Category: Popular culture
New College of Florida: A Matter of Perspective
Florida governor and presidential aspirant Ron DeSantis decided that my alma mater, 700 student New College in Sarasota, Florida needs a makeover. He appointed 6 new trustees and expressed his desire for the publicly funded liberal arts college to be overhauled to better provide for the public good and to eliminate “woke” policies, practices and culture.
New College was founded in 1964 as an alternative private college with an innovative program of study emphasizing personal responsibility for learning using all available resources without the usual bureaucratic constraints. Private New College was folded into the University of South Florida in 1975 and eventually set up as New College of Florida, branded as “the honors college” of the Florida state university system. New College’s very low student faculty ratio (7-1 to 10-1) has made it an inherently costly investment. In 2021 Florida politicians introduced bills to fold it into some other state university. A new president was hired in 2021 to help the small college re-evaluate its academic, financial and political strategies in order to re-establish its long-term viability.
The college has continued to attract very high potential students, its graduates have a truly enviable record of graduate and professional study and fellowships, but its 5-year graduation rate is low versus comparable schools and its graduates disproportionately pursue academic, not-for-profit, small business and other non-traditional career paths so that the average measured financial success of graduates is not competitive with schools which produce students who pursue more conventional professional careers.
I hope that the 6 new trustees will invest some time to analyze the “current state” before seeking to overhaul, makeover or revolutionize the curriculum, culture, faculty and leadership. I believe that there is a large overlap between what really matters at New College historically and today and what conservative leaning Florida politicians, citizens and voters value.
The Individual Matters
New College curriculum and culture emphasize the central role of the individual in making life choices.
Personal responsibility for the student’s program of study is at the heart of the curriculum.
Freedom of thought is honored. Left, Right or Center. Various shades of left.
Freedom of expression. Academic freedom. Free discussion. Free beliefs. Changes. Exploration.
Humility. Great thinkers among classmates, professors and writers. Chances are good that your views are not “simply the best”. In a post-Freudian world we only “know” so much. Many have a “piece of the truth”. Pride is risky.
Authenticity. Consistency. Self-awareness. Embracing feedback and interaction.
Ideals Matter
Ideals matter. The unexamined life is not worth living. Politics, community, philosophy, religion and spirituality matter. Dead serious. It’s important to proactively explore options and make choices. Evaluate choices versus experience, data and new frameworks, paradigms and world views. Individuals are responsible for developing personal philosophies.
Growth and Learning Matter
College provides an opportunity for tremendous learning in many dimensions. So much to learn. Consider all possibilities. Personal quest. No limits to growth. The journey matters. There is no end to growth and learning, so develop those skills. “Still there’s more”. Embrace feedback and interaction, even when it hurts.
Community Matters
Community of learners and seekers of knowledge, wisdom, truth, beauty and meaning. Small scale community where “everybody knows your name”. Forced to interact and be authentic. Academic discipline and profession matter. Generation matters. Groups matter. Politics matters. Service matters.
Character Matters
Classical philosophy focused on “living a good life”. Authenticity. Humility. Respect for others. Openness. Personal responsibility. Tolerance/acceptance of differences. Dead serious. Excellence. Merit.
Competency Matters
Demonstrated learning. The Western Canon. Mastery. Results. Achievement. Research. Critical thinking. Written expression. Debate. Progress. Examination.
Creativity Matters
“Both/and” perspective. Multiple intelligences. Multiple perspectives. Interdisciplinary views. Paradigms. Two cultures. Theory and practice. Local and global.
Founded in 1964
The post-war economic expansion was followed by a culturally conservative 1950’s and then concerns about the role of the individual in a world where big business and big government dominated. World War I and World War II shattered simplistic modern expectations of “progress”. Romanticism and utopian socialism were in decline. Cultural critics worried about the sameness of suburbia, the organization man, the man in the grey flannel suit and “the lonely crowd”. Existentialist philosophy was very influential at the time. I think that New College’s curriculum and culture were shaped by this founding period. Existentialism focused on the individual in a different way than Ayn Rand, but clearly on the individual. The key insight was that “in spite of” the challenges provided by modern knowledge and society, an individual could move forward (maybe).
The relation between the individual and various communities was a clear focus. The contrast between existential “existence” and the historical emphasis on “essence” by philosophers and religions alike was unavoidable. The “solution” was to study, learn and grow, while accepting that final, deterministic answers were very unlikely. The best a person could do was to work through life considering the conflicting viewpoints and holding on to whatever he or she thought was best. This is a fundamentally “liberal” view, even if many/most of the implications greatly support historical conservative views that aim to preserve individual character and institutions.
