Commonplace

Now that external links aren't being throttled by X, and in case you're experiencing some election fatigue, check out some of our best pieces you may have missed in Commonplace over the last couple of months. Quick 🧵👇

The longstanding belief that college is the only ticket to the middle class is crumbling across America. As the old consensus crumbles, @oren_cass and Bruno Manno explain how industry, unions, and schools are building the roadmap for the future of work. commonplace.org/p/building-blo…

"As America awakens to the costs of offshoring and begins the task of reindustrialization, and as the largest technology companies place their bets on an unprecedented expansion of physical infrastructure to support their plans for artificial intelligence, the private sector, too, has discovered that new paths for workforce development are critical to their own success. Unlikely bedfellows from Silicon Valley, Wall Street, school boards, and union halls are coming together in search of new approaches. "On one hand, the solution is straightforward: Stop funneling everyone toward college degrees that they will not complete or use. Start providing exposure to in-demand careers and equipping young people with the skills to enter them. The rest of the world does this already, with better outcomes for young workers than we are achieving here, at much lower cost than we are paying. "On the other hand, that’s all much easier said than done. Politicians have been saying 'apprenticeship' for years. But fundamental change is needed in the incentives, priorities, funding, and programs of American high schools, community colleges, employers, unions, and workforce development boards. Dollars have to shift, but so do mindsets. Curriculum needs to be developed, but so does pride in the essential jobs that can allow anyone to contribute productively to their community, support a family, and help move our country forward. "From coast to coast, a quieter story is unfolding. Institutions both public and private, both labor- and management-led, are building a range of 'earn-and-learn' pathways that blend training with real work. These models differ in structure and governance, but they share a simple idea: skills are best learned on the job, in partnership with industry, and connected directly to wages and advancement," @oren_cass and Bruno V. Manno write. commonplace.org/p/building-blo…

Europe's largest export? Regulation Often bad, often costing billions Depressing commonplace.org/p/harold-furch…

"What is the most expensive European import? Some might guess it’s German sports cars, French champagne or perfume, or Italian designer fashion. "But the most expensive European import is neither a good nor a service. It is European regulation, perhaps more aptly labeled a 'bad' or a 'disservice,' and it’s about to become even pricier for America’s largest and most successful corporations. "By my estimates, hundreds or even thousands of U.S. businesses are set to fall under a tangled web of new obligations from the European Union. These regulations will severely affect how those businesses operate—and cost billions or even trillions of dollars—even though not a single American voter was consulted about them." Read @HudsonInstitute's Harold Furchtgott-Roth on Europe's economic war on America. commonplace.org/p/harold-furch…

Closing out housing policy week, @DanielMKishi leads off Understanding America with a very sharp commentary @commonplc... The Question of Why in the Housing Supply commonplace.org/p/the-question…

The Great Salt Lake matters to Utah and to the nation. I appreciate President Trump’s interest in this work and his willingness to help. Utah has been building for the long term, and we welcome federal support that helps move practical solutions forward. More here: commonplace.org/p/isaiah-menni…

"OpenAI’s Sam Altman continues his one-man campaign to confirm everything his critics say about him, and the dangerously warped worldview of technologists generally, telling an interviewer this week: 'We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter.' "Two observations. First, intelligence is not like electricity or water. People do not 'buy' and consume it. They develop, cultivate, and refine it through study, experience, and judgment. To treat the accumulated knowledge of human civilization as something dispensed through a meter is the Sam Altman project in miniature. "Second, has anyone told his investors? If AI really becomes a metered service, that would make it… a utility. His analogy points toward a business model defined by heavy capital requirements, growing commoditization, and inevitable and necessary regulation. That’s hardly the sort of business that usually commands the miraculous multiples OpenAI has," @oren_cass and @DanielMKishi write in their latest Understanding America newsletter. commonplace.org/p/the-question…

Important.

Too many young families are seeing their American Dream slip away as large institutional investors price them out of the housing market. It’s a crisis. Homes are for people, not corporations. Congress has a chance to get this right, let’s get it done.

.@berniemoreno: “President Trump proved that by breaking with decades of stale, establishment-driven orthodoxy, he could build an unbeatable coalition … The question now is this: will Republicans listen to the American people and do what it takes to sustain that coalition?”

Congress has the chance to rescue the besieged American dream of home ownership for America's families. @berniemoreno on the need to pass housing legislation that makes clear that homes are for families, not corporate rental portfolios. commonplace.org/p/sen-bernie-m…

The Great Salt Lake is vanishing. No country has ever restored a saline lake. President Trump says America will be the first. 🧵

@IsaiahMenning for @commonplc: commonplace.org/p/isaiah-menni…

“[Many] good things have decayed in recent decades—from the family to the local community to the industrial base to the Great Salt Lake. Renewing these institutions and places while preserving and expanding the goods of modernity is the test of our time.” Today in @commonplc

AI can't swing a hammer. @TeamsterSOB

My latest piece in @commonplc on why tariffs and immigration enforcement are not to blame for U.S. affordability challenges: commonplace.org/p/mark-diplaci…

A union boss, a military technologist, and a new right economist walk into a bar

This week's episode of the @AmerCompass podcast features a great conversation with @oren_cass, @PalantirTech CEO Alex Karp, and @Teamsters President Sean O'Brien from last week's Labor + AI Summit, which we co-hosted with @newindustrials and Palantir. commonplace.org/p/tech-and-lab…

This week on the @AmerCompass podcast, my NYU School of Drama screenplay writing final project come to life: A conversation on tech and labor with @TeamsterSOB Sean O'Brien and @PalantirTech's Alex Karp. commonplace.org/p/tech-and-lab…