Even before 2020, America’s great cities faced a tide that threatened to overwhelm them. In 2020, the tsunami rose sud­denly, inundating the cities in ways that will prove both troubling and trans­formative, but which could mark the return toward a more hu­mane, and sustainable, urbanity. The two shocks—the Covid-19 pandemic…

The magnitude of the financial collapse currently facing the airline industry is unprecedented. In 2020, the Big Four airlines that dominate the U.S. industry (Ameri­can, Delta, United, and Southwest) reported GAAP net losses of $31.5 billion and operating losses of $33.1 billion. This was a $50 billion decline…

The Covid-19 pandemic set off a frenzy for suburban houses. But it’s not just millennials looking for patios and home offices; Wall Street is house hunting as well. Private equity firms, insurance compa­nies, and pensions are betting that many Americans will have to rent the suburban lifestyle to which they have now become accustomed and…

Despite all the attention and investment that Silicon Valley’s re­cent start-ups have received, they have done little but lose mon­ey: Uber, Lyft, WeWork, Pinterest, and Snapchat have consistently failed to turn profits, with Uber’s cumulative losses exceeding $25 billion. Perhaps even more notorious are bankrupt and discredited start-ups such as Theranos, Luckin Coffee, and Wirecard,…