Unavoidable Conflicts Between New College and Modern Conservatism (The Rub)
Rejection of civil and religious authorities. Belief that the individual must choose (and live with the consequences).
Inherently a “relativistic” perspective. There are many ways to frame situations, decisions, politics, religion, etc. No one view, perspective or paradigm is clearly correct. Individuals may embrace fixed perspectives but should accept that others might make different choices.
The classic western canon of received literature and science continues to evolve. There is value in having “everyone” share in the study of “the classics” but diverse perspectives also have an important role to play.
Individuals belong to many “communities of limited liability”. The nation or church does not automatically take dominant priority.
The global community and priorities may be as important as the national and commercial perspectives.
No one deterministic religious perspective is fully adequate.
Individual “rights” compete with the community’s rights and interests.
There is an intolerance of “intolerance” by left-leaning institutions like New College and its students, faculty and leadership.
Summary
New College was founded in the early 1960’s within a culture that raised up the individual in contrast to the conformist social norms of the state, community and businesses. Yet, it was a child of the US which embraced individualism even as it promoted patriotism. The New College curriculum and culture which I experienced in the 1970’s and which largely continues today supports this individual centered model of learning and personal growth. Most of the curriculum and culture is compatible with classic conservative views. Some of the beliefs are incompatible with more fundamentalist conservative views. New College has recently become a pawn in the national “culture wars”. I hope that the trustees will see the very positive role which New College can play in helping a small share of students to wrestle with the difficult questions posed today and contribute mightily to society.
Good News: US Startups Still Create Many Jobs (!!!)
I’ve always been a sceptic about the many claims that entrepreneurs, startup firms and venture capital are the “most” important drivers of improved quality of life in the US in my lifetime. I remain a sceptic. I believe that large firms deliver even more added value (driven by self-interest). I believe that the government and not-for-profit sectors play an equally important role. I believe that the government’s definition of the “rules of the game” and our culture’s influence on how people live their everyday lives are also very important. I’ll come back to the role of small firms in a separate blog post. I’ll try to tie together all of the strands of our amazing US labor market in another blog post.
But today, I want to tip my hat to the truly amazing role that startup firms play in driving the US economy and labor market.
https://www.bls.gov/bdm/us_age_naics_00_table1.txt
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks new jobs added (gains) and jobs lost (losses) each year in detail by firm and establishment (branch), including links to the year the firm was first created. At the total country level, we see that job creation and destruction follows the business cycle. The Great Recession, subsequent expansion and pandemic periods are obvious above. In the Clinton years, job gains averaged a great 15 million per year. The Bush, Jr. years showed still solid 13-14 million annual new jobs added. The Obama recovery increased new jobs from 10 to 13 million per year and Trump maintained this positive level at the end of a very long period of economic growth.
Job losses generally followed the pattern of job growth. Job losses are even more volatile. They peaked in the recessions of 2002, 2009 and 2021.
In the last 3 decades, the US economy added 2 million new jobs each year during periods of expansion.
Many economists, journalists and politicians claim that startups account for ALL new job growth. This is an “amazing” claim that deserves deeper analysis, investigation and description. I’ll chase this separately. The claim is “largely true”.
Startup firms delivered 4-5 million new jobs each year in the 1990’s. This declined to 2.5 million jobs during the “oughts”. It increased back to 3 million new jobs per year in the teens. In non-recessionary periods during the nineties and “oughts”, existing firms destroyed 2 million jobs each year. In the teens, the job destruction rates were much lower, roughly 1 million jobs per year. The startup jobs minus existing firm jobs number was typically 2 million net new jobs per year in positive economic years.
The BLS separates job gains from job losses and categorizes them by the firm’s first year of existence. Job gains at existing firms were roughly flat at 10 million per year. Startup firm new jobs declined from 4.5M in the nineties to 2.5 M in the “oughts”, recovering to 3M per year afterwards. Startup job creation declined from 45% to 31% of existing firm job creation, a one-third reduction.
The BLS provides data on the subtotal of all firms founded before 1993. These “mature” firms display a similar pattern. Annual job gains fell a bit from 4.5M in the “oughts” to 3M in the teens. Annual job losses fell even faster, from 6M in the “oughts” to 3.5M in the teens. Net job losses averaged 1.5M annually in the “oughts”, but just 0.5M in the teens.
