RealClearMarkets Articles

Back in 2020, I noted, “The dramatic rise in telework amid the pandemic is a radical experiment, but its effects will be long-lasting.” I was right. Rates of full-time, in-office work plummeted during the pandemic, and while many employers have since shifted from fully remote work to hybrid work schedules, hybrid work levels have remained stable since 2022. In 2025, 78% of full-time remote-capable U.S. employees are either hybrid or fully remote, with hybrid as the most common arrangement. What is sustaining this transformation of the workplace? The...

Included in the Iran “deal” is a provision that “The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, fully agreed plan with at least $300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” We hope this proposal is offered in the spirit of President Trump’s Truth Social post to the Iranian people that “help is on the way.” However, to believe this, we’d like to see provisions that assure that indeed these funds will not wind up in the Swiss bank accounts of the ruling...

The 29th Annual Milken Institute Global Conference kicked off live in Beverly Hills in May of 2026. This year, we present a RealClearMarkets exclusive interview with Dr. Piwowar. Dr. Michael Piwowar, is Senior Advisor at the Milken Institute. He is also Executive Director of The Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy at Georgetown University. Previously, He was the executive vice president of Milken Institute Finance and served as a commissioner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from August 15, 2013, to July 6, 2018. He was first appointed to the SEC by President...

The California Public Employees' Retirement System — CalPERS, which manages roughly $556 billion for 2 million public employees — voted unanimously in November 2025 to scrap its Strategic Asset Allocation model in favor of the Total Portfolio Approach, or TPA. The change goes live July 1, 2026. It gives investment staff broad discretion to allocate across the entire portfolio and measures performance against a single 75/25 equity-bond reference portfolio, rather than benchmarking each asset class against its own target. The board called it historic. I'd call it overdue and...

When we look at SpaceX, we see rockets. But what global capital markets are increasingly seeing is the ultimate data pipeline. The record-shattering market debut of SpaceX may someday be remembered as more than a milestone for Elon Musk or the space industry. It may mark the moment the world recognized that the race for artificial intelligence is no longer just a software boom—it is a physical, industrial revolution. While SpaceX builds in the heavens and AI builds in the digital cloud, they are fundamentally tethered by the same economic reality: the dramatic reduction in the cost of...

Technology has been at the forefront of consumer attention since Steve Jobs dreamed of bringing the computer into every home and changing how we interact with that technology. That technology was the bicycle to propel our minds and vision forward. The race has never just been about the machine. It has been about how we reach it. One of the earliest personal computers was sold back in 1971. It was called the Kenbak-1, designed by John V. Blankenbaker, and from there we've seen an explosion from Apple to Microsoft. And with AI entering the arena, technology is rapidly changing how we interact...

“Sorority consultant” is a profession, and a well-paid one at that. With achieving the “right” bid increasingly a must thing for a growing number of females born to parents with somewhat limitless (or not) means, the quantity and pay of sorority consultants is on the upswing. The profession you just read about recalls the line from a 1990s Berenstain Bears book of old, “No need to worry, no need to fret. The thing for you may not have been invented yet.” The nature of work is constantly evolving, and for the much better. It’s not just that sorority...

The S&P 500 recently reached another record high. Financial commentators celebrate each new high as proof of American prosperity. Politicians point to rising markets as evidence that economic policy is working. Millions of investors open their retirement statements and feel wealthier than ever. And perhaps they are. But before we congratulate ourselves too enthusiastically, it may be worth asking a simple question: What if the measuring stick itself is changing? Since 1963, the S&P 500 has risen from roughly 65 to more than 7,000. On its face, that appears to be one of the greatest...

America’s real estate market benefits from innovation. Anyone who works in housing should welcome tools that make transactions faster, more efficient and more secure. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, digital identity verification and automation all have a role to play in modernizing real estate and helping transactions serve consumers properly and safely. But innovation should not be confused with elimination. Technology can improve the title process. It cannot replace the professional judgment, local knowledge and accountability required to protect property rights. That distinction...

A paradox is confronting boardrooms everywhere. With AI, many tasks are routinely completed 10X to 1000X more rapidly and more accurately than ever before. Yet many executives aren’t seeing commensurate gains in business performance or enterprise value. Leaders of organization are asking a difficult question: If everyone is moving faster, why isn't the organization advancing at the same pace? Economists have encountered this puzzle before. In 1987, Robert Solow famously observed that the computer age could be seen everywhere except in the productivity...

