No other issue has greater potential for common ground than America's housing affordability crisis. Progressives and conservatives alike agree that for far too many Americans there is a critical shortage of available homes.
Since COVID erupted in 2020 the costs of apartment rentals and homes to buy have soared. According to the real estate firm Zillow, average U.S. home prices doubled in the past decade. In recent months mortgage rates went up to levels not seen in nearly two decades. With the growing possibility of a recession in the near future, there is no shortage of pessimism in the housing market today.
We discuss solutions to the housing mess with Harvard University economist Ed Glaeser, author of "Rethinking Federal Housing Policy: How to Make Housing Plentiful and Affordable", "Survival of the City: Living and Thriving in an Age of Isolation" and many other books.
Read moreFor much of the past fifty years, American political leaders of both parties have assumed that globalization and free trade would lead to more opportunity, higher living standards and increased business efficiency.
But our guest, author and Financial Times columnist, Rana Foroohar, argues that with supply chain disruptions and growing economic insecurity in much of the world, the long reign of globalization is coming to end. A shift to more resilient and local businesses is now at hand. We discuss the reporting and findings in the brand new book, "Homecoming: The Path to Prosperity in a Post-Global World."
"I think the pendulum of the old way is tapped out," Rana tells us. "Cheap money is over. Cheap labor from China is largely over. Cheap energy from Russia is definitely over."
Read moreInflation is through the roof. Stocks are through the floor. Most economists say that a recession is likely to hit soon or is already here. Add to this the economic impact of the Ukraine invasion, an entitlements crisis with the possible bankruptcy of Medicare and Social Security trust funds in the coming years, and today's weird housing market.
In this episode, we discuss all these, plus the tough choices now facing the Federal Reserve, political dysfunction in Washington, disruption of global supply chains, and the roots of the inflation crisis.
Our guest is Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle, the author of "The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well is the Key to Success."
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