Source: American Greatness
by Edward Ring

“On the advent of America’s 250th anniversary, the conventional narrative is that our country is deeply divided. Typical takes on the state of disunity in the United States include this headline from a guest op-ed that recently appeared in USA Today, ‘America celebrated together at 200. We won’t at 250’, and ‘We still had a sense of oneness then. We no longer do’. In a related news article, the publication cited major national surveys that ‘consistently show an anxious nation’ and ‘a divisive president’. These observations aren’t wrong, but the divisions they cite (partisan politics, old vs. young, racial polarization, bitter disagreements over social issues) are missing the biggest source of alienation of all, which is diminished economic opportunity. Fully half of American households report living paycheck to paycheck.” (07/01/26)

https://amgreatness.com/2026/07/01/the-economics-of-reconciliation-on-americas-250th-birthday/

Source: Independent Institute
by Christopher J Calton

“With the median sale price of a single-family home exceeding $400,000 since the pandemic, federal politicians have been champing at the bit to show voters they are working to lower housing costs. The recently passed bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is Congress’s attempt to expand the housing supply. It awaits the president’s signature. The problem is that there is little the federal government can do to solve a crisis that is primarily the byproduct of local regulations. The local nature of the housing shortage is apparent when comparing housing costs in San Francisco, where the median single-family home price has reached a staggering $2 million, and Houston, where the median home sells for only $371,000.” (06/30/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/06/30/the-federal-government-cannot-solve-the-housing-crisis/

Source: Show-Me Institute
by Cory Koedel

“The anti-school choice position is usually framed as a defense of public education. But at its core, what it really does is defend a particular way of assigning students to schools: where you live determines where your children go to school. The strongest opponents of school choice oppose vouchers, charter schools, and interdistrict open enrollment. In effect, they argue it is best if families have only one option: the public school assigned to them by their residential address. The problem with this argument is that it ignores a simple fact: many families already exercise school choice by choosing where to live.” (06/30/26)

https://showmeinstitute.org/article/education/the-faulty-logic-of-the-anti-school-choice-position/

Source: Niskanen Center
by Kimberly Burnett

“HUD recently issued a set of best practices for state and local governments to improve affordability by reducing the overall costs of construction, increasing land available for construction, and reducing the development timeline. By identifying specific regulatory and administrative barriers, HUD has taken a step toward a federal framework for encouraging housing production.” (06/30/26)

https://www.niskanencenter.org/how-housing-regulation-holds-back-innovation-and-what-hud-gets-right-about-fixing-it/