Enjoy a selection of my commentaries below. To see the full listing of commentaries, please click here.
Federal money won’t fix cities
The bankruptcy of ideas among America’s urban leaders is on full view this week as the U.S. Conference of Mayors meets in New York City. The message big city mayors have chosen to send to the American people is anemic and uninspiring: They want more “federal” money and are disappointed that the President and Congress…
Tourism drives new economy First in a series
In 1976, the late futurist, Herman Kahn, predicted that tourism (including travel) would become the world’s No. 1 industry by the year 2000. Good instincts. Wrong year. According to a recent study by Wharton Econometrics, tourism became the world’s No. 1 industry in 1988, measured by employment — with more than 100 million people employed…
Forces strong for status quo
Like millions of other Americans, we used the Thanksgiving holiday to visit family in the Midwest. This year we took Amtrak. The train ride was terrific; the scenery was spectacular. But there was an unanticipated benefit: long conversations with strangers, people from many walks of life, during the 17-hour train ride to Wisconsin and 17…