Five Reasons to Be Bullish on the United States

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Several years ago, when the sex scandals were rocking the Catholic Church, I talked to a local parish priest about the decline in the church’s credibility. He listened patiently. He didn’t argue about the scandal or the church’s other problems. Instead, he said, “Remember, the church is not Rome.”  read more »

Boomers Have Left the Economy in Tatters, Driving Youth to the Right

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Like counterparts around the world, Canada’s youth are struggling, victims of a weak economy and a rising cost of living crisis. Whereas boomers rode an unprecedented wave of prosperity and higher living standards, younger Canadians, particularly those under 30, are now more pessimistic about the future than older generations.  read more »

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A Concerning AI Experience

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has significant potential and I have been pleased to use it frequently, over the past year or so since it first became generally available.  read more »

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What Happened to My Party?

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I grew up among people who worshipped the key pillars of the twentieth century Democratic Party: the New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt, and the great public works project known as New York City. The Democrats then were the party of progress—of new roads, bridges, ports, factories, and laboratories.  read more »

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Global Power Demand is Soaring

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Electricity is the world’s most important and fastest-growing form of energy. More proof for that assertion came a few days ago when the International Energy Agency  read more »

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America is Turning Into the EU

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Europe may be fading from global relevance, but its influence is expanding within the US Democratic Party. Today, the party’s core beliefs echo those espoused by the European Union  read more »

The Midwest: Talent, Ambition, and Culture

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Last weekend there was a debate taking place on a very small corner of the Internet. It was about the Midwest’s culture and its impact on growth and development prospects.  read more »

Has Transit Entered the "Death Spiral"?

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Transit ridership dropped sharply with the onset of the COVID pandemic in 2020. The slow rebound in the years that followed has prompted discussion, sometimes in hushed tones, as to whether transit had entered a “death spiral.” That ominous description refers to a situation where a decrease in ridership leads to lower farebox revenue, which in turn leads to service cuts, which further reduces ridership, and so on in a vicious downward cycle.  read more »

The Emergence of the Post-Religious Right

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The Republican Party’s 2024 platform removed language calling for a national ban on abortion, causing consternation among social conservatives.  read more »

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In Praise of Sprawl

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Delayed decision-making, bureaucratic dithering, and the stubborn resistance of NIMBYs have all been frequently cited as planning-related barriers to the development of much-needed housing.  read more »