This past June 12 was a remarkable day, marking three great and closely related events: the 250th anniversary of the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776, the 39th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s “Tear down that wall” speech in 1987, and the SpaceX IPO.  The Virginia Declaration of Rights inspired both America’s Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Reagan’s speech challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to end the Soviet Union’s oppression of Central and Eastern Europe. The SpaceX IPO was the largest public offering in history and made...

“If you could fog a mirror, you could get into the University of Florida.” That’s how a longtime Floridian described the admissions’ process of old. How things have changed. As a recent Wall Street Journal article indicated, competition to get into Florida’s flagship state university is so fierce today that students have been reduced to taking online classes while still participating in campus life. The anecdote rates thought in response to a new article about affordability and prices in The Dispatch by the excellent Aaron Brown, a frequent contributor to...

The announcement of a deal to end the war with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz is welcome news for consumers. Brent crude fell 4% Sunday night, and West Texas Intermediate crude dropped to $81 a barrel. But even if oil prices continue to retreat, Americans shouldn't expect immediate relief at the pump. And gasoline is only part of the story. The real question isn't when gas prices will fall—it's when life will become affordable again. The world's economy is incredibly interconnected. Even if the political resolution is signed on Friday as announced, economic recovery will move much...

Every serious debate about economic policy eventually runs into a question that redistributionists rarely answer: where does wealth come from?  It is not a trivial question. The entire logic of democratic socialism rests on an unexamined assumption — that wealth creation will continue largely unchanged no matter how heavily it is taxed, regulated, or redirected. Production is treated as a given. Political energy focuses almost entirely on distribution.  But wealth in a market economy is not a stockpile. It does not sit still waiting to be divided. It...

For years, the debate over the American electric grid has been trapped in a false choice. You’re either a "fossil fuel guy" or a "Green New Deal guy.”  As someone who grew up in the heart of Pennsylvania coal country and spent my career in the trenches of Republican politics, I’ve always been a "what works" guy. And right now, the loudest voices in the room are clinging to a myth that is actually making our energy more expensive and our grid more vulnerable. We’re told that solar energy is a luxury of the left - a fragile technology that fails the moment the sun...

Why is Netflix founder Reed Hastings so rich? It’s a clown question, right? Everyone knows why he’s worth billions, and it’s because he founded a company that is worth over $300 billion. Except that what you’ve read so far is insufficient. In truth, it glosses over the true source of Hastings’ wealth: no one thought Netflix was going to survive. And on this assumption, the experts didn’t buy Hastings out when they could have. Lest readers forget, a younger Netflix twice offered itself to Blockbuster for under $100 million. Get it? If not, the true driver of...

“In our political age of envy, the press and Democrats are preoccupied by Elon Musk’s otherworldly wealth. But he has enriched the country by building a remarkable company.” That was from an excellent editorial (“Who Wants to Be a Trillionaire?”) at the Wall Street Journal, for decades (and to this day) the Holy Grail of freedom and market-friendly opinion from prestigious names on and off the page. The editorial was yet again a great read, but it followed a great deal more criticism of Musk on the page from the past, along with the stock market that his...

A new wave of wealth-tax proposals is upon us. A California ballot initiative would impose a one-time 5 percent tax on billionaire wealth. Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, has reintroduced her annual wealth tax legislation. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT, has proposed a 5 percent yearly levy on billionaires. These proposals differ in design but share a common premise: that billionaires hold enormous wealth on which little tax is being paid.  In a recent New York Times op-ed, economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman argue that several California billionaires “have accumulated...

In FCC v. AT&T, the Supreme Court recently decided that Federal Communications Commission orders are not binding for the collection of forfeitures under Sections 503 and 504 of the Communications Act. The FCC had previously issued forfeiture orders of $57 million against AT&T and $47 million against Verizon and demanded payment within 30 days. Chairman Brendan Carr, then a commissioner on the FCC, properly dissented from the forfeiture order. The companies paid the forfeiture amounts under protest and went to court to reclaim what they viewed as illegal forfeitures. AT&T and...