working class

Bay Area Council: Can We Restore the California Dream?

New Geography — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 15:11:05 -0500

Joel Kotkin, Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University and Marshall Toplansky, Clinical Assistant Professor of Management Science at Chapman University, plus Holland & Knight Partner Jennifer Hernandez and Raley’s President and CEO Keith Knopf join a Bay Area Council webinar to discuss how we can restore the California dream. The webinar was moderated by Jim Wunderman, President and CEO, Bay Area Council.

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Restoring the California Dream

Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 17:32:25 -0500

Join us for a webinar on January 21st, hosted by Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky to learn how we can restore the California Dream for middle and working class Californians. Following the presentation of the report, there will be an all-star panel led by Jeff Ball, new CEO of the Orange County Business Council.

Panel participants include Raul Anaya, Joe Hensley, and Karla Del Rio.

Feudal Future Podcast: Special Episode — Restoring the California Dream

Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 11:37:29 -0500

On this episode of Feudal Future, hosts Marshall Toplansky and Joel Kotkin announce the new California report they've been working on, and have a special invite to all our listeners on January 21st.

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Join the Beyond Feudalism Facebook group.
Learn about Joel's book, The Coming of Neo-Feudalism.

About the hosts:

Joel Kotkin is the Roger Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University, Executive Director of the Urban Reform Institute, and an internationally-recognized authority on global, economic, political and social trends. His most recent book, The Coming of Neo-Feudalism is now available for order.

Marshall Toplansky is a widely published and award-winning marketing professional and successful entrepreneur. He co-founded KPMG’s data & analytics center of excellence and now teaches and consults corporations on their analytics strategies.

This show is presented by the Chapman Center for Demographics and Policy, which focuses on research and analysis of global, national and regional demographic trends and explores policies that might produce favorable demographic results over time.

Feudal Future Podcast: The Truth Behind Affordable Housing

Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 13:20:54 -0500

On this episode of Feudal Future, hosts Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky are joined by Jill Stewart, organizational and political strategist, and Steve PonTell, a leading voice on community development, housing affordability and neighborhood transformation, to discuss the truth behind affordable housing.

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Join the Beyond Feudalism Facebook group.
Learn about Joel's book, The Coming of Neo-Feudalism.

About our guests:

Jill Stewart was the Managing Editor at LA Weekly and laweekly.com. At LA Weekly, she oversaw a team of print and digital journalists who pursue the newspaper's brand of digital hyper-localism and analytical, print journalism. She also oversaw the newspaper's video team and video productions.

Steve PonTell is the Chief Executive Officer and President of National CORE. In 1996, Steve founded the La Jolla Institute, a California-based nonprofit think tank that advances a better understanding of the critical elements necessary for both communities and corporations to achieve sustainable economic competitiveness. He is a nationally recognized authority on community development and creating forward-thinking organizations to maximize evolving market environments. Steve has a Bachelor of Science from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo in City and Regional Planning and an EMBA from Claremont Graduate University’s Drucker School of Business.

About the hosts:

125+ Years Savings for House Down Payment in L.A., S.F. and San Jose

Wendell Cox — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 11:44:49 -0400

A just published report by Knock.com (see note) estimates that, at current prices, the median income household could require between 115 and 167 years to save for a down payment on the median priced new home in some major metropolitan areas.

A just published report by Knock.com (see note) estimates that, at current prices, the median income household would require 12 years to save for a down payment on the median priced new house. This shortest down payment saving period is in the Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Atlanta metropolitan areas.

Among the markets in which new construction house transactions were eight percent or more of sales, Metro Miami and metro Sacramento had the longest down payment saving periods, at 30 and 21 years respectively. In both of these markets, only 20% of households could qualify for a mortgage on the median priced new house, according to Knock.com.

However, among the markets where new housing construction was less than the eight percent level, housing was far more expensive. Knock.com estimates that the median income household would need to save 115 years in metro New York to save for a down payment on the median priced new house. Three coastal California metros would require more than 125 years of savings for a down payment.