The number of new jobs created by startups declined by one-third during this period, from 4.5 to 3 million per year.
The BLS data allows us to track the gains, losses and net jobs added by first year of existence for firms. First year startup jobs declined from 4.5M to 2.5M. The cumulative jobs created measured 10 years after startup is more positive. Cumulative new jobs, measured 10 years after startup, increased from 3M to 3.5M then dropped back to 3M in 2001. The startup classes of 2009-12, despite the Great Recession, report 2.5M net jobs added each year, as measured after 10 years.
Job losses have fallen much faster than job gains in the last 20 years, measured by a full decade of performance. The ratio of job gains to job losses has improved markedly. This ratio averaged 83% in the nineties, indicating that 1/6 new jobs was destroyed within a decade. This ratio has greatly recovered to the mid-90’s. indicating that new startups, in total, essentially maintain their initial jobs count a decade later. Other data shows that one-third of startups don’t exist after 10 years. Hence, this means that the successful remaining one-third have roughly tripled their employment in their first decade.
Firms die much faster than employment. There are many studies that claim that one-half, three-quarters, fourth-fifths or nine-tenths of employees at startup firms are eliminated in 10-20-30 years. These are mostly exaggerations.
Ten years after their founding, startups still employ 80-90-95% of their initial year hires. Job losses fell during the teens. Job gains grew rapidly after the Great Recession.
For the 18-year period where we have ten years of data on startup firms, we have a clear pattern of net employment decline at the end of the decade, on average. The ten-year retained employment level at almost 80% of the initial level is far higher than the 50% claimed by some commentators.
The years since 2009 show a clear pattern of startups maintaining 90-95% of their initial employment levels after 10 years.
Summary
The US economy typically added 2M net new jobs each year during periods of economic expansion. Historically, startups added 4M jobs annually to offset the 2M jobs eliminated by existing firms. The job destruction rate of existing firms has slowed. The jobs retention rate of startups has improved. Net, net, the US economy still generates 3M+ new jobs each year which essentially still remain a decade later. One-third of the firms are gone, but the winners employ 3 times as many as when they started.
Hoosier Hero: Johnny Cougar Mellencamp
DeSantis’ Revolutionary Board Appointments
During 2021-22, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appointed 29 people to various Florida state college and university boards.
They included 8 business leaders, 3 real estate professionals, 5 doctors, 3 lawyers, 2 accountants, 3 educators, a banker, a farmer, a government leader, a not-for-profit leader and a public relations leader.
The 11 news articles emphasized the nominees’ professional and civic achievements. None mentioned any strategic agenda or revolution desired by the governor.
22 men and 7 women.
Every nominee was a Florida resident, with most highlighting their long ties to the state. One was touted as a “fifth generation” Okeechobee resident. Most highlighted their Florida college degrees. A handful listed experience with national US firms or military experience. Many listed their other board of director experience. Only 3 had obvious political roles in their biographies. Dr. Madhu Sasidhar, president of Cleveland Clinic, Port St. Lucie is the only nominee with limited Florida ties.
A Revolution Only at New College of Florida
The governor’s office, board nominees, journalists and advocates from both parties highlight that the 6 recent 2023 appointments to New College of Florida’s board are intended to “revolutionize” the small (700 student) college in Florida.
The governor is only revolutionizing one institution. This appears to be for national political purposes. Florida voters, visitors, alumni and politicians need to consider what their response would be if the governor, of his own accord, decided that it was time to “revolutionize” an institution that they attended or supported.
https://news.ufl.edu/2021/02/governor-appointed-bot-members/
https://www.sjrstate.edu/press2021/21-buchanan-board.html
New College of Florida, Founded 1956-64
A Very “New” Educational Program for 1964
The “contract system” replaces distribution requirements. Students cooperate/negotiate with a faculty sponsor to define their “program of study”, term by term. Foreign language requirements gone. Western civilization gone. Religion gone. Humanities gone. Science gone. Each student will have a “major” in order to graduate, but the first 1-2 years can be very flexible. The student-faculty relation/interaction is essential. Starting with just 100 “high potential” 18-year-olds in 1964.
Narrative evaluations replace letter grades. Pass, fail or incomplete. Faculty try to clearly define “mastery” up front for each course, tutorial or project. Real feedback is provided in person and in writing regarding progress and “opportunities for improvement”. Faculty and students are fellow learners, but standards are high; basically elite graduate school level.
