498 lines
68 KiB
HTML
498 lines
68 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
|
||
<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
|
||
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
|
||
<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/>
|
||
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
|
||
<title>01 April, 2024</title>
|
||
<style>
|
||
code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
|
||
span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;}
|
||
span.underline{text-decoration: underline;}
|
||
div.column{display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; width: 50%;}
|
||
div.hanging-indent{margin-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em;}
|
||
ul.task-list{list-style: none;}
|
||
</style>
|
||
<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
|
||
<body>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Chinese Students Experience America</strong> - COVID, guns, anti-Asian violence, and diplomatic relations have complicated the ambitions of the some three hundred thousand college students who come to the U.S. each year. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/08/how-chinese-students-experience-america">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Hottest Restaurant in France Is an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet</strong> - Les Grands Buffets features a seven-tiered lobster tower, a chocolate fountain, and only what it considers traditional French food. Gourmands are willing to wait months for a table. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/08/les-grands-buffets-and-the-art-of-all-you-can-eat">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>So You Think You’ve Been Gaslit</strong> - What happens when a niche clinical concept becomes a ubiquitous cultural diagnosis. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/08/so-you-think-youve-been-gaslit">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Brazilian Special-Forces Unit Fighting to Save the Amazon</strong> - As miners ravage Yanomami lands, combat-trained environmentalists work to root them out. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/08/the-brazilian-special-forces-unit-fighting-to-save-the-amazon">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Have Fourteen Years of Conservative Rule Done to Britain?</strong> - Living standards have fallen. The country is exhausted by constant drama. But the U.K. can’t move on from the Tories without facing up to the damage that has occurred. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/01/what-have-fourteen-years-of-conservative-rule-done-to-britain">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>Lead pollution anywhere is a public health threat everywhere</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="A metal container with a label reading “For use as a motor fuel only. Contains lead (tetraethyl)”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JtuwoMFdnarGyzjoKL62F1cpnsw=/304x0:5147x3632/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73246386/GettyImages_1177917147.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Despite progress, including bans on lead in gasoline, lead remains a public health threat all over the world. | Robert Alexander/Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
What contaminated applesauce reveals about how lead exposure happens.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VmeMMF">
|
||
<a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22834666/lead-exposure-poisoning-developing-countries">Lead</a> keeps showing up where it’s not supposed to be.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l4e3ES">
|
||
In 2024, one of the most potent neurotoxins known to humanity persists all over the world as a <a href="https://www.vox.com/public-health">public health</a> threat. For the second time in six months, lead contamination in food products has put public health authorities on high alert in the wealthiest nation in the world. Last fall, contaminated cinnamon-applesauce pouches caused dozens of lead poisoning cases across the US, eventually <a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/investigation-elevated-lead-chromium-levels-cinnamon-applesauce-pouches-november-2023">prompting recalls</a> in November. And in March, the federal government <a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/fda-alert-concerning-certain-cinnamon-products-due-presence-elevated-levels-lead">announced</a> that some ground cinnamon products also contained slightly elevated levels of lead and advised customers not to buy them.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Uyhfx6">
|
||
Lead might seem like something we left behind in a past era. By the 1990s, nearly every country had <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/leaded-gasoline-phase-out">eliminated</a> leaded gasoline, once easily the <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/627231468764982874/pdf/multi-page.pdf">most ubiquitous source</a> of lead pollution when we spewed it into the open air. The US and Europe also instituted <a href="https://www.epa.gov/lead/lead-laws-and-regulations">more stringent rules</a> for another common source of exposure, lead paint, by greatly restricting or outright banning its use. You can see the improvements in the numbers: From 1978 to 1991, the average level of lead in the blood for Americans younger than 75 <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/94news/nr940726.htm">dropped</a> by 78 percent.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XJ0WpI">
|
||
But lead usage has actually been <a href="https://undark.org/2023/01/12/the-lead-industrys-continuing-influence-and-its-consequences/">on the rise</a> worldwide, even in the US. The proliferation of lead-acid <a href="https://www.vox.com/batteries">batteries</a> globally and less stringent rules in the developing world for everything from cookware to spices has allowed lead consumption to grow despite its known health risks.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IwK6x8">