127 years in metro San Jose (includes Santa Clara and San Benito counties).
153 years in metro Los Angeles (includes both Los Angeles and Orange counties)
167 years in metro San Francisco (includes San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties.

The irony is that San Francisco and San Jose metropolitan area residents have been reported to be migrating to the Sacramento area for more affordable housing.

Each of the four metros with the longest down payment saving time were rated severely unaffordable in Demographia International Housing Affordability: 2021, published by the Urban Reform Institute (US) and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (Canada). Among the markets in which new housing represented eight percent or more of housing transactions, Sacramento, Miami, Denver and Las Vegas were also severely unaffordable.

Note: Knock.com is a real estate firm established in 2015 by founding team members of Trulia.com Survey press release.

Wendell Cox is principal of Demographia, an international public policy firm located in the St. Louis metropolitan area. He is a founding senior fellow at the Urban Reform Institute, Houston, a Senior Fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy in Winnipeg and a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Demographics and Policy at Chapman University in Orange, California. He has served as a visiting professor at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers in Paris. His principal interests are economics, poverty alleviation, demographics, urban policy and transport. He is co-author of the annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey and author of Demographia World Urban Areas.

Mayor Tom Bradley appointed him to three terms on the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission (1977-1985) and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich appointed him to the Amtrak Reform Council, to complete the unexpired term of New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman (1999-2002). He is author of War on the Dream: How Anti-Sprawl Policy Threatens the Quality of Life and Toward More Prosperous Cities: A Framing Essay on Urban Areas, Transport, Planning and the Dimensions of Sustainability.

Feudal Future Podcast: The Purpose Behind the Podcast

Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 14:04:18 -0400

This special in-person episode welcomes our audience to Season 2 of our show. Joel and Marshall share the purpose behind the podcast as well as memorable moments and learning lessons along the way.

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Join the Beyond Feudalism Facebook group.
Learn about Joel's book, The Coming of Neo-Feudalism.

About the hosts:

Feudal Future Podcast: Is There Hope? The Future of California Politics

Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 12:12:15 -0400

On this episode of Feudal Future hosts Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky are joined by Tom Campbell, former congressman, and Shawn Steel, republican national committee member. This show is a round table discussion on the future of California politics.

[2:07] Meaning of the recall

[20:45] Entitlements and incentives

[32:44] Abortion Law

[36:05] Common sense for the future

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About our episode guests:

Tom Campbell served five terms in the US Congress and two years in the California State Senate. He was finance director of California and director of the bureau of competition of the Federal Trade Commission. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard. He was a White House Fellow and a US Supreme Court law clerk, a tenured law professor at Stanford, dean of the Haas School of Business at Berkeley, and dean of the Fowler School of Law at Chapman University.

Shawn Steel was elected in 2016 to a four-year term as the national committeeman of the Republican Party of California. He is a former chair of the Republican Party of California and has been active in GOP politics since he worked for Ronald Reagan's California gubernatorial campaign in 1966.

Learn more about Marshall Toplansky.
Learn more about Joel Kotkin.

Join the Beyond Feudalism Facebook group.
Read the Beyond Feudalism report.
Learn about Joel’s book, The Coming of Neo-Feudalism.

WSDOT Secretary Consults with Political Advocates on Response to WPC Study, Has No Real Dispute With Our Data

Mariya Frost — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 19:20:23 -0400

In 2019, Washington Policy Center asked national transportation expert Wendell Cox to evaluate transportation planning in the Puget Sound region. He looked at data showing where people choose to live, where they choose to work, and how they choose to travel. Specifically, he addressed the policy question: does our regional transportation plan reflect reality or wishful thinking?

Key Points about the report and WSDOT's drafted response:

A 2019 WPC study by Wendell Cox found that public transit has little potential to serve employment destinations outside of downtown Seattle.
The study emphasized that transportation planning should focus on access to jobs.
WPC asked for feedback from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) on the study, but never heard back.
Through public disclosure, WPC found WSDOT had drafted a response but never sent an official response.
WSDOT’s complaints are largely around methodology and authorship, without any real dispute with our data.
A thoughtful and data-focused reply should have been compiled and sent, which would have contributed to the public’s understanding of transportation policy and spending.

