Crossposted on New Geography Much is said about class warfare in contemporary America, and there’s justifiable anger at the impoverishment of much of the middle and working classes. The Pew Research Center recently dubbed the 2000s a “lost decade” for middle-income earners — some 85% of Americans in that category feel it’s now more difficult to […]

Crossposted on New Geography Victor’s Restaurant, a nondescript coffee shop on a Hollywood side street, seems an odd place to meet for a movement challenging many of Los Angeles’s most powerful, well-heeled forces. Yet amid the uniformed service workers, budding actors, and retirees enjoying coffee and French toast, unlikely revolutionaries plot the next major battle […]

Crossposted on newgeography President Obama’s recent “do it myself” immigration reform plan,   predictably dissed by conservatives and nativists, reveals just how   clueless the nation’s leaders are about demographics. Monday’s Supreme   Court ruling on Arizona’s immigration crackdown also broke down along   predictable lines, with both parties claiming ideological victories. Yet the heated debates are missing the […]

Cross post in New Geography When Jerry Brown was elected governor for a third time in 2010, there was widespread hope that he would repair the state’s crumbling and dysfunctional political edifice. But instead of becoming a Californian Mikhail Gorbachev, he has turned out to be something more resembling Konstantin Chernenko or Yuri Andropov, an […]

Crossposted on newgeography With Facebook poised to go public, the attention of the tech world, and Wall Street, is firmly focused on Silicon Valley. Without question, the west side of San Francisco Bay is by far the most prodigious creator of hot companies and has the highest proportion of tech jobs of any region in […]

Crossposted on New Geography Few states have offered the class warriors of Occupy Wall Street more enthusiastic support than California has. Before they overstayed their welcome and police began dispersing their camps, the Occupiers won official endorsements from city councils and   mayors in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond, Irvine, Santa Rosa, and Santa Ana. […]

Crossposted on New Geography Barack Obama learned the rough   sport of politics in Chicago, but his domestic policies have been shaped by California’s progressive creed. As the Golden State crumbles, its troubles point to those America may confront in a second Obama term. From his first days in office, the president has held up California […]

Crossposted on New Geography For generations New Orleans‘ appeal to artists, musicians and writers did little to dispel the city’s image as a poor, albeit fun-loving, bohemian tourism haven. As was made all too evident by Katrina, the city was plagued by enormous class and racial divisions, corruption and some of the lowest average wages […]

Crossposted on New Geography Throughout the brutal and agonizingly long recession, only one large metropolitan area escaped largely unscathed: Washington, D.C. The city that wreaked economic disasters under two administrations last year grew faster in population than any major region in the country, up a remarkable 2.7 percent. The continued steady growth of the Texas cities, […]

Crossposted on New Geography Rick Santorum’s big wins in Alabama and Mississippi place the   Republican Party in ever greater danger of becoming hostage to what has  become its predominate geographic base: rural and small town America.  This base, not so much conservatives per se, has kept Santorum’s   unlikely campaign alive, from his early win in […]