Mr. Forman's Planet

May 1, 2013: Two very good pieces on metropolitan areas and the future of American life. One, by MFP favorite Joel Kotkin, says the suburbs are the future. The other, by Kotkin adversary and media darling Richard Florida, extols the predominance of central cities.

April 4, 2013: Very good summary by Steven Malanga of the Manhattan Institute of recent data showing that California’s economy is divided between wealthier, coastal metro areas and a very badly off “Inland Empire” of a vanishing middle-class. He also shows how New York is similar.

March 12, 2013: Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute reports that New York City’s “broken windows” policing (enforcing small crimes which reduces large crimes) has resulted in declining prison populations.

January 9, 2013: America’s demographer explains whether or not the future of America is “progressive” in the wake of President Obama’s election win. In doing so, he explains how much of our politics is determined by the use of local space and metro area design. Amazing, but true!

November 9, 2012: The best analyses of the presidential election of 2012, thus far: from Michael Barone, a favorite of mine who missed badly in his election prediction, on the “two Americas,” Juan Williams on the demography that resulted in an impressive Obama victory and that might doom Republicans for generations, and Sean Trende on the absence of white voters in the 2012 election.

October 9, 2012: Two sides of a very important debate. This weekend the New York Times ran a piece describing how the GOP became the “anti-urban” party. In August, Stanley Kurtz wrote this piece for National Review explaining how the Democrats became the “anti-suburban” party.

September 21, 2012: Great article by “America’s Demographer” Joel Kotkin, on the bi-partisan neglect of the suburbs.

Sept. 5, 2012: Do you know America’s biggest problem? Declining fertility rates. We now produce fewer children per woman than France and Britain. Yes, FRANCE AND BRITAIN!!

June 15, 2012: A very strong defense of the U.S. Census and its importance to the U.S. economy.

May 29, 2012: Robert Samuelson and Glenn Reynolds, separately, believe there is a higher education bubble. Basically, they both say too many people are getting steered into college, colleges are therefore able to raise tuition, but the value of the education (both in terms of what is learned, how many graduate, and what a college education commands in the marketplace) are inflated. The question is whether the bubble is ready to burst or not. Reynolds argues consumers are figuring all this out and are seeking alternatives. Samuelson is a bit agnostic on this matter.

April 12, 2012: Really good and interesting insight on economy by Tyler Cowen, the new golden boy economist. Writing in the American Interest (May/June 2012) Cowen:

“leaves the impression that there are two interrelated American economies. On the one hand, there is the globalized tradable sector — companies that have to compete with everybody everywhere. These companies, with the sword of foreign competition hanging over them, have become relentlessly dynamic and very (sometimes brutally) efficient.

“On the other hand, there is a large sector of the economy that does not face this global competition — health care, education and government. Leaders in this economy try to improve productivity and use new technologies, but they are not compelled by do-or-die pressure, and their pace of change is slower.

“A rift is opening up. The first, globalized sector is producing a lot of the productivity gains, but it is not producing a lot of the jobs.”

Seth Forman is the author of American Obsession: Race and Conflict in the Age of Obama, Blacks in the Jewish Mind: A Crisis of Liberalism and other books. He teaches government and public policy at Stony Brook University and Suffolk County Community College and serves as Chief Planner of the Long Island Regional Planning Council. This web site is not associated in any way with these institutions.

Welcome to Mr. Forman’s Planet. This web site is designed to assist interested students of American life to better understand public policy, government, politics, and culture in America. This includes my own occasional musings, articles, and books; all time “must read” articles on a range of topics (I define “must read” here); links to what I think are the best web sites, and weekly “must read” recommendations.

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