The “Aliens” Taking Our Jobs Are Not the Illegal Kind

The Backlash Against International Trade Is Rooted in Real but Misplaced Fears

Can we have all the adults in the room stand up and chant in unison: “Who’s Afraid of Global Trade? Who’s Afraid of Global Trade?” That should calm us down. It worked for the three little pigs.

I understand that when things are going badly it is our human instinct to find the culprit among the “others,” which often means foreigners (excluding the countries from which our personal ancestors immigrated). Per President Trump, the Chinese and Mexicans are the wolves currently devouring our jobs. Let’s breathe deeply and think hard about …

By Edward E. Leamer | March 28, 2017

Welcome to the Affluent Central Coast, California’s Child Poverty Capital

How the Rising Cost of Living and, Paradoxically, the Availability of Jobs Are Tough on Families

By Joe Mathews | March 16, 2017

Californians used to envy residents of our beautiful, wine-and-wealth-drenched Central Coast. Now we have reason to pity them.

And not just because Nicole Kidman has thrown her star power into producing …

Staying in School Isn’t Enough

Kids Also Need To Learn How to Get a Job—and How To Keep It

By Joseph Williams | October 19, 2016

I’m the founder and CEO of the Youth Action Project, a San Bernardino non-profit that aims to help hundreds of youth get their homework done, learn the skills and habits …

Californians Want Much More From Our Neighborhoods

We Love Our Communities but Think They Should Make Us Healthier, and Even Find Us Jobs

By Joe Mathews | October 19, 2016

California is a state of large things: A 1,100-mile coastline and giant mountain ranges and big roads, bigger cities, and the biggest vistas. In such a sprawling place, with so …

Why Millennials Struggle at Work

May 12, 2016

Jeffrey J. Selingo, author of There Is Life After College, explains at a Zócalo event why millennials struggle to transition from college to work, with insight from Xerox Head of …

Want to Donate Your Body to Science? Call Me

For Three Years, I Had to Ask Next-of-Kin Uncomfortable Questions About the Deceased

By Whitney M. Woodworth | August 12, 2015

For over three years, I thought about death every day. This wasn’t some morbid obsession. It was my job.

A growing number of senior citizens—both permanent residents and part-time “snowbirds”—have …

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