Kevin C. Brown

Kevin C. Brown has been a staff reporter and is currently a contributing reporter at Remapping Debate. He holds a Ph.D. in U.S. history from Carnegie Mellon University. Kevin is also the creator and host of Remapping Debate’s “History for the Future” interview series, which he started in 2010 at WRCT-Pittsburgh.

kb@remappingdebate.org
Don’t hold your breath
Original Reporting | By Kevin C. Brown | Infrastructure, NYC, Transportation
A fully realized Second Avenue subway would replace service lost decades ago, help meet ever growing transit demand, and provide a wide range of economic and environmental benefits to New York City and its residents. Even though the entire line could be built at one time, and even though delay is more costly than action, all that has been funded is a less-than-two-mile stub. More
Congress ties Postal Service into knots
Original Reporting | By Kevin C. Brown | Government services, Role of government
In looking at the decisions the Postal Service has been forced to make since the early 2000s, it is almost as though the Bush Administration and successive Congresses had decided that the task was to make the Postal Service a failed business and a failed public service. The alternative hypothesis? That no one at the wheel knew what he or she was doing. More
Exaggerating harm of Treasury’s continued GM stock ownership
Story Repair | By Kevin C. Brown | Economy, Markets, Role of government
Does the fact that the Treasury Department still has a significant stake in GM stigmatize the company? Give it a negative “Government Motors” reputation among investors or consumers? There’s lot of chatter but little evidence. And analysts say that the company’s reputation hinges more on it’s product line-up and profit outlook. More
Underfunding of voter registration: a guarantee that 25 percent or more of Americans won’t participate
Original Reporting | By Kevin C. Brown | Elections, Voting rights
According to the Census Bureau, even during presidential election years, at least a quarter of the eligible electorate has been unregistered in the period from 1980 through 2008. But current voter registration efforts don’t come close to meeting the need, especially because so much of registration under the U.S. system is highly labor-intensive. More
Leaving the picket fence behind
Original Reporting | By Kevin C. Brown | Advertising, Alternative models, Housing
Though engaging marketing has shifted consumer preferences on a range of products, people tend to think that preferences for traditional suburban neighborhoods are set in stone. Advertisers say they’re wrong. More
Two-tier morality? Catholic Bishops' anti-poverty advocacy lags
Original Reporting | By Kevin C. Brown | Poverty, Religion
The Catholic Church in the United States has long been active in charitable efforts to ameliorate poverty. But when it comes to flexing political muscle on anti-poverty advocacy — that is, battling the structural causes of poverty — it appears that a less robust effort has been made in recent years than has been devoted to other issues. Is this because the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (the USCCB) has not defined poverty as an “intrinsic evil" as it has done with abortion and some other Church concerns? What else could the USCCB be doing to advance an anti-poverty agenda? Does the USCCB's own pastoral letter from 1986 — "Economic Justice for All" — provide guidance? More
A tale of two systems
Original Reporting | By Kevin C. Brown | Alternative models, Labor
The big three German automakers — BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen — each produce vehicles not only in Germany, but also in “transplant” factories in the U.S. The former are characterized by high wages and high union membership; the U.S. plants pay lower wages and are located in so-called “right-to-work” states. It turns out that “inevitability” has nothing to do with the differing conditions; the salient difference is that, in Germany, the automakers operate within an environment that precludes a race to the bottom; in the U.S., they operate within an environment that encourages such a race. More

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