There Isn’t One Answer to Ending Poverty

Mid-Sized Cities Like Fresno Should Better Capitalize on Resources and Improve Existing Opportunities to Help the Poor

In 1984, Dan Whitehurst, then-mayor of Fresno, California, appeared on Late Night With David Letterman to discuss a depressing distinction: his city had been ranked the least livable in America by Places Rated Almanac. During the discussion, Letterman asked if there’s even anything to like about Fresno. “It seldom gets over 120 [degrees],” Whitehurst said.

Fresno has been the butt of jokes for decades—for a recent example, see Monsters vs. Aliens’ swipe at America’s 55th largest television market—but the teasing touches on some grim realities about the city. Despite years …

October 12, 2015

Why California Should Position Itself as a Mecca for the Poor

For One, It's a Strategy That Worked for the United States of America

By Joe Mathews | October 8, 2015

Fresno regularly ranks as one of the poorest metro areas in the United States. So why do people keep moving there?

The short, if incomplete, answer: Fresno is in California. And …

The Muddy Ethics of Detroit’s Water

The City’s Future Looks Grim as Access to Clean Water Becomes a Rich Person’s Commodity

by Valerie Vande Panne | May 27, 2015

One early morning last week, I was groggily brushing my teeth when I realized the water pouring out of my faucet was yellow. Like urine.

I dry heaved. Spit the toothpaste …

Why Can’t Americans Talk About Equality?

Political Philosopher Danielle Allen, Winner of the Fifth Annual Zócalo Book Prize, on the Fundamental Ideal We Tossed Aside in Favor of Freedom

by Sarah Rothbard | April 27, 2015

Ferguson, Missouri and policing problems. The rising income gap. Creating institutions to serve a future majority-minority country. Open a newspaper in America today, and a host of problems present themselves …

The Loneliness of America’s Poor Kids

Political Scientist Robert D. Putnam Explains the Toll Inequality is Taking on Children with Less Educated, Less Connected, Less Wealthy Parents

by Sarah Rothbard | April 22, 2015

Harvard political scientist Robert D. Putnam grew up in the 1950s in Port Clinton, Ohio, a small town on Lake Erie. Central to his new book, Our Kids: The American …

Is Rising Inequality Slowly Poisoning Our Democracy?

What the Growing Gap Between the Haves and Have-Nots Is Doing to American Morals, Myths, Social and Economic Policies, and Politics

April 22, 2015

Back in the 1980s, President Reagan famously took a jab at the policies of Lyndon Johnson with the remark, “In the ’60s we waged a war on poverty, and poverty …

inequality