With less than a week until the U.S. runs out of cash, economists and policymakers are using words like “cataclysmic event” and “calamity” to describe what will happen if Congress doesn’t raise the debt limit. It seems bad. Economists are predicting that if the government is unable to pay its bills, it could bring much […]
Author: Monica Potts
In Red States, ‘Gun Reform’ Means Making It Easier To Buy And Carry Guns
So far this year, mass shootings are on the rise. So are laws expanding gun rights. This year, President Biden has worked to expand background checks and asked Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. But at the state level, many legislatures are moving in the opposite direction. At least 17 states, most of […]
Why Republicans Are Targeting Professors’ Job Security
The GOP’s education culture wars have a new target: college professors. Texas lawmakers are considering a bill that originally set out to completely eliminate tenure at public colleges and universities. In Ohio, lawmakers are weighing legislation that would mandate tenure reviews for professors. This year, at least three more states — North Dakota, Louisiana and […]
Asa Hutchinson Promises To Be A Drama-Free President. Is That What GOP Voters Want?
Asa Hutchinson has a vision for the future of the presidency … and he’s in it. The former governor of Arkansas kicked off his campaign for the Republican nomination for 2024 at a rally in Bentonville, Arkansas, yesterday, after months of public statements about the need for a kinder, gentler sort of commander in chief. […]
Trump’s Indictment Might Be Making Him More Popular Among Republicans
Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup. Former President Donald Trump had the opportunity for a quiet, off-hours arraignment after a Manhattan Grand Jury sent up an indictment on 34 charges in state court. His Secret Service officials would have preferred that, too, for safety reasons, but Trump took a hard pass, according to reporting […]
Politicians Want Universal School Vouchers. But What About The Public?
Earlier this week, Florida became the fourth state this year to enact a bill that would allow parents to receive taxpayer-funded vouchers to send their children to private schools, joining Iowa, Utah and Arkansas. At least 18 other states have introduced similar bills this term, meaning that almost half of the country’s state legislatures have […]
Unions Have Been Under Attack For Decades, But Michigan Just Gave Them A Big Win
On Friday, Michigan repealed an 11-year-old law that weakened unions’ power in the workplace. Known as a “right-to-work” law, this type of legislation has been around since at least 1943, and Michigan is now one of only a handful of states to ever repeal it. When Michigan’s law passed in 2012, the state was firmly […]
Recess Is Good For Kids. Why Don’t More States Require It?
Several years ago, a team of sociologists flew from California to an East Coast school to observe the kindergarteners’ recess for their research. The team waited on the playground, but the children never showed up. When they later asked the principal why, he told them that the lunch staff had held the students back as […]
How Red States Are Fighting Their Blue Cities
In the second half of 2021, housing prices rose faster in Florida than in any other state. In some cities, rents soared by as much as 30 percent that summer. This put an enormous strain on families living in Florida and already struggling to pay rent, especially those who worked in the tourism industry for […]
The Perks Workers Want Also Make Them More Productive
Three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote and hybrid work are as popular as ever. Only 6 percent of employees able to do their jobs remotely want to return to the office full time, according to a Gallup survey published in August. The vast majority of “remote-capable” workers want to spend at […]