|
||
Lead is linked to a wide range of neurological and development problems, and exposure is especially dangerous for children. Research has <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/features/leadpoisoning/index.html#:~:text=windowsills%2C%20and%20wells.-,Exposure%20to%20lead%20can%20seriously%20harm%20a%20child's%20health%2C%20including,and%20hearing%20and%20speech%20problems.">found</a> kids with elevated levels of lead in their blood experience a range of effects, from speech and hearing problems to learning and behavioral issues. They develop more slowly, physically and mentally.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RGjXXv">
|
||
And it remains an especially serious plight for poorer countries: <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30278-3/fulltext#seccestitle130">A 2021 review</a> of studies involving children in 34 low- and middle-income countries found that 48.5 percent had elevated levels of lead in their blood. But in a globalized <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a>, some of the same lead pollution endangering kids in those countries can find its way into consumer products that travel around the world and contaminate the food that children in the US eat.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cof72V">
|
||
In the case of the applesauce, the cinnamon was originally harvested in Sri Lanka and then shipped to Ecuador, where it was ground into powder to be mixed into the products. Both countries are dealing with lead exposure crises: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9272670/">One 2021 study</a> found that almost all mothers and children living in Quito, Ecuador, had levels of lead and other metals in their blood that exceeded public health guidelines. The pollution stemming from Sri Lanka’s active lead-acid battery manufacturing and recycling sector, too, has <a href="https://www.sundaytimes.lk/231029/news/much-needs-to-be-done-to-address-lead-poisoning-in-sri-lanka-cej-537180.html">created health problems</a> for the workers and people who live near the plants.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="891dy1">
|
||
When the applesauce ingredients passed through Ecuador, they were contaminated there with lead before they moved for sale to the US, where there have been <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/news/lead-poisoning-outbreak-linked-to-cinnamon-applesauce-pouches.html">more than 500 confirmed or suspected cases</a> of acute lead poisoning related to the recalled products. The FDA believes the lead <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/14/applesauce-pouches-may-have-been-contaminated-on-purpose-fda-foods-chief-says-00131797">may have been added intentionally</a> for economic reasons. The Ecuadorian government has <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tainted-lead-applesauce-wanabana-recall-cinnamon-carlos-aguilera-accused/">named</a> one individual as a suspect in its own investigation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="Pouches of WanaBana apple cinnamon fruit puree." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Q41SzC9wBF6wft0FWGor38zRWD0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25362205/GettyImages_1836064627.jpg"/> <cite>Matt Ramey/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Contaminated applesauce pouches have been linked to more than 500 confirmed or suspected cases of lead poisoning in the US.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oqM1UR">
|
||
The entire episode encapsulates the difficult truth about lead: Even though the US has cracked down within its borders, pollution elsewhere persists — and, in some cases, American efforts to reduce its own pollution <a href="https://lithub.com/how-recycled-american-batteries-pollute-communities-around-the-world/">merely moved the contamination</a> to other parts of the world.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XhoaOV">
|
||
“So much of the food that we eat is coming from all over the world,” said Stephen Luby, who studies lead pollution at Stanford University. “So we are deluding ourselves if we think we can push pollution problems to low-income countries and not worry about it.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="svDeOv">
|
||
It will take a multifaceted, multilateral, multinational strategy to eradicate lead contamination. And it starts with recognizing the whole world is in it together.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="lHZk9Q">
|
||
We keep finding lead everywhere we look
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BehHV5">
|
||
Lead exposure can be either high-grade (which can lead to acute poisoning and, in rare cases, even death) or low-grade (which can still result in developmental and cardiovascular problems).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jQ0zk1">
|
||
The amount of lead in the cinnamon that was used in the applesauce pouches was enormous, with a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/recalled-applesauce-pouches-cinnamon-lead-poisoning-cases-states-cdc/">concentration</a> of more than 5,000 parts per million. That is thousands of times higher than the amount public health experts consider to be acceptable and high enough to cause acute lead poisoning.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G9CFKp">
|
||
The ground cinnamon the FDA warned about in March, by contrast, contained <a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/fda-alert-concerning-certain-cinnamon-products-due-presence-elevated-levels-lead">2.03 to 3.4 parts per million</a>. Although that amount is unlikely to result in an immediate ER visit, experts emphasize that no level of lead exposure is considered safe. Even these trace amounts could contribute to health problems over the long term when added to other exposures.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X9jrFX">
