Go beyond party lines with Justin T Weller and his counterparts as they work to bring you responsible media that focuses on honest opinions. The State of Us, formerly the Current Issues Show, examines the concepts that Americans are most passionate about and sheds light on those issues yet to be addressed.
TSOU Episode: In Person Social Networks for the Win - Reduce Screen Time
In January, my husband, Chuck, underwent roughly four hours of open-heart surgery to fix a leaky valve and clogged artery. The procedure left him with a broken breastbone, a seven-inch incision and partially collapsed lungs. After five days in intensive care, he was sent home from the hospital—along with verbal instructions and a 28-page document on postsurgical care.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Is Marriage Good or Bad for Americans?
When European travelers first encountered the Warlpiri of Australia’s Outback or the Kalapalo of the Amazon Basin in the 19th century, at least one institution would have been familiar amid the welter of cultural differences. As in the West, life among the Warlpiri and Kalapalo is profoundly shaped by marriage. In their own ways, the members of both of these societies strive to attract desirable spouses and then to raise children and forge a life together.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Young Money and Old Money - How to Protect Yours
‘Whatever it is you personally don’t have, that is the marker of adulthood for you,’ says author and blogger Kelly Williams Brown. I am 31. I don’t own a house.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Russia Doesn't Have a Plan to Win the War With the West
The similarities between Saddam Hussein and Vladimir Putin deserve more notice than they often get, from their exceptionally brutal childhoods, to their knack for dutifully serving and then displacing mentors, to their imperial and historical dreams.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Wages Outpace Prices But it Depends on Who You Are
Black workers, young workers and people on the bottom of the income scale were among those who saw the largest pay increases last year, when employers were readily handing out raises in a tight labor market and high inflation environment.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Biden's Budget - Does it Matter?
WASHINGTON—President Biden plans Thursday to outline his annual budget blueprint, laying out recommended funding levels for programs across the federal government and signaling his priorities for fiscal 2024. The budget plan will face criticism from GOP lawmakers and is unlikely to be enacted, but it nonetheless will serve as a starting point for spending negotiations between Republicans and Democrats. T
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Marriage, Money, and Passive Income
The person you marry will often change your relationship to money. We tend to choose our partners based on shared values, in-common traits and other similarities, marriage researchers say. But money-management styles are one case in which opposites do attract, said Jenny Olson, an assistant professor of marketing at Indiana University who studies couples’ financial decision-making.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Bosses Are Back & Will a 4-Hour Work Week Work?
America’s bosses are starting to feel bossy again. Many executives say that they are no longer scrambling to retain workers, after several years of doing whatever it took to keep people on staff. Pay increases are slowing. For some jobs, hiring is getting easier.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Teens' Distress Might be Worse - Eliminate Honors Classes?
America’s teenagers are distressed coming out of the pandemic, reporting record levels of sadness and suicide risk, according to a report released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A closer look at how these numbers come together suggests that the data might be a little bit off: If anything, teens’ distress levels could be higher than reported.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: A Shrinking Workforce Could Mean Economic Danger
Some customer service agents have moved on to more lucrative pastures during the pandemic, but a lot of America’s “missing workers” might never be coming back. The shift could leave businesses continuing to struggle to find workers in the years ahead, and ultimately slow the pace at which the economy can grow without overheating.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: A Centrist Party in Theory - Lincoln's Democracy
The news of the great battle at Gettysburg came to Abraham Lincoln by fits and starts. But when it was finally confirmed on the morning of July 4, 1863, that Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army had been forced to retreat, the tidings couldn’t have been more welcome.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: A Centrist Party in Theory - Lincoln's Democracy
The Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution last week released the 13th annual American Values Survey. This year, for the first time, we probed Americans’ attitudes about potential third parties and independent candidacies. (I’m a longtime member of the Brookings team.)
TSOU Episode: $31 Trillion - How Did This Happen & What's Next?
These days, investors can track at any moment how the market’s daily ups and downs are affecting their wealth. Even investors with multiple investment accounts spread across different firms can calculate changes in their net worth in real time, thanks to websites and apps that do all of the work for them.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Farmland vs. Solar - Who Wins?
Farmers wanting to install solar panels on their land, for their own use or to sell the energy, have had a tough choice: use the land for crops or for panels. Now, they are increasingly able to do both.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Was 2022 Really Bad? Maybe Not
If the final decades of the 20th century were marked by a burst of techno-capitalist optimism, the first decades of the 21st century have often felt like a step-by-step descent into despair. Beginning with the false Armageddon of Y2K and followed in quick succession by the bursting of the tech bubble, “the hanging chad” disputed U.S. presidential election and then, of course, the attacks of 9/11, the last two decades have seen a relentless cascade of rising pessimism and dystopian gloom.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Are You Using Your Time Correctly? A Simple way to Tame Stress
Lately, I can’t stop running the numbers on my life. I calculate the hours I spend with my kids. I tally the nights I work late. I program my phone to monitor my minutes on social media (and then inevitably blow past the limit I set for myself.)
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Are You Using Your Time Correctly? A Simple way to Tame Stress
If reducing stress has been on your summer to-do list, there’s one powerful thing you can still do before the season ends: get in the habit of taking a walk outside with a friend. Stress is battering us on many fronts. About 87% of adults said rising prices due to inflation are a significant source of stress, according to a March survey commissioned by the American Psychological Association.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Biden or Trump in 2024? The Parties May Say No
We often hear that America is a deeply polarized society, divided by party, region, and lifestyle. We the people, pundits tell us, are hopeless, too busy pulling down the other side to clean up the wreckage. But what if we the people aren't really the problem?
Read MoreTSOU Episode: Biden or Trump in 2024? The Parties May Say No
Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Democratic-leaning Maryland and a possible 2024 presidential candidate, used a high-profile speech Tuesday evening to call on his party to extricate itself from the grasp of former President Donald Trump. "We won't win back the White House by nominating Donald Trump or a cheap impersonation of him," Mr. Hogan said.
Read MoreTSOU Episode: $300,000 to Rise a Child in America - What's Happening?
The cost of raising a child through high school has risen to more than $300,000 because of inflation that is running close to a four-decade high, according to a Brookings Institution estimate. It determined that a married, middle-income couple with two children would spend $310,605-or an average of $18,271 a year-to raise their younger child born in 2015 through age 17.
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