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Feudal Future

Feudal Future

Joel Kotkin & Marshall Toplansky 149 episodes Latest May 26, 2026

Feudal Future explores the emerging class structure reminiscent of medieval times, where opportunity is shrinking for small business owners, property owners, skilled workers, and private sector professionals. Hosts Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky discuss how to liberate the global middle class, interviewing business, government, and citizen leaders to uncover trends and provide insights for a better future. The show is supported by the Chapman Center for Demographics and Policy.

Episodes

The Housing Affordability Challenge Jun 10, 2026 1719 The fastest way to spot a broken housing market is brutally simple: compare home prices to incomes. When that price-to-income ratio, often called the median multiple, shoots from a normal “3” to “11” or “12,” you are not looking at a minor housing shortage. You are looking at a system that no longer works for the middle class. We unpack what the latest Demographia housing affordability data says a
THE EVOLUTION OF THE IRANIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY May 27, 2026 4754 A half-century is long enough for a community to transform, but not long enough for the origin story to stay intact without receipts. We walk through one of the first comprehensive efforts to measure Iranian Americans in the United States, then pressure-test the findings with sharp audience questions and personal reflections that put real faces behind the charts. We talk about how Iranian immigrat
The Future of the Democratic Party and California Politics May 15, 2026 1966 The Democrats keep asking voters to choose them, but many people still can’t answer a basic question: what do Democrats stand for right now? We bring on public affairs consultant and UCLA lecturer David Gershwin and AEI senior fellow Ruy Teixeira to wrestle with the party’s direction, its internal incentives, and why “winning the next election” can mask deeper strategic failure.We talk about how t
How Liberalism Lost Its Edge And How It Can Find It Again Apr 27, 2026 2695 Liberalism didn’t start as a comfortable status quo. It started as a revolt against feudal hierarchy and rigid orthodoxy, and it stayed alive by reinventing itself when capitalism and concentrated power threatened to rot the system from the inside. That’s the premise behind our conversation with Adrian Wooldridge, author of The Revolutionary Center, The Lost Genius of Liberalism, and it’s the thre
Why Wealth Taxes Backfire And What Works Instead Apr 18, 2026 2148 A state can look rich on paper while ordinary life gets harder fast and the bill comes due. We sit down with Hephestion Bolaris of Class Unity and Hank Adler, an accounting professor and former Deloitte tax partner, to ask the uncomfortable question behind every big promise: who pays, how, and what happens when the payers can leave?We pressure-test wealth taxes and “tax the rich” politics against
Career Launch in the Age of AI Mar 26, 2026 1836 Entry-level hiring is getting squeezed, but the reasons aren’t as simple as “the economy is bad.” We sit down with David Brown, Americas CEO of Hays, and James Dusserre, assistant dean for placement and career services, to map what the 2026 job market actually looks like for new grads and early career professionals. The surprising part: GDP and unemployment can look okay while companies still pull
Is there a new Religious Revival? Mar 12, 2026 2860 Religious belief is supposed to fade as societies get richer and more educated. So why do newer surveys show the opposite pattern in the United States, with college grads and post grads often *more* likely to attend church than people with only a high school education? We unpack what the data can and cannot prove, why earlier secularization theories missed key realities, and how a smaller but more
From Policy To Permits, Here’s How We Unlock Affordable Housing Feb 23, 2026 3261 California’s housing crisis isn’t a riddle; it’s a chain reaction. We trace it from land policy and restrictive growth boundaries to code complexity, construction costs, and the quiet social fallout inside families, schools, synagogues, and neighborhoods. With demographers, advocates, and veteran builders around the table, we unpack why the median home price-to-income ratio ballooned, how the land
Populism’s Pulse Today Feb 6, 2026 1885 Populism gets blamed for everything from polarization to democratic decay—but what if the louder story is a search for voice and belonging? We sit down with sociologist Frank Furedi to unpack why so many voters are breaking with legacy parties and why the energy behind these movements is less about recession and more about culture. From national identity and neighborly trust to the norms families
Censorship, Power, And The Internet Jan 20, 2026 2481 What if the internet that promised liberation ended up centralizing control over what we see, share, and believe? We sit down with Jake Siegel—journalist, former Army intelligence officer, and author of The Information State—to trace how a tool built for openness became the backbone of a new information order. Starting with the Internet Freedom Agenda and moving through 9/11’s surveillance shift,
How Automation Is Reshaping Jobs, Education, And Opportunity Jan 8, 2026 3375 Want a clear-eyed map of where AI is taking jobs, education, and leadership over the next five years? We dig past the headlines to examine why tech profits can soar while layoffs spread, why white-collar roles are suddenly vulnerable, and how students and mid-career professionals can protect their earnings in a market that rewards speed, strategy, and human touch.We unpack the difference between r
2025 in Review: A Decade of Demographics & Policy Dec 23, 2025 2139 The headlines shout about winners and losers, but the real story this year is a quiet break in the social fabric: rising costs, collapsing civility, and a middle class pushed to the margins while trillion-dollar platforms set the rules. We take stock without the wishful thinking—where leadership fell short, why media trust eroded, and how populist energy devolved into a performance economy. Then w

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