|
||
“We want to eliminate all exposures, don’t get me wrong, but I think that’s a very different situation with those much, much lower levels,” said Perry Gottesfeld, executive director of <a href="http://www.okinternational.org/">Occupational Knowledge International,</a> an advocacy group focused on public health and industrial pollution.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iMsXTw">
|
||
One of the fundamental challenges in eradicating lead is that pollution can be low-grade and long-running. The lead that crept into our environment during the era of leaded gasoline and lead paint is still in the soil. Even pots and pans made from recycled aluminum that was mixed with leaded products or ceramics covered with a lead-based glaze (<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/some-mexican-ceramics-linked-to-lead-poisoning/">the kind used and traded around the world</a>) can contribute over time to higher levels of lead in a person’s blood through degradation or exposure to heat.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u5TAgZ">
|
||
“It’s always been there, to be honest. From a basic level, since industrialization, lead has been there,” said <a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/jenna-forsyth">Jenna Forsyth</a>, a research scientist at Stanford who works with Luby on lead research. “Lately, there’s been a closer inspection. And the more we look, the more lead we will find.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WsNfTd">
|
||
<a href="https://www.pureearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Pure-Earth-RMS-Final-Report.pdf">A recent analysis</a> from the environmental group Pure Earth examined more than 5,000 samples of consumer products in 25 low- and middle-income countries, ranging from foods and spices to cosmetics and toys to cookware and paints. It found that 18 percent of all samples had dangerous amounts of lead, based on reference levels drawn from public health agency guidelines. About half of all of the ceramic and metallic foodware and 41 percent of the residential and commercial paints tested had excess amounts of lead.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R0KQUC">
|
||
The US food supply relies on imports from countries with high levels of lead exposure, according to a <a href="https://www.pureearth.org/learn-more/pollution-knows-no-borders/">2019 report</a> from the same group. The United States imports nearly all of its spices, coffee, and <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/">cocoa</a>, for example. Independent tests conducted from 2014 to 2018 found most of the chocolate products tested — 96 out of 127 — had amounts of lead and cadmium (another dangerous neurotoxin) higher than the levels allowed in California, according to the Pure Earth report.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yF8qCr">
|
||
The US also imports about half of all fruits and vegetables consumed here. Farmers in lower-income countries must sometimes rely on <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5981934/">untreated industrial wastewater</a> to irrigate their crops, which can then contaminate the produce that is shipped around the world.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tc9GK8">
|
||
Once lead finds its way inside a person’s body, it quickly enters the bones because of its molecular similarities to calcium. It then subsists for decades, moving around and finding easy access to important organs, including the brain. And as lead takes up residence in places where calcium is supposed to be, it disrupts important biological and neurological functions.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VDK0QK">
|
||
“Lead is a toxin like no other,” Luby said. ‘People think about ‘Oh, yeah. Lead’s bad. Mercury’s bad. Cadmium’s bad. Air pollution is bad. All these things.’ No — lead is really disproportionately bad.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="A child in front of a wall with peeling paint leans their head back as a hand touches their face." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZY2y7hVB0IuaCkUTyrYIESUqlEI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25362208/GettyImages_1249899924.jpg"/> <cite>Jaime Razuri/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
A Peruvian child with lead poisoning exercises his facial muscles with the help of his mother.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Eziojj">
|
||
<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(23)00166-3/fulltext">One global estimate</a> of lead’s impact concluded that exposure had contributed to 5.5 million adult cardiovascular deaths and $6 trillion in lost economic potential in 2019. “But we don’t see lead. We don’t think about it,” Luby said. “When Dad dies of a heart attack, we don’t blame it on lead.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="iTEAwD">
|
||
Three reasons for continued lead contamination
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="27ofLc">
|
||
We’re all at risk from lead — but not at equal risk. Children in low- and middle-income countries have average blood lead levels roughly <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30278-3/fulltext#seccestitle130">three times higher</a> than those in high-income countries, based on the available national data. While <a href="https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/1-3-children-worldwide-have-lead-poisoning#:~:text=The%20report's%20researchers%20concluded%20that,levels%20live%20in%20South%20Asia.">one in three children worldwide</a> have dangerously high amounts of lead in their blood, the share is closer to one in every two children in the developing world.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i6gzyV">
