The Great Affordability Crisis Breaking America
In one of the best decades the American economy has ever recorded, families were bled dry by landlords, hospital administrators, university bursars, and child-care centers. For millions, a roaring economy felt precarious or downright terrible.
Setting A Maximum Wage For CEOs Would Be Good For Everyone
A limit would help to slow the growth of economic inequality and prevent reckless risk-taking by CEOs who otherwise might feel motivated to try to drive up the stock price of their company and therefore their bonus.
How Tiny Changes In Words You Hear Impact Your Thinking
In a fascinating look at language, Professor George Lakoff lays out how political parties can sway supporters with tiny tweaks in word choice. When trying to get your point across, refrain from using the other side’s language. Doing so will activate and strengthen their frames and undermine your own views.
Britain’s Secret War With Russia
From the attempted assassination of a double agent in a sleepy English city to the expulsion of scores of Russian diplomats from Western capitals, this fight would grow and morph, drawing in a chemical-weapons attack in Syria and rolling scandals about Russian sports doping.
When A Performance Expert Battles Mental Illness
Brad Stulberg literally wrote a book on peak performance, but he had to reconsider everything after an unexpected battle with mental illness: “I felt detached from my body, as if I was in a virtual-reality video game. Soon I was completely paralyzed by the sense that I was losing my mind.”
They Tried To Save The Lives Of Immigrants Fleeing Danger. Now They’re Facing Prosecution.
On the afternoon of Jan. 17, 2018, immigration agents descended on a building on the outskirts of Ajo known to be a staging area for aid workers. The agents bundled Scott Warren, an aid worker, into a vehicle and drove to the Ajo Border Patrol station. The next day, he was driven two hours to Tucson, where he was charged with three felony counts.
A Parallel Neighborhood Of Unhoused People Has Grown Up Around The Existing Community
In Koreatown, the homeless live on sidewalks, in alleyways, parks—and anyplace else they can find. Dilapidated tents bound together with rope create strange formations amid the city’s mix of modern and Art Deco architecture. They awkwardly jut from the sidewalks like poorly crafted spaceships.
What Do Political Databases Know About You?
American citizens are inundated with political messages—on social networks, in their news feeds, through email, text messages, and phone calls. If you live in the US, you’re almost certainly being tracked by political organizations. They know a lot about you—but some data is just guesswork.
The Dark Side Of Charisma
Charisma is a force that can rally people during difficult times, but it can also blind people and lead them to accept unwise actions, policies or conditions. And when it comes to leadership, political and professional, charisma matters more than we’d probably like to admit.
People With Extreme Political Views Have Trouble Thinking About Their Own Thinking
Your super liberal and super conservative relatives might all have one thing in common. Radicals can’t question their own ideas the same way more moderate individuals can.
Sweden’s Cashless Society Dream Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up To Be
Just one per cent of Sweden’s GDP circulates as cash. As debates over the need for cash rage along lines of age, wealth and location, the country is looking to create a digital currency.
Religion Is About Emotion Regulation, And It’s Very Good At It
Sigmund Freud argued that we humans are naturally awful creatures – aggressive, narcissistic wolves. We have the civilizing influence of religion to steer us toward charity, compassion and cooperation by a system of carrots and sticks, otherwise known as heaven and hell.
Why Does It Feel Like Everyone Has More Money Than You?
Financial help from parents comes in many forms, and it’s the basis of so many success stories. So why do millennials act like it doesn’t exist? Harper’s Bazaar examines the myth—and tyranny—of the “self-made” success story.
Switzerland’s ‘Secret’ Fifth Language
Head to medieval Basse-Ville, caught between the German- and French-speaking divisions of Fribourg, and you’ll find yourself in a no-man’s land where the two languages have become one: le Bolze.
Nine Trillion Dollars: Global Trade Hi-Jacked By Criminals
Global Financial Integrity (GFI) analysts have identified a global trade ‘value gap’ of $8.8 trillion between what states declare as the value of trades with other countries – and what their trade partners declare for the same deals.
Who Owns Antartica?
Ever since Roald Amundsen planted his flag on the South Pole, the issue of Antarctica’s ownership has been a thorny one. But in 1959, a pioneering deal was reached to preserve and help save the environment. This is the story and impact of the Antarctic Treaty and the pressures the continent still faces.
Millennials Have Discovered ‘Going Out’ Sucks
This is the first generation ever to admit that going out actually sucks. “More young people are choosing to spend a quiet evening at home.” We’re not even cool enough to get drunk: “A 2016 survey by Heineken found that when millennials do bother to venture outside, 75 percent drink in moderation.”
The ‘Hidden Mechanisms’ That Help Those Born Rich To Excel In Elite Jobs
Sociologists Daniel Laurison and Sam Friedman have uncovered a striking, consistent pattern in data about England’s workforce: Not only are people born into working-class families far less likely than those born wealthy to get an elite job—but they also, on average, earn 16 percent less in the same fields of work.
“Quadrangle”, How A Group Marriage Went Terribly Wrong
In 1969, two “conventional” married couples met, swapped partners, and lived in a group marriage, hoping to pioneer an alternative to divorce. It didn’t work. “Quadrangle” was directed by Amy Grappell.
Vision And Reality In San Francisco’s Tech Corridor
When the ‘Twitter tax break’ took effect eight years ago, it was intended to draw tech companies to rundown Mid-Market Street and lead to a neighborhood revitalization. Did it succeed?
How To Teach Your Kids They Don’t Have To Be Perfect at Everything
My 6-year-old daughter was making a birthday card for a friend. She was sitting at a small table, and on the floor next to her were about ten crumpled sheets of paper. She kept writing the letter “H” for “Happy Birthday,” then deciding she didn’t like how it looked.