Many independent study projects are required for all students. Tutorials with significant “independent study” components are offered by faculty to cover subjects not frequently offered. Students are encouraged to ” define their program of study, including the creation of interdisciplinary majors.
A senior “honors thesis” is required for graduation. The ability to research and write at a high level is required. Students must pass an oral examination of their thesis and related “major” program of study. Quasi-graduate school for undergraduates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_College_of_Florida
Economic Context Circa 1960
The US is leaving behind the pains of the 1930’s and 1940’s, enjoying more than a decade of solid economic growth. The business cycle is still very relevant. Rapid and extended post-war growth was unexpected once the economic demand of the war fell off. General economic growth into the future is now generally expected by 1964. The Keynesian economic model and policy prescriptions appear to be working. But true poverty continues in both urban and rural areas, especially among the elderly. Union-management relations remain tense, with strikes and labor actions frequently in the news.
Social Context
This is a conformist period where most individuals are willing to “go along to get along” in a world that is generally deemed positive by most. Religious attendance increases and conformist symbols on money “in God we trust” and the pledge of allegiance are adopted in the context of the Cold War. There is no 4th religious “Great Awakening”, but Pentecostal and fundamentalist churches see rapid growth. The Roman Catholic Church works through the second Vatican Conference to reform, update, reorganize and modernize the church. Mainstream Protestant churches are at the peak of their membership and influence. Liberal Paul Tillich is the representative theologian, emphasizing “matters of ultimate concern” and “the courage to be”. “Rock and Roll” music grows as an expression of teenage independence, but the “British Invasion” is yet to come. Racial justice is growing as a major topic, south and north. National and regional politicians take small steps forward on race as liberal judges take controversial larger steps ahead.
Global Context
The Cold War is topic A, B and C. The threat of nuclear war is omnipresent with students learning to “duck and cover” and citizens and communities building “bomb shelters”. Oppenheimer and other scientists who wish to “limit” further development are sidelined by the military and national leaders. Eisenhower warns about the power of the military-industrialist complex as he retires. The United Nations fills some global functions and Europe begins its long journey of integration. The US builds NATO into a strong alliance and supports the recovery of Germany, Japan and Europe through the Marshall Plan. Imperial/colonial holdings are released around the world within the context of the Cold War. Military technology continues to advance. The US is shocked by Soviet rocket, nuclear and satellite advances and invests in programs to recapture the lead. Displaced people and immigrants are resettled. Limited food production, oil availability and unlimited population growth are highlighted as a new Malthusian challenge. The pain is mostly felt in the “less developed” world, but policy elites highlight the risks. The Peace Corps is founded.
Political Context
Truman rode FDR’s goodwill to victory in 1948. Eisenhower accepted the New Deal and governed in a low-key, centrist manner for two terms. Populism and McCarthyism (nationalism) were largely eliminated in the 1950’s, but the existential threat of “Red” communism in Russia, China and its allies remained as a major political debate. Modern conservativism began with the academic scribblings of Russel Kirk (1953), the voice of William Buckley (1955) and the political moxie of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. However, John Kennedy squeaked out a narrow win over Richard Nixon in 1960 and provided that time with an idealistic, progressive, academically supported New Frontier and Camelot.
Intellectual Context
Some academics were walking away from the party line Marxism of China and the USSR by 1960 as the shortcomings of the economic, political and social systems were becoming apparent. They were very focused on the French existentialism of Sartre and Camus. In the shadow of “mutually assured destruction”, this was not surprising. The structuralism and post-modernist philosophies emerged at this time but did not quickly impact American cultural life. Universities were growing rapidly in this period, fueled by the GI Bill and the coming Baby Boom freshmen.
Public intellectuals were still a significant part of national debates about politics, technology, the economy and culture. The mainstream media provided print, radio and TV stages for public debate.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-happened-americas-public-intellectuals-180963668/
https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/where-have-all-the-thinkers-gone/
The “popular” intellectual debate was largely focused on the eclipse of the individual versus the power of the group, whether that group was society, advertisers, corporations, neighbors, property developers or government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_Elite
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Organization_Man
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_Gray_Flannel_Suit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lonely_Crowd
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vance_Packard
Book
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye
The continued growth of science and technology as practical applied science and theory was also a major concern at this time. The split between scientists and the humanities scholars was emphasized. The changing view of “science” as a firm, fixed, objective body of work conducted by objective scientists was also called into question.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Cultures
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/aug/19/thomas-kuhn-structure-scientific-revolutions
Birth of New College
The local (Sarasota and Florida) and national founders of the college were shaped by the context of the period. In hindsight, it is clear that they worried about growing “individuals” who could resist the power of the various social and organizational forces that demanded compliance. This was not a left- or right-wing political initiative. These were business, government and university elites doing their best in a patriotic American way to shape a new institution in a growing city, state and country.