|
||
Lead-battery manufacturing and recycling in lower-income countries where plants are subject to less regulation can lead to local pollution. There are fewer restrictions on lead in paint and other everyday products (food included) in the developing world. And, as mentioned, exposure also comes through agricultural practices. In the US, besides food imports, deterioration of aging civil infrastructure contributes to exposure, as was the case with <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/flint-water-crisis-everything-you-need-know">lead-leaching water pipes</a> in Flint, Michigan. Lead ammunition, commonplace in the US, has also been <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/study-adds-to-evidence-of-dangerous-link-between-lead-ammunition-and-child-blood-lead-levels/">linked</a> to elevated lead levels in children’s blood.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nm5MN7">
|
||
Lead’s persistence, unfortunately, is multifaceted. Drew McCartor, executive director of Pure Earth, put the sources into three buckets.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="auLL89">
|
||
First, some polluters actively disregard the rules around lead use and its known health effects and intentionally continue to use lead in their products. Spices are a good example of how this can happen: Lead chromate pigment is often used to produce a more vibrant color in spices such as cinnamon and turmeric.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eVPX3J">
|
||
Forsyth, in her work with Luby to address lead exposure <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/9/20/23881981/bangladesh-tumeric-lead-poisoning-contamination-public-health">linked to turmeric</a> among rural mothers in Bangladesh, noted that the use of lead chromate is “economically motivated.” It adds the yellow color desirable in traditional turmeric. It is also denser than the spice itself and reduces the amount of time it takes to process the turmeric’s roots, which increases the producer’s yield. The FDA has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/16/applesauce-lead-ecuador-cinnamon-additives">said</a> it is investigating whether the presence of lead found in the cinnamon-flavored applesauce pouches was the result of such practices.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="INxnQ2">
|
||
Companies have proven adept at migrating their operations to less restrictive jurisdictions. That’s a particular problem for lead acid batteries, which are most commonly used for automobiles and represent <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/getting-the-lead-out-why-battery-recycling-is-a-global-health-hazard">about 85 percent</a> of lead’s use in the modern global economy. Most lead batteries are recycled to make new ones, but lead recycling has been linked again and <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241512855">again</a> to the contamination of nearby soil and water.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lIYVoE">
|
||
The US sends most of its used car batteries to Mexico to be recycled, and the towns there that are home to recycling plants have been found to have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/20/world/americas/car-batteries-lead-mexico.html#:~:text=Soil%20samples%20taken%20outside%20some,United%20States%20Environmental%20Protection%20Agency.">extremely high lead levels</a>. “You look at the history of battery recycling in the US, which is basically closed down and overwhelmingly moved to places where there’s weaker environmental regulation,” Forsyth said. “We in the wealthy world are like, ‘Oh, yeah, I want cheap batteries.’ And the fact that it’s killing people nearby in another country is a connection we don’t make.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TpsRgy">
|
||
The second source of contamination is negligence, when companies fail to address lead levels that do not exceed regulations but still present a risk. A toy manufacturer that doesn’t test its raw materials for lead or a food maker who doesn’t perform due diligence on their suppliers may not be intentionally contributing to lead pollution, but their lackadaisical attitude allows lead to continue moving through the economy, where it ends up exposing consumers, including children.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YtcBBX">
|
||
Last, there are the legacy sources of lead, the result of our overdependence on the material in the decades before we realized how dangerous it was.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d2OOd8">
|
||
Lead was added to gasoline as an anti-knocking agent to improve the performance of automobiles’ combustion engines. By burning leaded gas, humans pumped lead into the atmosphere for decades; the US did not completely phase it out until <a href="https://www.epa.gov/archive/epa/aboutepa/epa-takes-final-step-phaseout-leaded-gasoline.html#:~:text=Effective%20January%201%2C%201996%2C%20the,farm%20equipment%2C%20and%20marine%20engines.">1996</a>. That lead eventually settled into the soil, where it is difficult and expensive to remove.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fqtrdh">
|
||
It’s the same story with leaded paint: The paint chips and slowly erodes, creating lead-laden dust that finds its way into the soil or the water supply. Commonly used pesticides have likewise left <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/lead-arsenate">lead</a> behind in the ground where they were sprayed. And lead used in other products is likely to be around for years in one form or another, creating more and more of those small-scale exposures that add up over time.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="Peeling lead paint on the brick wall of a home." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bLCZyl-fshGoMHjU_nS5iyUdEtY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25362217/GettyImages_513411736.jpg"/> <cite>Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
