Newgeography.com’s Aaron Renn discusses the effects of reducing carbon emissions on regional economies. Renn concludes the article this way: “In short, action on carbon reduction may well be a good policy goal. But we shouldn’t embrace any means to that end uncritically if it creates huge distortions in regional economic advantage or further damages America’s industrial competitiveness.”
Category: Uncategorized
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Executive Editor JOEL KOTKIN on Reuters regarding Obama
“The key rule of Chicago politics is delivering the spoils to supporters, and Obama’s stimulus program essentially fills this prescription. The stimulus’s biggest winners are such core backers as public employees, universities and rent-seeking businesses who leverage their access to government largesse, mostly by investing in nominally “green” industries. Roughly half the jobs saved form the ranks of teachers, a highly organized core constituency for the president and a mainstay of the political machine that supports the Democratic Party.”
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Executive Editor JOEL KOTKIN on Docudharma regarding Works Progress Administration
“Unemployment today may not be as extreme as in the 1930s, but for whole segments of the population–notably young workers under 25–it is on the rise. Already young workers with college educations suffer a 7.7% jobless rate, while employment is nearly twice that among young workers overall. Hardest hit, in fact, are young people without college educations, whose real earnings already have dropped by almost 30% over the past 30 years, according to one study. ”
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Executive Editor JOEL KOTKIN on Prairie Business regarding cities
“Joel Kotkin, a distinguished presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University in California and a senior consultant with the Grand Forks-based Praxis Strategy Group, says larger cities like Bismarck, Sioux Falls, Fargo and Grand Forks and smaller communities within a 50-mile radius look to be well positioned for the future. But he adds that the farther away you get from air service and key infrastructure, the more challenging the situation becomes for rural communities.”
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Executive Editor JOEL KOTKIN on The Grant Forks Herald regarding California
“The article features this quote from Joel Kotkin, a presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University in California. ‘Twenty years ago, you could go to Texas, where they had very low taxes, and you would see the difference between there and California,’ Kotkin told the Times.”
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Executive Editor JOEL KOTKIN on The Napa Valley Register regarding California
“Today’s public benefits fail that test. As urban scholar Joel Kotkin of Chapman University puts it: ‘Twenty years ago, you could go to Texas, where they had very low taxes, and you would see the difference between there and California. Today, you go to Texas, the roads are no worse, the public schools are not great but are better than or equal to ours, and their universities are good. The bargain between California’s government and the middle class is constantly being renegotiated to the disadvantage of the middle class.’”