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Today's public benefits fail that test, as urban scholar Joel Kotkin of NewGeography.com and Chapman University told the Los Angeles Times in March: "Twenty years ago, you could go to Texas, where they had very low taxes, and you would see the difference between there and California. Today, you go to Texas, the roads are no worse, the public schools are not great but are better than or equal to ours, and their universities are good. The bargain between California's government and the middle class is constantly being renegotiated to the disadvantage of the middle class."  read more »

Joel Kotkin, calls it 'the new localism' and says that this new cultural attitude is profoundly re-shaping the country. Kotkin is presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University. His upcoming book is "The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050."

Joel on PRI

"There's been a missed opportunity here in showcasing the kind of youthful, optimistic, hopeful energy that greatly Obama benefited from during the campaign," said Morley Winograd. . ."But of course it does not at all mean that the opportunity has gone away."

Morley on Future Majority

"'With declining property values, banks are afraid to lend because they fear the new loans will soon be underwater, not unlike the loans they made last year,' said Susanne Trimbath, CEO of STP Advisory Services in Omaha, Neb."

Susanne in The Real Deal

"Today's public benefits fail that test, as urban scholar Joel Kotkin of NewGeography.com and Chapman University told the Los Angeles Times in March: 'Twenty years ago, you could go to Texas, where they had very low taxes, and you would see the difference between there and California. Today, you go to Texas, the roads are no worse, the public schools are not great but are better than or equal to ours, and their universities are good. The bargain between California's government and the middle class is constantly being renegotiated to the disadvantage of the middle class.'"  read more »

"You would think, given the massive dissatisfaction with an economy that guarantees mega-bonuses for the rich and continued high unemployment, that the GOP would smell an opportunity. In my travels around the country — including in midstream places like suburban Kansas City and Kentucky — few, including Democrats, express any faith in the president’s basic economic strategy."

Joel on POLITICO

"This is not supposed to happen to Kansas City. However, yesterday, Joel Kotkin, on a national radio program, yes national, told the national audience how he thought Kansas City is beautiful, settled, stable….this really worries me. "

Joel on The Kansas City Star