The longtime use of lead in paint and gas has created pollution that is still with us decades later.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FvA9BH">
|
||
“Lead is introduced into the material stream and then stays in that material stream as it’s reused for different purposes,” McCartor said. “These are usually small-scale producers. So I wouldn’t describe them as irresponsible. They don’t have the means to test for lead. They are certainly not introducing it, I don’t think, intentionally. But it’s a product of our longstanding use of lead in the world.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="Mzo4UB">
|
||
How do we get rid of all this lead?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G6HDp7">
|
||
The solution starts with the right <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy">policies</a> — including prohibitions on the most potent sources of lead exposure — but it doesn’t end there.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="82eoRU">
|
||
The experts I spoke to said national governments could be more aggressive about cracking down on common sources of lead exposure. Lead paint, for example, is still widely used around the world. Even in the US, where its use is restricted for residential use, industrial use is fair game. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4434842/#:~:text=In%202009%2C%20more%20than%20120,all%20lead%20paints%20(1).">More than 120 countries</a> voted symbolically in 2009 to phase out lead paint, but there has been <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/despite-bans-most-countries-still-have-lead-paint">little action</a> since.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qeJ5RZ">
|
||
Following through on that commitment would be one place to start. Environmental activists also <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2015.00144/full">advocate</a> for prohibiting the lead chromates that are added to spices for appearance and weight, the suspected source of the recent lead scares in the US.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q3lgkp">
|
||
Given the outsize role of lead batteries in lead pollution, they are also necessary targets for change. But this presents an enormous economic challenge: These batteries are ubiquitous — used “in every <a href="https://www.power.com/community/green-room/blog/why-do-evs-still-need-12-v-lead-acid-batteries">electric vehicle</a>, in every solar household, in every cellphone tower,” as Gottesfeld put it — and their alternatives have struggled to gain a market share. Lithium-ion batteries are the most common option, but they’re more expensive for manufacturers (and therefore, ultimately, the consumers) and present their own recycling challenges.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kKbW86">
|
||
Still, experts say the world must keep working to reduce lead use and thereby exposure. Action by wealthy nations can create incubators for new alternative technologies as well as set an example for the rest of the world.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k1GMR6">
|
||
“When you look at the amount of human harm from all of this, it makes more sense for us to just move to substitutes and literally get this toxin out of the economy,” Forsyth told me. “I think that high-income countries would be a great place to start. Because if they did this, they would both reduce their own risks and they would also clarify technologies and ways forward.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mmZ2CR">
|
||
But the right policies are insufficient. We also need more government attention and resources dedicated to the problem.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UML7eu">
|
||
Removing lead from the soil has been chronically underfunded, even in the US, and the FDA’s negligence on the food side of its “food and drug” portfolio has been <a href="https://www.politico.com/interactives/2022/fda-fails-regulate-food-health-safety-hazards/">well documented</a>. Monitoring of lead levels in food being imported to the US is minimal. That leaves America vulnerable to the weaknesses in other countries’ regulatory infrastructures, which are poorly funded and less robust.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x0sOal">
|
||
In Mexico, although the pollution from lead battery recycling plants has raised the local lead levels above the country’s threshold for intervention, there has been little effort by the government to crack down on the industry. The tainted cinnamon that passed through Ecuador before ending up in applesauce pouches sold in US stores should have been subject to the country’s existing lead pollution laws, but oversight has stayed lax because of a lack of resources.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wcwGuv">
|
||
“Having the policy in place wasn’t enough. It wasn’t being enforced,” Forsyth said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PClKAG">
|
||
There are pockets of progress, as with Bangladesh and turmeric. McCartor said he’s been encouraged by a lead eradication campaign in Ghana, where his group collaborated with the national government to survey children for lead levels in their blood and to identify the likely sources of pollution.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fp79lf">
|
||
The survey found that lead recycling plants were major contributors, much as they are in Mexico. So Ghana decided to shut down two of three lead recycling plants within its borders.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iNEJ0R">
|
||
“We cannot inspect our way out of this problem. You could spend a fortune in perpetuity and only catch a tiny fraction of contaminated goods coming into the United States,” McCartor said. “If we really want to solve this, it requires a whole-of-government commitment to work outside of our borders.”
