As part of NLC's work in tracking and analyzing the issues and challenges facing cities, Nation's Cities Weekly publishes a monthly "Emerging Issues" column written by NLC staff member Bill Barnes. The columns focus on issues and topics --- beyond or beneath the day-to-day news --- that affect municipal governments and regions and the people who live in them.
Mr. Murray and the Decay of American Virtue: Inequality III (April 9, 2012)
Charles Murray’s new book, “Coming Apart,” is a lament --- wrapped around some data analysis --- for an American community and individual qualities that never existed but for which he mourns and wishes nonetheless. Both Murray and Edsall (see the April 2 column) --- for radically different reasons --- challenge readers to accept that reconciling the effects of half a century of fundamental economic shifts, social upheavals, and growing inequality is the rendezvous that is our destiny.
Jeremiads on Class and the Nation’s Future: Inequality II (April 2, 2012)
Charles Murray and Thomas Edsall have each written a new book. They both say that the nation is sharply, deeply and dangerously divided by class. The adjective “apocalyptic” comes to mind. Their views reveal a radical and thought-provoking disagreement about the very nature of the problems the nation faces. This column considers Edsall’s book. Next week: Murray’s.
Some People are More Equal Than Others: Inequality I (February 27, 2012)
A good national conversation about inequality would be useful. The prospects may seem poor because the current Federal election campaigns are shaping up as more wild and desperate than informed and thoughtful. That’s a shame and a lost opportunity, especially because government policy often helps create and perpetuate inequality and because too much inequality is not good either for economic performance or for politics.
FAQs re: Cities. 4 U & for all of us (January 30, 2012)
The system of local government in the United States is among the most complex in the world. In this era of challenges to the very idea of government itself, people concerned about cities need to have access to and make good use of current, understandable and relevant information about municipal government and city life.