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

In 2012, the new Texas Central Railway announced that it would, in collaboration with the Central Railway of Japan build a high speed rail line from Dallas to Houston.  read more »

Reading the mainstream media, one would be forgiven for believing that the upcoming midterms are part of a Manichaean struggle for the soul of democracy, pitting righteous progressives against the authoritarian “ultra-MAGA” hordes. The truth is nothing of the sort. Even today, the vast majority of Americans are moderate and pragmatic, with fewer than 20% combined for those identifying as either “very conservative” or “very liberal”.  read more »

The 2021 American Community Survey confirms that major population shifts took place due to the pandemic. But those shifts aren’t necessarily reflected by declines in housing prices  read more »

When Marilyn Monroe was cast as a spunky cannery worker in Clash by Night (1952), she took “an all-night bus to Monterey to observe cannery workers and to practice being working class.” As biographer Lois Banner noted, she was even offered a job, cutting off the heads of sardines. But Marilyn was already familiar with factory work.  read more »

Here’s part 3 in the “Tottering Chicago?” series. Today I’m discussing the third question I raised after reading William Voegeli’s That Tottering Town, a review of the book What Next, Chicago?  read more »

Shortages of the following may be leading to the new norm of shortages and inflation:  read more »

More than three times as many people worked at home in 2021 as in 2019, according to data that was released yesterday by the Census Bureau.  read more »

The share of workers commuting to work by auto fell to 75.6%, according to the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS), the lowest level since before the 1970 census, which reported that 77.7% of commuting was by auto (Figure 1).  read more »

America’s narrow escape last week from a major rail-worker strike brought home an important truth: people who make and ship real things – let’s call them material workers – now hold the whip hand over our supposedly ‘post-industrial’ economy.  read more »

Here’s part 2 in the “Tottering Chicago?” series. We’re moving on to the second question I raised after reading William Voegeli’s That Tottering Town  read more »