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Multigenerational housing is coming back in a big way</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="An aerial view of a suburban housing tract." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Tv75TCEsAc1-a_J2ZTwQBlD21bA=/0x0:4444x3333/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73246327/GettyImages_2079439103.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Americans used to live in multigenerational homes. We’re starting to, again.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cNpwj2">
|
||
Layla Ahmed<strong> </strong>is, by any measure, a responsible adult. She works at a nonprofit in Nashville helping refugees. Makes 50k a year. Saves money. Pays her bills on time.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HShMco">
|
||
But there’s another measure of adulthood that has so far eluded her. Ahmed, 23, moved back in with her parents after graduating college in 2022.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6tbJL5">
|
||
“There is a perception that those who live with their parents into their 20s are either bums or people who are not hard-working,” she told the <a href="https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast"><em>Today, Explained</em></a> podcast.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PxmfaE">
|
||
Being neither of those things, Ahmed and her situation actually point to a growing trend in America right now: More adults, especially younger adults, are either moving back in with family or never leaving at all.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XaS2qo">
|
||
According to the Pew Research Center,<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/07/20/young-adults-in-u-s-are-much-more-likely-than-50-years-ago-to-be-living-in-a-multigenerational-household/"> a quarter of all adults ages 25 to 34 now live in a multigenerational living situation</a> (which it defines as a household with two or more adult generations).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T9dhc4">
|
||
It’s a number that’s been creeping upward since the early ‘70s but has swung up precipitously in the last 15 years. The decennial US Census measures multigenerational living slightly differently (three or more generations living together), but the trend still checks out. From 2010 to 2020, there was a nearly 18 percent <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/06/several-generations-under-one-roof.html">increase in the number of multigenerational households</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iyDIQY">
|
||
The research arm of the apartment listing and resident services company RentCafe went granular on Gen Z and <a href="https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/market-snapshots/multigenerational-households/">found that 68 percent over the age of 18 still live with a parent or parents</a>. As for millennials, 20 percent are back with mom and/or dad (or just never left).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DrZNw6">
|
||
Given the bum stigma (to paraphrase Layla Ahmed), what’s going on here?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="8MbscD">
|
||
What’s driving this?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1XjDl1">
|
||
When <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/03/24/financial-issues-top-the-list-of-reasons-u-s-adults-live-in-multigenerational-homes/">Pew recently surveyed</a> people living in multigenerational homes, more of them said financial issues drove the decision to move in with family than any other reason.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ybawlp">
|
||
Which: Yes. Total <a href="https://www.vox.com/student-loan-debt">student loan debt</a> has <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/HIST/cc_hist_memo_levels.html">ticked slightly down</a> in the past few years but not by much. Meanwhile, inflation. <a href="https://www.vox.com/videos/2023/2/24/23613892/inflation-prices-rising-explained">You may have heard of her</a>. And, oh yeah, <a href="https://www.jpmorgan.com/insights/real-estate/housing-market/the-american-homeowners-dream-vs-recent-reality">home affordability last fall was the lowest it had been since the ‘80s</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oOKq0o">
|
||
“I think it’s a contemporary trend, whether it’s to be able to save the money to buy a home, to be able to go back for a master’s degree or to be able to do something to further their ability as independent adults,” said Donna Butts, executive director of <a href="https://www.gu.org/">Generations United</a>, a nonprofit that researches and advocates for multigenerational households.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XyLXHm">
|
||
Major macro disruptions — financial or otherwise — often lead to spikes in multigenerational living: “We’ve seen the largest increases when our country has had a recession or a housing bust and then Covid,” Butts said. “But what people are surprised by is they always think that the numbers are going to decrease again.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ebOBkr">
|
||
Masks off, goodbye Mom and Dad? Not exactly.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="VZOpUC">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="40AEef">
|
||
<a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/visualizations/time-series/demo/families-and-households/ad-1.pdf">The census</a> found that there <em>was</em> a dip in younger adults living with parents after a spike at the height of the pandemic. But the dip was pretty shallow. Which means many people moved in and just never left.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SYtK2t">
|
||
