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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
The Cities Where African Americans are Doing the Best Economically 2018
/in Demographics, The Economy, Urban Affairsby Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox — To determine where African-Americans are doing the best economically, we evaluated America’s 53 largest metropolitan statistical areas…
Can the Trump Economy Trump Trump?
/in Politics, The Economyby Joel Kotkin — President Trump’s critics find it hard to give him credit for anything, especially given his extraordinary boastfulness. Yet Trump’s economic policies seem to be working. New job numbers are robust and wages continue to rise.
A New Vision for Southern California
/in Californiaby Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky — Since the start of the last century, Southern California has been a pioneer in building ways of living, and an economy, that broke with normal convention. Our region created a new paradigm, one both defining suburbanism and friendly to middle class aspirations, that attracted millions here.
Tech’s New Hotbeds: Cities With Fastest Growth in STEM Jobs Are Far From Silicon Valley
/in Demographics, The EconomyThe conventional wisdom sees tech concentrating in a handful of places. To a considerable extent, that was true – until it wasn’t. The most recent data on STEM jobs suggests tech jobs are shifting to more affordable places…
Is There a Niche for Sensible Politics in America?
/in PoliticsGiven the current state of American politics, and those of our state of California, our founding fathers might well consider not just turning over in their graves but boring deeper towards the earth’s core. Yet amidst the almost unceasing signs of discord and hyperbolic confrontation, there exists a more sensible approach which could help rescue our wobbling Republic.
In the New Year, Worry-Free California Has a Lot to Worry About
/in California, DemographicsWishful thinking and noble intentions ignore California’s slowing state economy, and a structural deficit —keyed largely to state worker pensions— a looming fiscal crisis.
What’s Red, Blue, and Broke All Over? America
/in Politics, The EconomyBeneath the sex scandals, moronic tweets, ridiculous characters, and massive incompetence that dominate Washington in this mean period of our history lie more fundamental geopolitical realities. Increasingly it is economics—how people make money—rather than culture that drives the country into perpetual conflict.
Is the End Near for Religion?
/in ReligionEven at this season that should be about spiritual re-awakening, it is hard to deny that we live in an increasingly post-religious civilization. Virtually everywhere in the high-income world, faith, particularly tied close to institutionalized religion, has been dropping for a decade.
The New Mandarins of the Deep State
/in PoliticsThe shocking defeat of GOP Senator hopeful Roy Moore may not spell the end of Trumpism, but you can see it from there.
The Cities Where a Paycheck Stretches the Furthest 2017
/in Demographics, Urban Affairsby Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox — We often conflate high salaries with prosperity, but that can be deceptive. At the Center for Opportunity Urbanism, we developed a Standard of Living Index to get a better sense of where a paycheck stretches furthest in 2017.