Newgeography.com - Economic, demographic, and political commentary about places

The "Great Bones" of Rust Belt Cities

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I went to St. Louis over the weekend, and I was reminded how much I love the way St. Louis neighborhoods look.  read more »

Train in Vain

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Ten thousand years from now, future archaeologists will be allowed back into the wasteland that was once known as California.  read more »

Can Democrats Exploit Trump's Tariff Chaos?

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As with many political movements, MAGA represents a fragile coalition of groups that often have little in common — and, at the extremes, may even detest one another.  read more »

The Profoundly Misunderstood Housing Affordability Crisis

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Over the last half-century, more restrictive urban planning policies have been associated with undermined housing affordability  read more »

‘American Oasis’ Review: The Lure of the Desert

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Hating the Southwest, particularly its burgeoning cities such as Phoenix, is de rigueur in American media. Jon Stewart has called Arizona “the meth lab of democracy.” Hunter S. Thompson described hell as an “overcrowded version of Phoenix.”  read more »

France and America's Cold War

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French president Emmanuel Macron had an unusually good relationship with US president Donald Trump during the latter’s first term.  read more »

Trump is Right to Take On the Free Trade Fundamentalists

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It’s easy to dismiss Donald Trump’s haphazard tariff barrage as silly and self-defeating, especially after so many days of global market turmoil. But critics among liberal Democrats and Republican free traders still need to address the overriding goal behind the seeming madness.  read more »

Big Business At The (Inflation Reduction Act) Trough

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The late economist Milton Friedman famously declared that “nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.”  read more »

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Are the Democrats Drifting Further Left?

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The Democrats are at a historic ebb and now is a good time to examine what the party believes in, who its main protagonists are and what their agenda is.  read more »

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Forever 20

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If you let the popularity of an idea – no matter how silly - dictate your stance, then you are not a very good elected official.  read more »

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