<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/4/17/23667770/child-care-crisis-prek-family-immigration">Amid skyrocketing costs</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/27/23356278/the-pandemic-child-care-inflation-crisis">labor shortages in care work</a> at <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22639674/elder-care-family-costs-nursing-home-health-care">either end of life</a> have also pulled people into multigenerational housing. <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/03/24/financial-issues-top-the-list-of-reasons-u-s-adults-live-in-multigenerational-homes/">Nearly a third of people surveyed by Pew</a> said caregiving — child, elder, or otherwise — was the primary reason they lived in a multigenerational situation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7aPNfV">
|
||
One more reason multigenerational housing is on the rise: <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/new-2020-census-data-shows-an-aging-america-and-wide-racial-gaps-between-generations/">America is getting less white</a>. Hispanic and Asian people, especially if they are immigrants, are more likely to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/03/24/financial-issues-top-the-list-of-reasons-u-s-adults-live-in-multigenerational-homes/">live with extended family</a>. Black families are also traditionally more open to these arrangements.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pEcMCu">
|
||
<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/05/03/in-the-u-s-and-abroad-more-young-adults-are-living-with-their-parents/">In many</a> cultures <a href="https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/popfacts/PopFacts_2019-2.pdf">around the world</a>, multigenerational living — at least until marriage, and often even after — is the norm, not the exception.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Lx_lSMCJwQB-cwF1K8lT0HdeEls=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25362427/GettyImages_1380926333.jpg"/> <cite>Getty Images</cite>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TUldB4">
|
||
Given some of these factors driving the increase, I suppose it’s not surprising to see the way polling shakes out when it comes to these living situations.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MnhTL6">
|
||
Overall, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/08/24/americans-more-likely-to-say-its-a-bad-thing-than-a-good-thing-that-more-young-adults-live-with-their-parents/">a little more than a third of Americans </a>say this trend is “bad for society” (ouch), per Pew’s research. But white people are more likely to say it’s bad news (41 percent) than Black people (26 percent), Hispanic people (28 percent), or Asian people (23 percent). Men find it more objectionable than women, older people are less on board, and Republicans are the least into this of any group measured.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4dgOsp">
|
||
Dave Ramsey fits a few of the above categories. White dude; baby boomer. Definitely conservative, though he’s not much for party politics. He is also perhaps the most <a href="https://www.ramseysolutions.com/shows/the-ramsey-show">popular personal finance personality in America</a>, preaching a gospel of aggressive saving, home ownership, and freedom from debt (besides a modest mortgage).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O3nuoX">
|
||
Ramsey told <em>Today, Explained </em>on a recent visit to his studio, “It’s not a kid that’s a college graduate with a degree in logistics that has the ability to make 120k. He’s not living in his daddy’s basement, okay? It’s career choice and direction.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7LuMIR">
|
||
But Ramsey loosened up a bit when asked about the potential for an adult living with parents to pay down debt. He said that if giving up autonomy temporarily means getting very real about paying off debt, “Sure. Have at it. I’m in.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="80NB3t">
|
||
Butts points out, though, that <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2016/05/24/for-first-time-in-modern-era-living-with-parents-edges-out-other-living-arrangements-for-18-to-34-year-olds/">multigenerational living used to be pretty common before World War II </a>— and for decades before that. It was after the war when people got in cars, got jobs in suburbs, and bought homes with more space for fewer people. Nuclear families.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xOH2QX">
|
||
By 1960, a new norm had entered the chat. The vast majority of adults were peacing out from mom and dad’s and not looking back.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AFN71R">
|
||
“And we then said that was the way that people <em>should</em> live, that they should be independent, that we don’t need each other — when in fact we do need each other,” she said. That includes for things like caregiving, staving off loneliness, and helping out (collectively) with the bills. Pooling resources is also better for the climate, she said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bw9lBA">
|
||
“We need to realize that it’s not a matter of us going back. It’s a matter of us going forward to something that is better and healthier for many families.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OpNxcH">
|
||
<em>Additional reporting by Noel King and Amanda Lewellyn.</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1UvlGA">
|
||
<em>This story appeared originally in </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast"><em><strong>Today, Explained</strong></em></a><em>, Vox’s flagship daily newsletter. </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/pages/today-explained-newsletter-signup"><em><strong>Sign up here for future editions</strong></em></a><em>.</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sU0VUH">
