🏠 Who Killed the Starter Home?

In the 1970s, a modest three-bedroom house was an attainable path to family life—not a luxury. So what changed?

In this episode of The Roger Retrospective, we trace the history from the New Deal mortgage and GI Bill to Levittown, Co-op City, zoning, supersized homes, Wall Street’s mortgage machine and the 2008 crash.

How did the country that pioneered mass homeownership make the starter home so unaffordable?

The answer may point back to something America once built remarkably well: a small, simple, affordable place to start.

🎙️ The Roger Retrospective — Today’s world, through the lens of history.

For decades, America told its young people the path to success was simple: go to college, get a degree, and find a white-collar job.

Then artificial intelligence arrived — and suddenly some of the most future-proof workers in America may be electricians, plumbers, welders, machinists and HVAC technicians.

In this episode of The Roger Retrospective, we trace how America went from a nation of apprentices and craftsmen to the industrial powerhouse that became the Arsenal of Democracy — and then gradually came to regard skilled trades as a second-tier career path. From Benjamin Franklin and Henry Ford to the GI Bill, the China Shock, globalization and today's massive AI data-center boom, it's the story of how America stopped teaching people to build things just as it discovered it desperately needs them again.

Perhaps AI's greatest irony is that the technology designed to replace human work may restore the value of some of America's oldest skills.

Today's world, through the lens of history.

From Concorde flights and a Moody’s Aaa rating to one of the deepest collapses in modern history. Roger Horn sits down with RVX CIO Ray Zucaro to examine how Venezuela went from “Dame dos” prosperity to crisis — and what the reversal still teaches investors and policymakers. Despite the profound challenges and economic destruction, Venezuela retains substantial natural resources beyond crude oil, and many investors are now exploring how to participate in potential growth opportunities.

For 2,500 years, rulers have tried to defeat their enemies without firing a shot.

From Athens sanctioning Megara, to Napoleon trying to strangle British trade, to Britain’s blockade of Germany, the League of Nations confronting Mussolini, America’s oil embargo on Japan, apartheid South Africa, Iraq, and today’s sanctions on Russia, economic warfare has repeatedly promised a cleaner alternative to military conflict.

But history shows something much messier.

Sanctions can work. They can fail. They can hurt civilians more than governments. They can create black markets and smuggling networks. And sometimes, as in Japan in 1941, they can push a country toward escalation rather than compromise.

In this episode of The Roger Retrospective, Roger Horn looks at the long, strange history of economic warfare and asks a deceptively simple question:

Can you really defeat a country without firing a shot?

Artificial intelligence has become the defining technology story of our time. Every day brings new headlines predicting that AI will replace lawyers, programmers, teachers, designers, and countless other professions. But is this fear really unprecedented?

In this episode of The Roger Retrospective, Roger Horn steps back from today's headlines to explore more than two centuries of technological disruption in America. From the cotton gin and the power loom to the mechanical reaper, the telephone switchboard, the ATM, and the personal computer, every generation has believed the next machine would make human workers obsolete.

Along the way, Roger uncovers remarkable historical parallels, explains why technology often destroys tasks rather than entire occupations, and explores what previous industrial revolutions can teach us about the age of artificial intelligence.

History doesn't promise that technological change is painless—but it does suggest that Americans have an extraordinary ability to adapt, reinvent themselves, and create entirely new opportunities from every great wave of innovation.

If you've ever wondered whether AI really is different this time, this episode is for you.

For decades, the story of small-town America seemed to be one of slow decline. Young people left for the big cities. Factories moved overseas. Main Streets emptied, and many communities were written off as relics of another era.

But what if that wasn't the end of the story?

In this episode of The Roger Retrospective, Roger Horn explores how today's affordability crisis may be quietly reversing one of the biggest demographic shifts in modern American history. From the westward expansion and the Gold Rush to the rise of the suburbs, Americans have always solved problems by moving toward opportunity. Now, thanks to remote work, changing lifestyles, and a renewed appreciation for community, the next frontier may be the very small towns we once abandoned.

Through stories from places like Bentonville, Arkansas, and Clayton, North Carolina, Roger examines the historical cycles that reshaped America's geography—and argues that the reinvention of small-town America could become one of the country's greatest comeback stories.

Is this simply another migration trend, or the beginning of a new chapter in the American story?

Join us as we look at today's headlines through the lens of history.

Britain has produced some of the world’s greatest political leaders—but it also has an extraordinary habit of breaking them.

This week on The Roger Retrospective, I explore why British prime ministers seem uniquely vulnerable whenever the economy turns against them. Beginning with Keir Starmer’s resignation, we journey through nearly two centuries of political drama to uncover a recurring pattern: governments don’t always fall because they lose elections—they often fall because they lose confidence.

From Sir Robert Peel and the Corn Laws to Ramsay MacDonald during the Great Depression, Harold Wilson’s sterling devaluation, Edward Heath’s Three-Day Week, James Callaghan’s humiliating IMF bailout, John Major’s Black Wednesday, David Cameron’s Brexit gamble, Liz Truss’s 44-day premiership, and finally Keir Starmer, Britain’s history is filled with leaders brought down when politics collided with economic reality.

Why does this happen so often in Britain? Is it the power of the City of London? The unforgiving nature of parliamentary government? Or is there something deeper about a nation that once ruled the world’s financial system?

Join me as we look beyond today’s headlines to discover why, in Britain, the numbers are never just numbers—and why the question “Who governs Britain?” has echoed through Westminster for generations.

Because history rarely repeats itself exactly… but it almost always rhymes.

As tensions once again focus the world's attention on the Strait of Hormuz, it's worth asking a bigger question: Why has this tiny stretch of water shaped global history for more than five centuries?

In this episode of The Roger Retrospective, Roger Horn traces the remarkable story of Hormuz—from the medieval Kingdom of Hormuz and the Portuguese Age of Exploration to the British Empire, Churchill's decision to power the Royal Navy with oil, and America's role in safeguarding one of the world's most vital maritime chokepoints.

Along the way, you'll discover why geography often outlasts politics, why every great maritime power has been drawn to the same strategic waterways, and why today's headlines are simply the latest chapter in a much older story.

Because sometimes history isn't written by kings, presidents, or generals.

Sometimes it's written by the map.

Topics include:

• The medieval Kingdom of Hormuz

• Vasco da Gama and the Portuguese maritime empire

• The British Empire's global network of chokepoints

• Churchill, Persian oil, and the birth of modern energy geopolitics

• The Carter Doctrine and America's Fifth Fleet

• Why geography still shapes the modern world

Today's world, through the lens of history.