60 years later, it’s not clear that these founding principles were “leaning left”. The focus was on the individual, not on the community, society, nation, state, religion, history or culture. The founders: well-minded business, religious and academic elites, emphasized this dimension of education because they believed that a simple, patriotic, conventional, practical, productive, well-defined, professional, feasible, traditional model of education was simply inadequate. It’s 1960. Two dozen successful people got together to form a new college in a resort town. They did a quick SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) of colleges and universities. They chose to innovate. Let’s “reach for the moon”. We want to attract the “best and the brightest”. (Ouch).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_and_the_Brightest
College freshmen today (1960) are unduly shaped by society’s expectations. Let’s “turn them loose”. Young people are much more mature today due to their exposure to the “mass media”. They are very well educated in many high schools. Faculty and administrators are also much more highly qualified to lead the education process. Let’s fully engage them in the learning process.
This was an idealistic birth process only possible in a positive period of confident national growth.
I don’t see any incompatibility between New College’s historical educational program and associated learning environment with Florida Governor DeSantis’s stated desire to improve the critical thinking skills of students, making them less influenced by “trendy” philosophies. I believe that New College already provides a solid base in those skills. The burden of proof is on new trustees or new programs of study to better deliver the desired results.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Really Didn’t Even Exist in 1972 for Most of America
The TV show Emergency! premiered in 1972, highlighting the paramedic services provided in Los Angeles for exciting situations. In the “rest of the world” (ROW), you dialed the operator or called the police. They dispatched an ambulance, typically from a funeral home or a police car or a hospital. The ambulance was staffed by largely untrained personnel or volunteers. They focused on transportation, which they were legally allowed to do, not medical care which they were not allowed to do. These unlicensed individuals typically did have basic first aid training, but no medical equipment, procedures, drugs or right to administer any immediate medical care. Their only job was to rush you to the nearest hospital.
Some Emergency Medical Services (EMS) progress was made in the 1950’s, 1960’s and early 1970’s.
1916 powered ambulances and signal boxes to summon care widely used in WWI.
1950 Air ambulance services available in Los Angeles and the Korean War.
1957 Portable defibrillator available. Mouth to mouth CPR techniques used.
1959 Bell Huey helicopters used in Vietnam Conflict.
1966 Medicare coverage for ambulance services. Federal ambulance design standards.
1967 AMA outlines first ambulance training. EMT’s trained to serve Black neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.
1969 911 calls first made in Alabama. Mobile coronary care units in New York City. Nationally recognized curriculum for EMT-ambulance.
1970 Legal rights for paramedics in California. Emergency cardiac training in Portland. First paramedic training program. Mobile intensive care training in LA. Miami and Seattle start paramedic programs.
1971 National standardized EMT exam taken by 1,500 students.
1972 Emergency room physician training begun at University of Cincinnati. Emergency! TV program begins. Citizen CPR training in Seattle. LifeFlight helicopters start in Baltimore, Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Denver. US Dept of HEW assumes control of EMS from DOT. US Dept of HEW provides funding for 5 EMS demonstration programs.
50 years ago, if you had a life-threatening emergency, you could call the operator, police, fire, hospital or local funeral home and get a ride to the nearest hospital. You could not expect to receive ANY immediate medical care.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramedics_in_the_United_States
https://time.com/6215072/first-paramedics-black-men-history/
https://www.hmpgloballearningnetwork.com/site/emsworld/article/219388/timeline-modern-american-ems
https://wvde.state.wv.us/abe/Public%20Service%20Personnel/HistoryofEMS.html
Booker T and the MGs: the 60’s sound of Memphis
Good News: More Leisure Time for Gaming
https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/market-size/video-games-united-states/
In current dollars, we have a $90 billion gaming industry in the US today.
Economists generally adopt a utilitarian view of value and conclude that if individuals choose to consume more of a good or service it is because they more highly value that good or service versus other options that they could consume. Economists try not to “second guess” consumption choices as being better or worse for people, even though they may have personal preferences that are quite different. “Games”, like “alcoholic beverages” have been second guessed by society and restricted at various times and places, but economists conclude that free individuals’ consumption choices are very relevant.
