Month: February 2024

Rent has skyrocketed in the United States. That means Americans are handing over a bigger portion of their paycheck to their housing costs. They have less money for things like food, electricity, and commuting.

The pandemic and inflation have both played a role in pushing rents higher.

Whitney Airgood-Obrycki a Senior Research Associate at Harvard’s Joint Center on Housing Studies says rents are actually going down, but that increases have been so large it’s going to take time for the market to even out.

We look at how rent prices got so high and what it might take to bring them down.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

For half a century, during the Cold War, every U-S president painted Russia as the dominant threat. America’s ideological opposite, a hostile and nuclear-armed power. Ronald Reagan went so far as to call the Soviet Union an Evil Empire.

So the events of recent days have been noteworthy. On top of a holdup of U-S aid for Ukraine, former President Trump said he might NOT come to the defense of a NATO ally who hadn’t spent enough on defense.

And Tucker Carlson, the erstwhile Fox news host, flew to Moscow to sit down with Vladimir Putin for more than two hours of mostly softball questions.

Afterward, he pronounced Putin “impressive” on stage at the World Government Summit.

So what gives? Why the romance between the American right and Russia?

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

One single election does not a trend make. But does Democrat Tom Suozzi’s victory in the special election for New York’s 3rd Congressional District mean something bigger for democrats?

The Congressman won his seat – which until recently had been held by disgraced Republican George Santos – by diving head on into an issue that democrats would usually rather avoid – immigration.

Was that the opening chapter in a playbook Suozzi is writing, for fellow Democrats trying to find a way to deal with the thorny political issue of immigration?

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

On June 14, Donald Trump will turn 78 years old.

Joe Biden turned 81 in November.

Whether the candidates like it or not, age, mental acuity and physical fitness are issues dominating the 2024 election cycle.

Though the two men were born fewer than four years apart, voters have consistently expressed more concern about Biden’s age than Trump’s.

Is a double standard being applied when it comes to the presidential candidates and age?

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The question looming over the war between Israel and Hamas is what will happen what will happen to Rafah, the city in southern Gaza. More than half of Gaza’s population has sought refuge there–an estimated one and a half million people.

Israel says that in order to defeat Hamas, it needs to bring the war to Rafah. The Biden administration says a military operation in Rafah cannot proceed. Is this a hairline crack or the beginning of a rift between the U.S. and Israel that could reverberate across the region?

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu’s visions for the future of the war in Gaza are beginning to look irreconcilable. What does that mean for Biden’s steadfast support of Israel?

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Immigration is one of the main things Americans will be voting on in November. And many are currently unhappy with the situation at the US Southern Border, which is widely described as a crisis.

As Donald Trump runs for another term, he’s hoping to leverage that discontent just as he did in 2016.

An across-the-board crackdown on immigration was one of the signature policies of the Trump presidency. In a second term, he’s promising to go even further.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Hollywood films have long tried to capture America’s obsession with its most popular sport. So on this Super Bowl weekend, we ask: what do the best football movies have in common?

Is it the “Big Speech” with the team down a point and only seconds to go? Or what about the classic underdog story?

Scott Detrow discusses that with Brittany Luse, host of NPR’s It’s Been a Minute, and with Stephen Thompson of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Abortion is a personal issue. But it’s also political. And few things motivate voters and politicians like abortion rights.

Over and over, U.S. voters have shown they’re willing to choose lawmakers, presidents and ballot initiatives based on how they feel about abortion rights.

We examine the role abortion could play in the 2024 elections.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org

When it comes to whether or not Trump should appear on presidential ballots, there are at least two questions to consider.

The first is legal — does the 14th amendment apply him?

The second is practical. What would happen if Trump WERE removed from the ballot?

How might his tens of millions of supporters respond?

At a rally last month, the former President suggested if he doesn’t get what he views as “fair” treatment, the country is in big trouble.

This week the Supreme Court will weigh whether Donald Trump is constitutionally ineligible to be president.

We hear from a legal scholar who says it could be the beginning of a, “bloody unraveling of democratic norms.”

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org

The U.S. Immigration system isn’t working. The last significant reform was in 1986. Presidents and Congress have been trying to fix it and change it ever since.

Congress is at it again, but that effort, like so many others, looks doomed to fail. Just a few hours after the text from the Senate bipartisan bill dropped, Speaker of The House Mike Johnson said IF the bill reaches the house – it will be DEAD on arrival. And on Monday night GOP support for the legislation in the Senate seemed to all but fade away.

As the Senate gets ready to vote on yet another attempt to address immigration in the U.S, we look at why the effort to fix America’s broken immigration system fails across decades, administrations and parties.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org