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Jeffrey Jones digs deep into the American political psyche to find a moral basis for the dissatisfaction many middle-class Americans feel with their economic circumstances. In this very accessible book, Jones articulates a public philosophy of reward for labor - the Covenant on Affordability - connecting it to a decent life .... he pulls together a striking range of references, from William Graham Sumner to contemporary credit card debt, to yield a unique and original analysis of our current economic and political malaise.-LAWRENCE BLUM, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts-BostonA thoughtful, scholarly look at the morality behind America's betrayal of work.-ANYA KAMENETZ, author of Generation DebtThe American dream used to mean that if you worked hard, saved money, and didn't spend extravagantly, you'd be guaranteed a decent life. That article of faith is no more; it has been replaced by a growing fear that even two incomes will prove insufficient to afford a home in a good neighborhood, a reliable vehicle, quality schools, healthcare, the means to care for aging relatives, and the leisure to properly raise children. The middle class is waking up to the sobering realization that the United States is fast becoming an unaffordable nation.Transcending ordinary politics, Jeffrey Jones addresses every member of the American community, not as liberal or conservative or as Democrat or Republican, but in the most basic and equal of terms: in their capacities as working persons dependent upon their occupations, their employers, and the government regulation of both to earn a decent living. He uncovers the profound moral consensus among Americans from every walk of life regarding the entitlements that should follow from individual hard work.Jones argues that regardless of political leanings, economic class, gender, and ethnic and racial differences, Americans remain united in the conviction that individuals who work hard should receive decent wages and other resources in return. He goes on to propose a covenant on affordability, outlining the respective obligations of government, corporations, and individuals in ensuring a life that is affordable for every person who is willing to work hard.The Unaffordable Nation is a must-read for every American concerned about the decreasing value of his or her labor, alongside the rising costs of nearly everything.Jeffrey Jones, J.D., Ph.D. (Portland, OR), is an assistant professor of law at the Lewis and Clark Law School and an employment attorney for Barran Liebman LLP, both in Portland, Oregon. He holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Formerly, he worked as an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts and was also a postdoctoral scholar at Boston University.
Throughout the Western world, a whole generation is being priced out of the housing market. For millions of people, particularly millennials, the basic goal of acquiring decent, affordable accommodation is a distant dream. Leading economist Josh Ryan-Collins argues that to understand this crisis, we must examine a crucial paradox at the heart of modern capitalism. The interaction of private home ownership and a lightly regulated commercial banking system leads to a feedback cycle. Unlimited credit and money flows into an inherently finite supply of property, which causes rising house prices, declining home ownership, rising inequality and debt, stagnant growth and financial instability. Radical reforms are needed to break the cycle. This engaging and topical book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why they can’t find an affordable home, and what we can do about it.
This “generous, vigorous, and enlightening look at class and space in New York” examines the human side of gentrification—“a joy to read” (The Paris Review).For years, journalists, policymakers, critics, and historians have tried to explain just what happens when new money and new residents flow into established neighborhoods. But now, “Mr. Gibson lets the city speak for itself, and it speaks with charm, swagger and heartening resilience” (The New York Times). The Edge Becomes the Center captures, in their own words, the stories of people?brokers, buyers, sellers, renters, landlords, artists, contractors, politicians, and everyone in between?who are shaping and being shaped by the new New York City. In this extraordinary oral history, Gibson shows us what urban change looks and feels like by exposing us to the voices of the people living through it. Drawing on the plainspoken, casually authoritative tradition of Jane Jacobs and Studs Terkel, The Edge Becomes the Center is an inviting and essential portrait of the way we live now.
Thanks to remarkable advances in modern health care attributable to science, engineering, and medicine, it is now possible to cure or manage illnesses that were long deemed untreatable. At the same time, however, the United States is facing the vexing challenge of a seemingly uncontrolled rise in the cost of health care. Total medical expenditures are rapidly approaching 20 percent of the gross domestic product and are crowding out other priorities of national importance. The use of increasingly expensive prescription drugs is a significant part of this problem, making the cost of biopharmaceuticals a serious national concern with broad political implications. Especially with the highly visible and very large price increases for prescription drugs that have occurred in recent years, finding a way to make prescription medicinesâ€"and health care at largeâ€"more affordable for everyone has become a socioeconomic imperative. Affordability is a complex function of factors, including not just the prices of the drugs themselves, but also the details of an individual's insurance coverage and the number of medical conditions that an individual or family confronts. Therefore, any solution to the affordability issue will require considering all of these factors together. The current high and increasing costs of prescription drugsâ€"coupled with the broader trends in overall health care costsâ€"is unsustainable to society as a whole. Making Medicines Affordable examines patient access to affordable and effective therapies, with emphasis on drug pricing, inflation in the cost of drugs, and insurance design. This report explores structural and policy factors influencing drug pricing, drug access programs, the emerging role of comparative effectiveness assessments in payment policies, changing finances of medical practice with regard to drug costs and reimbursement, and measures to prevent drug shortages and foster continued innovation in drug development. It makes recommendations for policy actions that could address drug price trends, improve patient access to affordable and effective treatments, and encourage innovations that address significant needs in health care.
Chronic homelessness is a highly complex social problem of national importance. The problem has elicited a variety of societal and public policy responses over the years, concomitant with fluctuations in the economy and changes in the demographics of and attitudes toward poor and disenfranchised citizens. In recent decades, federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, and the philanthropic community have worked hard to develop and implement programs to solve the challenges of homelessness, and progress has been made. However, much more remains to be done. Importantly, the results of various efforts, and especially the efforts to reduce homelessness among veterans in recent years, have shown that the problem of homelessness can be successfully addressed. Although a number of programs have been developed to meet the needs of persons experiencing homelessness, this report focuses on one particular type of intervention: permanent supportive housing (PSH). Permanent Supportive Housing focuses on the impact of PSH on health care outcomes and its cost-effectiveness. The report also addresses policy and program barriers that affect the ability to bring the PSH and other housing models to scale to address housing and health care needs.
A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.
Written for nonexperts, this is a brisk and engaging history of the American healthcare "system" from the advent of Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s to the impact of the Affordable Care Act in the 2010s. Covering topics as varied as health insurance, pharmaceutical pricing, government policies, physician training, medical ethics, and healthcare in other countries, it explains how healthcare in the United States has been organized, managed, delivered, and paid for.
A Time 100 Must-Read Book of 2020 • A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • California Book Award Silver Medal in Nonfiction • Finalist for The New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism • Named a top 30 must-read Book of 2020 by the New York Post • Named one of the 10 Best Business Books of 2020 by Fortune • Named A Must-Read Book of 2020 by Apartment Therapy • Runner-Up General Nonfiction: San Francisco Book Festival • A Planetizen Top Urban Planning Book of 2020 • Shortlisted for the Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice “Tells the story of housing in all its complexity.” —NPR Spacious and affordable homes used to be the hallmark of American prosperity. Today, however, punishing rents and the increasingly prohibitive cost of ownership have turned housing into the foremost symbol of inequality and an economy gone wrong. Nowhere is this more visible than in the San Francisco Bay Area, where fleets of private buses ferry software engineers past the tarp-and-plywood shanties of the homeless. The adage that California is a glimpse of the nation’s future has become a cautionary tale. With propulsive storytelling and ground-level reporting, New York Times journalist Conor Dougherty chronicles America’s housing crisis from its West Coast epicenter, peeling back the decades of history and economic forces that brought us here and taking readers inside the activist movements that have risen in tandem with housing costs.