New research could upend our understanding of economic inequality
Inequality has become one of the most hotly debated topics in economics, spurred on by Thomas Piketty’s book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, which argued that inequality could inexorably rise if the income from...
HUD’s race-based housing
A major goal of President Obama's second term is to use the brute force of government to reduce inequality.
This played out in the struggle over tax increases, but the Obama bureaucracies will do the...
A reasonable proposal
Much has been made of the recent proposal by the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform to modify the current, virtually unlimited mortgage interest deductions available to homeowners. The NAHB, The National Association...
A house is not a credit card
Last summer, that same trump card stopped a bipartisan bill to reform the mortgage market, more than six years after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had to be taken over by the government.
All of...
We can heal nation through housing
As we have seen time and time again, individuals, families and children able to afford quality shelter live better, healthier lives.
Unfortunately, it is well documented that too many cannot.
In 46 New York City schools...
Clinton tax increases slowed growth
But what really happened after Clinton raised taxes? The historical record is clear, and it isn't what President Obama would have you believe.
Clinton signed his tax hike into law in September 1993, the same...
The hidden virtues of income inequality
The New York Times recently ran a front-page exposé of segregation by wealth in the booming cruise business. The article, by Nelson Schwartz, was entitled “In an Age of Privilege, Not Everyone Is in...
Our perception of skilled trades needs to change
The U.S. is in the midst of a crisis of masculinity. According to a new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, men without four-year college degrees, ages 25 to 54, have left...
Sec. Ben Carson’s approach to affordable housing might work
The new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, aims to succeed where the Obama administration failed. Carson’s department intends to revise one of the landmark housing policies implemented by the Obama administration,...
Time to restore local control over zoning—and end Obama’s HUD intrusion
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing allowed HUD to halt distribution of more than $3 billion of annual community development block grants to about 1,200 counties and cities unless the recipients abide by federal dictates on...
Government regulation that actually works
OSHA has a long history of being attacked from all sides. While some criticize it for being too lenient, others routinely refer to it as a job-killer whose regulations stifle job creation, increase labor...
The future of housing
While our industry has often been slow to adopt new technologies, the opposite, of course, is true of the electronics industry. As such, I decided to attend the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held earlier...
Pre-pandemic economy was reaching unprecedented heights for Black and Hispanic Americans, new data show
The grim and isolated life many Americans have adopted during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis is often referred to as the “new normal.” But when it comes to the economic side of the pandemic, we...
NMHC weighs in on HUD
After considering the Administration’s goal as well as its previous attempts to shoehorn minorities into largely homogenous communities in which they otherwise could not afford to live, the author comes to this conclusion:
“Seemingly incapable...
10 ways to supercharge the American economy
He's spot-on since Obama's progressive pottage has left us with a sluggish economy, unemployment over 9 percent and a 14.3 percent poverty rate—more poor people than we have had in a half-century.
Our economy suffers...
