Demographics

We Told You So: On Trade, the Working Class Was Right

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It seems impolite to say “we told you so,” but the working class and labor unions were so unjustly maligned more than two decades ago—when they fought the push to expand unfettered global trade—that it seems more than fair to serve some humble pie to global trade’s champions.  read more »

Huge Spike in Domestic Migration from Urban Cores

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Net domestic migration losses spiked perhaps as never before in the pandemic year of 2021 among urban core counties --- the counties that contain the urban cores  read more »

When the Arc of History Bends Back Toward the Dark Ages

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The notion that “the arc of history” favors humanity extends across the political spectrum from George W. Bush to Barack Obama.  read more »

The Most Dangerous Class

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Twenty-first-century America may be dominated by oligarchic elites, but arguably the biggest threat to our economic and political system might be located further down the food chain. This most dangerous class comes from the growing number of underemployed, overeducated people.  read more »

With F-150 Lightning, Ford Makes Industrial History — Again — at ‘The Rouge’

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Ford is rapidly laying down the path to the future of the automobile, but in a strange way the new journey is wrapped in its past. That makes for a striking contrast — and promise — in Ford’s revolutionary strategy as the company accelerates production of its F-150 Lightning all-electric pickup truck in Dearborn, Michigan.  read more »

The Biggest Cities Are Past Their Prime

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As the centers of media and political discourse, large cities, notably New York, have a unique ability to promote themselves, asserting that dense, core urban areas own the future. Yet in reality, even during good times, and well before the pandemic, Americans have been headed, in increasing numbers, to suburbs, exurbs and to smaller cities.  read more »

Census 2021 Estimates: Increased Dispersion

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According to the US Census Bureau, the year ended July 1, 2021, grew the slowest of any year on record. The driving factor was the Covid-19 pandemic, which increased morbidity and substantially reduced the natural increase of population (births minus deaths).  read more »

Demographics of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine

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In his article of last summer “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians”, Vladimir Putin wrote the following:  read more »

Tarnishing the Golden State

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No state advertises its egalitarian bona fides more than California. Governor Gavin Newsom brags that his state is “the envy of the world,” a place that is “not going to abandon our poor people.” In his inauguration speech, he claimed that “unlike the Washington plutocracy, California isn’t satisfied serving a powerful few on one side of the velvet rope. The California Dream is for all.”  read more »

Studs Terkel's Working, 50 Years On

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As I prepared to teach my module on work this year, I realised that Studs Terkel’s book Working celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in 2022. It’s a book that both reflects and helps to explain working-class life.  read more »