June 30, 2025

Now, on to the news…

In recent years, red states and Sunbelt cities have benefitted from massive outmigration from Democratic-run states and cities. People have fled those blue areas largely because of exorbitant housing costs. But according to Judge Glock, housing prices are rising in conservative states and Sunbelt cities, undermining one of their key advantages. “If red states and Sunbelt cities don’t address their growing housing challenges,” he writes, “they could follow the path of places like Los Angeles and Boston, where rising prices have pushed more and more people out of the market.”

In collaboration with the Sun Valley Policy Forum (SVPF), several luminaries from the Manhattan Institute will speak at this year’s SVPF Summer Institute, on July 1st and 2nd. This two-day conference retreat will be held in the premier mountain town of Sun Valley, Idaho. Reihan Salam (Manhattan Institute President), Jesse Arm (Manhattan Institute Executive Director of External Affairs & Chief of Staff), Heather Mac Donald (Thomas W. Smith Fellow and Contributing Editor of City Journal), and Senior Fellows Jason Riley and Abigail Shrier will be featured in the programming, along with other notable thought leaders. As a benefit to City Journal readers, Reserve ticket bundle registrations will be upgraded to the Bronze pass level, which includes access to a private cocktail party. For more information on the program, go here; to register with MI benefits, go here.

Republicans in Congress are considering major tax and safety-net reforms that, according to critics, would increase inequality. Many of those criticisms are informed by the data and arguments presented in Capital in the Twenty-First Century, a 700-page book by French economist Thomas Piketty on the alleged crises of global wealth and income inequality.

Manhattan Institute fellow Robert VerBruggen revisits the controversial 2013 book, offering challenges both to Piketty’s data and his proposed solutions.

The Trump administration made an astute decision in appointing rail transit expert Andy Byford to oversee the redevelopment of New York’s Pennsylvania Station. (The Department of Transportation oversees Amtrak, which owns Penn Station.) As Catesby Leigh writes in our upcoming summer issue, Byford has held senior public transit roles in several cities, including London and New York, and has the skill to navigate the obstacle courses the project is sure to present.

Three teams currently have design proposals on the table. Leigh walks through the pros and cons of each one. Read his insightful analysis here.  

“I wonder how many New Yorkers (on both sides of the political aisle) are feeling nostalgic for Rudy G’s years in Gracie Mansion.”

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mattcoul, commenting on Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral primary win

Photo credits: Mario Tama / Staff / Getty Images News via Getty Images