Weekly Writers Round-Up: Medicaid Reform, Income Inequality, and a Saudi Arabian Mega-City

Each week, we’ll be featuring the work of the alumni and current participants of AF’s Writing Fellows Program. A few highlights from the past week are below. For more information on the program, see here. Applications for the fall session are now open!

The Judiciary Strikes a Blow to Medicaid Reform by Charlie Katebi (Spring 2017) in The Hill
At the end of June, a U.S. District Court judge blocked Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin from imposing work requirements on Medicaid recipients. According to the ruling, Bevin’s reforms would have undermined Medicaid’s mission to help low-income Americans access medical care. Unfortunately, the judge’s decision will likely worsen health care access for Medicaid patients in the Bluegrass State…

Why Do Young People Care So Much About Income Inequality? by Brad Polumbo (Summer 2018) in National Review
When Bernie Sanders came to the University of Massachusetts Amherst during his campaign for president, thousands of my fellow students turned out to hear him speak. With his many campus visits, the socialist senator certainly left an impression — roughly 2 million young people voted for him in 2016…

Saudi Arabia’s Mega-City Project is Doomed to Failure by Jerrod A. Laber (Fall 2017) in CapX
Central to [Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s] agenda is “Vision 2030”, an initiative to transform the Saudi economy through privatisation and restructuring, in the hope of lessening its reliance on oil production. Vision 2030’s main attraction is “Neom”, a 26,000 square kilometre city to be built on the coast of the Red Sea, near the border with Egypt. The Saudi government is banking on Neom to transform the country into an economic powerhouse…

Trump Trade War Risks Political Freezer Burn as 2.5 Billion Pounds of Meat Stack up in Cold Storage by Philip Wegmann (Spring 2016) in The Washington Examiner
It is a good time to fire up the grill domestically and a bad time to export globally. Because of the trade war, around 2.5 billion pounds of meat is just sitting in U.S. cold storage. Citing federal data, the Wall Street Journal reports that supply has surged but demand has evaporated as both China and Mexico impose tariffs on beef, pork, and poultry in retaliation to President Trump’s steel tariffs. More than likely, that means at least two things…