America Trends

On the heels of the pandemic, we see that government has issues responding to a major, largely unseen, crisis.  As trust in public institutions crumbles, the question is whether we can restore faith in our system by bold actions that jolt the public into a new belief in what’s possible.  It’s a big job.  Decades … Continue reading EP 433 Can Government Solve Big Problems Anymore?

 As the US population grows-potentially by over 110 million people by 2050-cities and suburbs will continue expanding, meeting the suburbs of neighboring cities and forming continuous urban megaregions.  The United States now has at least a dozen such megaregions, including one extending from Richmond, Virginia to Portland, Maine and another running from Santa Barbara, California … Continue reading EP 432 Megaregions Emerge in America

 More Americans live in suburban settings than any other. Suburbs are not a monolith.  Depending on factors like proximity to an urban center, they take on various forms. Sprawl is often noted as one of the worst aspects of suburban growth. As we continue to build more highways to satisfy the desire for many to … Continue reading EP 431 Do the Suburbs Need Retrofitting?

 Our podcast is about looking down the road a bit.  If we’re all honest with ourselves, we know how our personal story ends.  The truth is few of us want to plan for it in the way we do for the arrival of our first child, purchasing our first home or our retirement.  And that … Continue reading EP 430 Are You Prepared to Die?

 ‘People are nuts’.  That was a maxim of my dear mother.  She was the kindest, most loving person I know.  She meant no ill will by that designation. In fact, there was wisdom in it.  In his new book, ‘Nobody’s Normal’, Roy Richard Grinker, a professor of anthropology at George Washington University, reveals the progress … Continue reading EP 429 Is Anybody Normal in Our Society?

What shocked us in the past has somehow become the the new normal in our politics, workplaces and overwrought interest in a celebrity culture.  In fact, through social media, we aspire to join that culture, at least for fifteen minutes, by some reckless, attention-seeking behavior.  The reward structure for living life out loud, in a … Continue reading EP 428 Honor in a Country That Has Gone Off the Ethical Guardrails

Once America declares you part of the axis of evil or decides that your behavior require heavy economic sanctions, it’s tough to escape the impact our actions can bring.  That’s why the notion of the Iran nuclear deal pursued by the Obama Administration was such a risky political move.  Yet, by the strict reporting requirements … Continue reading EP 427 Is Iran as Bad an Actor as America Says It Is?

If we’re honest, most of us love sweets.  And while talking about my love of chocolate on a radio program, my guest, a nutritionist, admonished me by saying ‘no you love sugar’.  Indeed, I do.  What surprised me is how much of it we consume in a day without knowing or thinking about it.  The … Continue reading EP 426 Is Sugar the Next Tobacco?

The twenty first century has been nothing, if not, eventful.  From man-made disasters like 9-11 to an economic collapse affecting the United States and Europe to a pandemic traveling the superhighway of viruses and touching nearly all quarters of the globe.  If you imagine that the world will now settle in to a more gentle, … Continue reading EP 425 Are We Ready for Future Twenty First Century MegaDisasters?

American politics is loud, angry and bristling, so what else is new?  Well, the make-up of the two major parties, cut more neatly along ideological lines than any point in our past, seem unable to be the vehicle for the design and acceptance of consensus policies. Perhaps, that’s because it’s not so much policy disputes … Continue reading EP 424 Are We More Divided Now Than Ever Before?

Given the partisan battles over recent Supreme Court nominations, and the Democrats frustration over Mitch McConnell’s fixation for affecting American politics through the federal courts for a generation to come, President Biden was asked during the campaign if he would expand the size of the Court.  It’s been done a number of times before in … Continue reading EP 423 Are There Changes Ahead for the Supreme Court?

In the aftermath of the presidential election of 2020, we seem to be more polarized than ever before–fully retreated into political camps and tossing verbal grenades at the opposition.  Our guest, Kevin Vallier, a political philosopher from Bowling Green University argues in his new book, ‘Trust in a Polzarized Age’, that as polarization is rising, … Continue reading EP 422 Can Americans Rebuild Trust in Each Other and Our Politics?

Man has never before had as much potential to affect the future as we do today.  We can cure diseases in ways never imagined, develop technology to solve problems using algorithms that would have taken countless man hours and apply modern practices to the way we live to insure plenty for all.  On the flip … Continue reading EP 421 Days of Future Past

  Matthew Desmond’s acclaimed book, ‘Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City’ drew attention to the eviction crisis in America.  Estimates suggest upwards of 900,000 renters were being evicted every year in America.  And that was before the pandemic forced a policy change putting a moratorium on evictions.  Without it, those numbers would have … Continue reading EP 420 America’s Eviction Crisis and Tenants’ Rights

The young people who survived the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018 became daily visitors in our home through their articulate expression of grief and the millions they attracted to their cause, which involved the rallying cry of ‘stop killing kids’.  As a nation, we sensed this time would … Continue reading EP 419 Activism Activated by Tragedy

The answer to the question may be that if you do not come out stronger on the other side of the pandemic, it may be because you’ve succumbed to the many hazards within.  While Joseph Michelli, who has put on microscope on companies like Starbucks and Airbnb, was undertaking the sweet assignment of breaking down … Continue reading EP 418 Can America’s Companies Come Out of the Pandemic Stronger for the Experience?

We often hear about the notorious street gang MS-13.  Some politicians make it sound as if they are a danger in all corners of the country.  In many ways, they are concentrated in and around Los Angeles and local elements do, from time to time, have impact elsewhere in the country.  In fact, their most … Continue reading EP 417 MS-13 America’s Most Notorious Gang

 Societies have always had rich and the poor, but America gave definition and prominence to the three fifths of our countrymen who land somewhere in the middle.  The reforms that followed the Great Depression put the federal government squarely on the side of those looking to attain a piece of the American Dream.  Policies were … Continue reading EP 416 The Rise and Fall of America’s Middle Class

The raging battle over Confederate monuments speaks to a past and a heritage that just won’t die.  The remnants of enslavement and degradation of African-Americans in America casts a long shadow and reminds us of what some call our ongoing cold Civil War.  Connor Towne O’Neill in his must read book, ‘Down Along with That … Continue reading EP 415 A Reckoning With Our Confederate Past

You may not really know how people feel about abortion because no one likes to talk about the issue.  The sense you get from reading about abortion is that it divides people very neatly into camps-pro-life or pro-choice.  The truth is that once you sit down and discuss the issue with everyday Americans their views … Continue reading EP 414 People’s True Attitudes About Abortion More Nuanced Than You Think