A curated collection of links to news, analysis, trends, ideas and views from elsewhere.
The 2017 Opportunity Index, a comprehensive look at the factors that drive opportunity across the United States, reveals how the South is home to some of the most dynamic and fastest -growing areas in the country — but also some of the least hopeful.
OZY: The south: the best and worst place for the American dream Read More »
Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will drop fees to nonprofit fundraisers, but the company will keep them for individuals trying to raise money on the platform.
Building more housing, more densely, could help address a widespread economic challenge. A fight over one lot in Berkeley, California shows how tough that could be.
New York Times: The Great American Single-Family Home Problem Read More »
A native of Queens, Donald Trump was the son and heir to Fred Trump, a scrappy and ruthless developer of housing for New York’s white working and middle class. An outer-borough nativist and one-time Klan supporter, the senior Trump profited mightily from the federal government’s massive intervention in the real estate industry, which began in the Great Depression. His fortune was premised on strict racial segregation, a process whose legacies still shape the geography of urban and suburban America.
Public Books: The Big Picture: America’s real estate developer in chief Read More »
Los Angeles Times, Nov. 27, 2017: Completely unnecessary spat over CFPB leaves consumers out in the cold For his part, Trump tweeted over the weekend that the CFPB “has been a total disaster” that has left financial firms “devastated and unable to properly serve the public.” That, of course, is total nonsense. The CFPB has
LA Times: Completely unnecessary spat over CFPB leaves consumers out in the cold Read More »
Has Mr Trump kept his promise to revive American manufacturing, mining and the like? A more probable explanation is that he came to office just as America began to run out of willing workers to fill all of its job vacancies. As unemployment has fallen, from over 6% in mid-2014 to 4.1% today, wage growth has gradually picked up.
The Economist: Blue-collar wages are surging. Can it last? Read More »
The CFPB has emerged as that rare beast — a fast-moving agency that actually chalks up wins for average Americans. Industry’s answer has been a multimillion dollar, multi-front battle to discredit and defang the bureau, a war declared even before the enemy officially existed. Attacking the CFPB has become a growth industry in Washington. Hyperbolic, relentless, often scorchingly personal — it’s a campaign that more often than not resembles a street fight. Now the agency is vulnerable and soon to be in the hands of a Trump appointee.
A record number of veterans and service members are buying homes with loans financed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. About 80 percent of VA Loan borrowers do not put down money when buying a house. But less than 1 percent of VA loans were in foreclosure as of June, according to the Mortgage Bankers
Low interest rate fuels rise of home loans to military veterans Read More »
Next year, if the mayor’s plans work out, some of the 300,000 residents of Stockton, Calif., will get $500 per month with no strings attached.
After bankruptcy, a California city aims for basic income Read More »
Rates of absolute mobility – the fraction of children who earn more than their parents – have fallen from approximately 90% for children born in 1940 to 50% for children born in the 1980s.
CEPR: The fading American Dream: Trends in absolute income mobility since 1940 Read More »
The multi-billionaire owner of luxury jewelry company Cartier has revealed his greatest fear – robots replacing workers and the poor rising up to bring down the rich.
