Economics

“Ordinary Americans of all backgrounds and convictions recognize that the entire political ecosystem—not only its leadership and its governing institutions, but also its leading ideas and ideals—is failing.”  read more »

The idea of “intersectionality” originated with black feminism. Black feminist activists noted that they experienced racism on account of being black and sexism on account of being women.  read more »

On Saturday, I gave a 10-minute TED-style talk on energy humanism to about 300 high school students. The talk was part of an all-day event  read more »

The emergence of artificial intelligence marks the latest acceleration of the digital age.  read more »

First I want to thank everyone for reading, sharing and commenting on my recent post on talent, ambition and culture in the Midwest.  read more »

The Midwest will decide who wins the White House in November. Much has been written about Kamala Harris’s not-so-subtle appeal to Michigan’s Muslim voters, and her choice of Tim Walz as running mate  read more »

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 »

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 »

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 World Economic Forum says the world faces a new crisis, "One-third of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions come from food production." With the world's population expected to reach 10 billion people by 2050, it is there fore "urgent" that we launch a "radical" and "comprehensive" transformation of the global food system - from "reinventing" farming to "reimagining" how food is produced, processed, distributed, consumed and disposed of.  read more »