and laws that seek to combat inequality. For some, this means a new financial structure that makes city life less compelling for those in higher income brackets. Will megacities keep their magnetism in the wake of Covid-19? Or are their best days behind them?
Listen to this episode at Intelligence Squared Debates
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