Alternative models

San Jose’s problems can be solved, but only if structural causes are addressed, including inequities in Silicon Valley, a nationwide tax incentive competition, and California’s restrictions on local revenue.

The ticket to getting widespread transit adoption in U.S. cities? Invest in convenient service upfront. The riders will follow.

The ticket to getting widespread transit adoption in U.S. cities? Invest in convenient service upfront. The riders will follow.

Danish experts said the changes are generally modest and broadly consistent with the longstanding welfare state model.

Intent on demonstrating that the Danish model is unsustainable, the article in The New York Times exaggerates reforms, characterizes fundamental elements of social safety net as “perks,” and fails to notice that, as one of our sources explained, “the Danish welfare state is alive and well, it has wide public support, and it isn’t going anywhere.”

As “market values” have replaced “social values,” they've driven a once-popular policy idea out of favor.

Does the notion that every American should be guaranteed a basic level of income sound utopian? In the late 1960s and early 1970s it was mainstream.

As the number of elderly Americans grows, some suggest that they are going to have to make due with less support. But many older people already face increasing isolation as the years go on; they live in fear of losing their homes. One recent response: a "Village model" where members and non-member volunteers join in an organized system of mutual aid.

The current system clearly hasn't been so good for those to whom the benefits were supposed to trickle down. But the U.S. remains a mighty economic force, one that could push back effectively if it wished to, and cross-national cooperation could yield a mutual defense pact to protect countries from having to compete in a race to the bottom.