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I’d Like to Believe California Can Be Saved from the LeftJune 8, 2026 - 11:45 am
The Strange Afterlife of FascismJune 5, 2026 - 11:40 am
Steve Hilton’s Rise Won’t Kill California ProgressivismJune 3, 2026 - 11:40 am
The Anti-AI Backlash is Building Against Tech Oligarchs Playing GodJune 1, 2026 - 11:40 am
How Silicon Valley Went From ‘Don’t Be Evil’ to Doing Evil
/in The EconomyOnce seen as the saviors of America’s economy, Silicon Valley is turning into something more of an emerging axis of evil. “Brain-hacking” tech companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon, as one prominent tech investor puts it, have become so intrusive as to alarm critics on both right and left.
The New Opportunity Boomtowns
/in Demographics, The Economy, Urban AffairsA century ago Detroit was a boomtown and Los Angeles a sleepy refuge for sun-seeking Midwesterners. A half-century later, L.A. was the fastest-growing big city in the high-income world, while Detroit was beginning its long tailspin. In the ’70s, New York was the “rotten apple” and seemed destined for further decline…
Autonomous Cars Are About to Transform the Suburbs
/in Demographics, Urban AffairsSuburbs have largely been dismissed by environmentalists and urban planners as bad for the planet, a form that needed to be eliminated to make way for a bright urban future. Perhaps a better approach would be to address its most glaring environmental weakness: dependence on gas-powered automobiles.
From Disruption to Dystopia: Silicon Valley Envisions the City of the Future
/in California, Politics, Urban AffairsThe tech oligarchs who already dominate our culture and commerce, manipulate our moods, and shape the behaviors of our children while accumulating capital at a rate unprecedented in at least a century want to fashion our urban future in a way that dramatically extends the reach of the surveillance state already evident in airports and on our phones.
Getting On the Road to Republican Resurgence
/in Demographics, Politicsby Joel Kotkin — To be sure, Republican control of the states is at a historic high-water mark, but the fundamentals seem to be collapsing. Its base constituencies — small towns, white male and high school educated voters — are demographically shrinking.
Trump’s Infrastructure Plan is a Rare, and Potentially Bipartisan, Feel Good Moment
/in Politics, The Economy, Urban AffairsPresident Trump’s proposed trillion dollar plus infrastructure program represents a rare, and potentially united feel good moment. Yet before we jump into a massive re-do of our transportation, water and electrical systems, it’s critical to make sure we get some decent bang for the federal buck.
The Three Faces of the Democratic Party Are Coming to a Head
/in PoliticsIn the wake of President Trump’s first official State of the Union speech, and the positive momentum in the economy, the putative “party of the people” now faces a much under-addressed internal crisis. United against Trump, the factions which dominate the party increasingly operate at cross purposes.
A Year Into Trump’s Peasant Rebellion
/in Demographics, Politics, Rural Policyby Joel Kotkin — A year into office, Donald Trump remains something of an unlikely figure: a self-promoting and well-heeled demagogue who leads a bedraggled coalition of piratical capitalists, southerners, and people from the has-been or never were towns of Middle America. His fiercest opponents largely come from the apex of our society: the tech oligarchy, a rabidly hostile press and the cultural and academic hegemons.
The Screwed Millennial Generation Gets Smart
/in Demographics, The Economy, Urban AffairsIt’s been seven years since I wrote about “the screwed generation.” The story told has since become familiar: Millennials, then largely in their twenties, faced a future of limited economic opportunity, lower incomes, and too few permanent, high-paying jobs.
Housing and the California Dream are at a Crossroads
/in CaliforniaFor generations, California has offered its people an opportunity to own a home, start a business, and move up, whether someone came from Brooklyn, east Texas, Morelos or Taipei. That deal is still desired by most, but is being legislated out of existence for all but the very rich…