A brief excerpt follows:

"Lastly, Secretary Millar stoops to ad hominem attacks, stating that Cox is a “proponent of auto-centric development” so it’s not surprising that the study “downplays the positive contributions that transit and other options have on congestion mitigation.” On the contrary, Cox is a demographer and national urban policy expert whose values have been readily published online in an invited European journal essay and on Demographia’s website as follows: “The objective of urban policy should be to achieve widespread affluence and eradicate poverty” and that this “requires transport that maximizes mobility and minimizes travel times."

Read the full Policy Note here (PDF opens in new tab or window).

This article is reprinted with permission from Washington Policy Center.

Mariya Frost is the Director of the Coles Center for Transportation at Washington Policy Center. Mariya has lived in both Eastern and Western Washington, and believes strongly in the freedom of mobility for all Washingtonians. She is on the Board of Directors for the Eastside Transportation Association, a member of the Jim MacIsaac Research Committee, and a member of the Women of Washington civic group. She and her husband live in Tacoma.

Feudal Future Podcast: The Reshoring Revolution — Is This the Future of America?

Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 13:19:06 -0400

On this episode of Feudal Future hosts Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky are joined by JR Turner, managing director of the Americas, Michelle Comerford, project director and industrial supply chain practice leader, and Harry Moser, founder and president of The Reshoring Initiative. The panel takes a deep dive into reshoring. “Reshoring” is the practice of bringing manufacturing and services back to the United States from overseas. This process can help balance trade and budget deficits, reduce unemployment by creating well-paying manufacturing jobs, and develop a skilled workforce.

[02:24] Supply chain collapses

[06:42] China and reshoring

[21:00] Labor shortages in supply chain

[32:38] Inflation

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About our episode guests:

Michelle Comerford develops corporate location strategies and executes site selection projects for BLS & Co.’s manufacturing and distribution clients. Based in Cleveland, Michelle has worked across a range of industries during her 13-year career. She is an expert in transportation/logistics cost analysis, and has advised numerous clients on site selection decisions with an emphasis on supply chain network optimization, inbound and outbound transportation costs, and customer service requirements.

Harry Moser founded the Reshoring Initiative to help bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. Largely due to the success of the Reshoring Initiative, Harry was inducted into the Industry Week Manufacturing Hall of Fame 2010 and was named Quality Magazine’s Quality Professional of the year for 2012. Harry participated in President Obama’s 2012 Insourcing Forum at the White House, won the Jan. 2013 The Economist debate on outsourcing and offshoring, and received the Manufacturing Leadership Council’s Industry Advocacy Award in 2014.

JR Turners partnership with Chargeurs has a presence in 90 countries, which performs as a global leader in industrial niche markets of 4 core business: Temporary surface protection, Technical garment interlining, Technical textiles functionalization, and high-end Merinos fibers. The Group employs more than 2000 collaborators in 45 countries, over 5 continents. Its 4 business lines capture outstanding expertise, the power of innovation, high technical skills, performance and sustainable development.

Learn more about Marshall Toplansky.
Learn more about Joel Kotkin.

Join the Beyond Feudalism Facebook group.
Read the Beyond Feudalism report.
Learn about Joel’s book, The Coming of Neo-Feudalism.

Feudal Future Podcast — Inside the Republic: China's History From Leading Historian Ross Terrill

Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 11:55:34 -0400

On this episode of Feudal Future hosts Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky are joined by Ross Terrill, China specialist and Associate in Research at Harvard's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. The panel takes a deep dive into the history of China and the future of the republic.

[05:00] Afghanistan and China

[16:14] China’s aggressiveness

[25:14] China and capital markets

[39:38] Class and China

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More podcast episodes & show notes at JoelKotkin.com

Watch Episode Video

Learn more about Marshall Toplansky.
Learn more about Joel Kotkin.

Join the Beyond Feudalism Facebook group.
Read the Beyond Feudalism report.
Learn about Joel’s book, The Coming of Neo-Feudalism.