Matt Yglesias is a journalist who writes about economics and politics. He has written columns and articles for publications such as The American Prospect, The Atlantic, and Slate. Currently, he is an editor and columnist for the news website Vox, which he co-founded in 2014 with Ezra Klein. His father Rafael Yglesias is a screenwriter and novelist. Matt attended Harvard and studied Philosophy.

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The Epilogue of his book: JFK speech, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.” 

Why reference this? It’s important to set ambitious, yet achievable goals. It inspires people to achieve their best.  “We don’t have strong goals in America. We need to set high level objectives. Right now it’s just to beat the other side.”

“To succeed, you must differentiate yourself.”

“It’s not about developing the skills, it’s about developing the courage.”

“You need to be self critical, but also have the confidence to go forward.”

“As a manager, you need a level of calmness. You have to make good decisions… Be a steadying presence.”

Hiring: “Find people who want the job for the right reasons. You want them to have vision, a desire to succeed, and you cannot replace intrinsic motivation.”

Excellence: “Try to learn from others… And know that everyone is flawed. It’s better to look at people and try to understand what you can learn.”

“Be rigorous in the assessment of yourself.”

Matt makes a bold case: America is facing an inevitable decline. Fewer and fewer children are born each year due to increasing financial pressures on families. Thousands flee our iconic cities with their housing shortages and broken infrastructure, while we tie ourselves into knots trying to stop the flow of immigrants and our exhausted economy deflates the heartland’s already shrinking population. If we are to go up against China’s impending global takeover (not to mention Russia), we need to get bigger, much bigger. “We need one billion Americans.”

Matt offers practical and creative solutions to support a growing population, drawing on best practices from around the world: Singapore’s approach to traffic jams, Germany’s mass transit, and Canada’s town planning.

Matt challenges people across the political spectrum to take decline seriously, and see the problems of growth as manageable and worth managing.

Drawing on economic theory and research from leading policy experts, Matt makes the case for massive population growth through sane, humane family and immigration policy – supporting parents and children and letting in more people than ever before.

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