In my 1960’s and 1970’s childhood and young adulthood, video games were just emerging. We were an analog generation, lured into spending our dimes and quarters on pinball games. The pinball world peaked in 1979, with 200,000 new game devices sold that year to be played in bars, community centers, restaurants, student unions, pool halls, VFW’s and Lions’ Clubs. At less than $1,000 per machine, the total wholesale market was about $200M. The new electronic video arcade games grew very rapidly from 1975 to 1980. Estimated total coin operated pinball/video games sales were estimated to have grown from $300M in 1978 to almost $1B in 1979, an amazing 3-fold increase in one year.
That $300M in 1978 was a tiny fraction of the current dollars $2.5T GDP that year. One out of every $8,250 of GDP (.012%) was devoted to pinball machines and elementary video games.
Pinball machines were clearly the predecessors of video games.
Video games grew rapidly from 1978 to 1983 before encountering a crash in 1983 and then resuming their heroic climb in claiming the attention of youths, mostly males at first, but eventually everyone.
https://www.gamedesigning.org/gaming/history/
https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/history-of-video-games
https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/video-game2.htm
The most detailed history of the emergence of video gaming as the computer industry evolved.
For economists, with neutral utilitarian values, this is an incredible increase in community well-being. Consumers now choose to consume 75 times as much gaming entertainment services as they did in 1978.
The global gaming entertainment market is more than twice as large as the US market, an estimated $214B.
https://www.insiderintelligence.com/insights/us-gaming-industry-ecosystem/
About one-half of Americans are considered active gamers.
https://www.ey.com/en_us/tmt/what-s-possible-for-the-gaming-industry-in-the-next-dimension
Consumers game on various platforms.
https://www.bain.com/insights/level-up-the-future-of-video-games-is-bright/
The global market for gaming entertainment is expected to double in the next 5-7 years.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/07/gaming-pandemic-lockdowns-pwc-growth/
https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/market-size/video-games-united-states/
https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/global-gaming-market
https://www.bain.com/insights/level-up-the-future-of-video-games-is-bright/
https://www.yahoo.com/now/gaming-market-size-worth-usd-113000927.html
Summary
Humans with extra time have always sought “amusements” through entertainment, sports, travel and personal services. The “games” category has grown rapidly in the last 50 years and appears ready to keep growing for the next quarter-century at least. This is fundamentally “good news” because people are consuming more of what they desire. It is especially “good news” because “games” are available at relatively low costs, so they are available to most of the population as an improvement to their lives.
Good News: Great American Wine Regions
Napa/Sonoma Wines Beat French Wines in 1976
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Paris_(wine)
7 More California Wine Regions
https://www.santaluciahighlands.com/
https://www.lvwine.org/wineries.php
https://www.staritahills.com/our-vineyards
https://www.cawineclub.com/california-wine-regions
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/californias-coolest-wine-regions/
Pacific Northwest Wineries
https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/columbia-valley-washingtons-biggest-wine-region/
https://visitidaho.org/things-to-do/wineries-wine-tours/
Great Lakes Wineries
https://www.michigan.org/wineries
https://www.bigrivermagazine.com/wineries.html
https://www.lakeeriewinecountry.org/
Southwestern Wineries
https://www.colorado.com/activities/wine-wineries
https://www.visitarizona.com/experiences/eat-drink/wineries/
https://www.newmexico.org/things-to-do/cuisine/wineries-vineyards/
Southern Wineries
https://www.exploregeorgia.org/things-to-do/article/georgia-wineries-with-breathtaking-views
Articles
https://www.pastemagazine.com/travel/wine/8-great-american-wine-regions-outside-of-californi/
https://www.tastingtable.com/692597/sommelier-secrets-wine-directors/
Summary
Napa and Sonoma wines command premium prices (deservedly). North Coast and Central Coast wines are great everyday wines at much lower prices. A half dozen other California appellations today produce wines that compete well with Napa/Sonoma, with a shrinking price advantage as wine buyers become increasingly sophisticated. The Willamette Valley and Columbia River Valley regions are also becoming direct competitors with California wines, with significant discounts for most comparable Columbia River Valley labels.
Wine is grown across North America today. The best regions include the New York Finger Lakes, Lake Erie, Northern Michigan, Texas Hill Country and Northern Virginia. Canada’s British Columbian Okanagan Valley wines are becoming more competitive, and the Niagara ice wines fill a sweet niche.
Good News 