Gavin Newsom’s White Privilege

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By: William McGurn
On: Wall Street Journal

If the polls going into Tuesday’s recall election in California hold up, Gavin Newsom will keep his job as governor. But if he does, no one should ever again take seriously progressive complaints about white privilege.

Because if white privilege is a thing, Mr. Newsom is drenched in it. Mr. Newsom’s father was a well-connected state judge who once managed one of the trusts for the family of oil magnate J. Paul Getty.

As for his son, the Los Angeles Times says that “a coterie of San Francisco’s wealthiest families has backed him at every step of his rise.” This privilege is reflected in the $70 million Mr. Newsom raised to fight the recall—more than five times the $13 million raised by his leading challenger, Republican Larry Elder.

“California has become the epicenter of neo-feudalism, and Newsom symbolizes this new autocracy,” says Joel Kotkin, a fellow in urban studies at Chapman University in Orange County. “The irony is that Elder is attacked as the candidate of the rich and greedy by this new elite—high tech, teachers unions, the media and some of the state’s wealthiest citizens.”

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Dumb and Dumber

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By: Jane Wells
On: Wells Street

One of the funny things about being human is that no matter how successful we are, we always end up doing something stupid. I prove this point hourly. The hope is that over time we learn from our mistakes and don’t repeat them.

But who am I kidding?

So let’s get to it! Here’s a summary of dumb moves from Wall Street to Main Street to Tokyo. Read more

The (Next) Great Migration

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By: Here Comes Everybody Podcast
On: The Solo Project

“The great thing about this migration is the ability for reinvention. And the ability for reinvention is directly tied to innovation and entrepreneurship.”

Kotkin has written about every conceivable form of entrepreneurship. He is, in fact, a career soloist himself.

These days, it seems that everyone — and in particular soloists — are moving somewhere.

In this episode, Kotkin tells us exactly where we’re going — and why. Tap the play button below to listen.
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Joel Kotkin talks with John Anderson on Neo Feudalism and the New Ruling Class

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By: John Anderson
On: John Anderson Direct

In this Direct interview, Joel Kotkin joins John to discuss some of the key theses of Joel’s widely-praised recent book, ‘The Coming of Neo-Feudalism’.

Joel shines the spotlight on the Western progressive elite or, as he terms them, the ‘new clerisy’, who sideline and silence anyone who speak or, increasingly, think against the orthodoxy. He paints a worrying comparison between this status quo, the Chinese experience of authoritarianism and the medieval feudalism known to Europe for hundreds of years.

 

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The American Renaissance Has Begun

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By: David Brooks
Appearing in: The New York Times

Americans are searching for ways to make more money while living more connected lives. Joel Kotkin, a professor of urban studies at Chapman University, points out that as the U.S. population disperses, economic and cultural gaps between coastal cities and inland communities will most likely shrink. And, he says, as more and more immigrants settle in rural areas and small towns, their presence might reduce nativism and increase economic competitiveness.

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Joel Kotkin talks with Rod Arquette About How the Pandemic Changes Workplace

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By: Rod Arquette
On: The Rod Arquette Show Daily Rundown

Joel Kotkin joins the Rod Arquette show for a conversation about his recent piece about how the pandemic will change the workplace in America.

 

 

Related:

How Work Will Permanently Change After the Pandemic
Winners and Losers: The Global Economy After COVID

Joel Kotkin talks about the middle class rebellion against progressives, with Jamil Jivani

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Host: Jamil Jivani
On: Jamil Jivani Show on Omny

Joel Kotkin talks with Jamil about the middle class rebellion against progressives that’s gaining steam.

Click to play the audio:

Related:

A Middle Class Rebellion Against Progressives is Gaining Steam

Woke Boardroom Preening a Threat to Democracy?

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By: Adam Creighton
In: The Australian

A former FBI deputy director resigned from Airbnb after raising concerns that the popular online holiday booking platform was sharing customer data with the Chinese government.

Joel Kotkin, an insightful Californian academic at Chapman University who has written seven books on social demography, believes woke capital is making the West more like China. Read more

There’s an Exodus From the ‘Star Cities,’ and I Have Good News and Bad News

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By: Thomas B. Edsall
In: New York Times

When it comes to the fate of big cities in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are two sets of overlapping economic and political consequences, but they are not necessarily what you might expect.

Declining tax revenues, business closures, spiking rates of violent crime and an exodus to smaller communities have left major urban centers anxious about surviving the pandemic’s aftermath and returning to a new normal.

But all is not lost.

In a paper published earlier this month, “America’s Post-Pandemic Geography, two urbanists who come from very different political perspectives, Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto, and Joel Kotkin, a professor at Chapman University, argue:

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Is Congress Ready to Invest in Regional Economies?

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By: Alan Greenblatt
In: Governing

A few parts of the country have made out like bandits in recent years. In the decade between the Great Recession and the pandemic plunge, 90 percent of the job growth in technology and innovation sectors occurred in just five major metropolitan areas. In any given year, roughly 80 percent of the nation’s venture capital funding flows to just three states: California, Massachusetts and New York. The pandemic didn’t change that.

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