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Biden wants to campaign on housing. He also sort of has to.</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="Biden speaks at a podium. Behind him, a large red banner reads: President Joe Biden: Lowering Housing Costs." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DnP0gxRZCzAJ4TNTPutfrVwwLx0=/304x0:5168x3648/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73246298/2097565992.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks on affordable housing in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 19, 2024. | Ian Maule/Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The president has a housing affordability problem.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4x8ZVg">
|
||
Biden is in campaign mode, and the president wants voters to know he understands housing is out of control.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VZw2g9">
|
||
Over the last month, Biden has ramped up his bully pulpit focus on the housing crisis. In his <a href="https://apnews.com/article/state-of-union-transcript-biden-2024-e84f5134e5201987eb441629aef5240c">State of the Union</a> address, the president pledged new tax credits for first-time homeowners and to “crack down on big landlords” who price-fix rents. His new budget includes <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/11/fact-sheet-the-presidents-budget-cuts-housing-costs-boosts-supply-and-expands-access-to-affordable-housing/#:~:text=The%20Budget%20includes%20that%20proposal,aging%20out%20of%20foster%20care%2C">proposals</a> to expand vouchers and housing supply,<strong> </strong>and he <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/03/11/remarks-by-president-biden-at-the-national-league-of-cities-congressional-city-conference-2/">gave a second speech</a> promising to “build, build, build” to “bring housing costs down for good.” When the president <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/03/20/remarks-by-president-biden-on-lowering-housing-costs-for-american-families-las-vegas-nv-march-19-2024/">hit the campaign trail</a> in late March,<strong> </strong>he dedicated a Las Vegas stop to stumping his affordable housing initiatives, and on Friday his administration even announced it would embrace <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/29/biden-rent-housing/">some new rent control</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8iRM2f">
|
||
You don’t have to squint to see how the housing crisis is complicating the otherwise positive economic message the president hopes to sell.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GyzBrg">
|
||
Mortgage rates <a href="https://money.com/current-mortgage-rates/">are so high</a> that most homeowners feel they can’t afford to move, and most renters feel priced out of the idea of homeownership altogether. Wages have gone up, but not faster than <a href="https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/must-more-biden-administration-wants-121500853.html">home-buying costs</a>, and over<a href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_Americas_Rental_Housing_2024.pdf"> 22 million households</a> now spend more than a third of their income on rent as of 2022.<strong> </strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XYx01V">
|
||
Inflation and the <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a> remain the top issues for voters, and economists <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/22/why-that-last-mile-of-the-inflation-fight-may-be-more-challenging.html">cite</a> high housing costs as a<strong> </strong>main culprit for inflation still exceeding the Federal Reserve’s target goal of 2 percent.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v9bLFD">
|
||
This is all creating bad vibes, at a time when the president wants to build enthusiasm for a second term. A Redfin-commissioned survey from February <a href="https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/affordable-housing/2024/03/12/housing-affordabiilty-could-affect-who-voters-pick-for-president--study-says">found almost two-thirds</a> of homeowners and renters say housing affordability makes them feel negatively about the economy.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VqGMe4">
|
||
Politically, the president also has a lot to worry about when it comes to mobilizing the young people and voters of color who helped him eke out a victory in 2020. Polling <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/05/upshot/polls-biden-trump-2024.html">indicates that it’s these voters</a> — who are more likely to be renters — that Biden is now struggling with: those who cast ballots for him four years ago but are now leaning toward Donald Trump or considering staying home on Election Day.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EOm0EW">
|
||
The White House’s “opportunism is finally catching up to them and I say that in a good way,” said Tara Raghuveer, the director of KC Tenants, a tenant union in Kansas City, Missouri. “They know now that what they do needs to feel material to people.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TYL98C">
|
||
Housing doesn’t typically play a big role in presidential elections given that it’s a difficult issue for the White House to deliver short-term change on, and federal lawmakers more broadly have steered clear of issues like zoning, which largely fall under the purview of state and local governments.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="stz91d">
|
||
That’s starting to change in Washington, though, with both the House and Senate <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/01/therell-be-blowback-congress-feels-pressure-from-voters-on-housing-affordability-00138779#:~:text=The%20calls%20for%20action%20are,high%20interest%20rates%20squeezing%20supply.&text=Lawmakers%20are%20feeling%20pressure%20from,priced%20out%20of%20the%20market.">holding more hearings recently</a> on housing affordability than each chamber has in years. Housing costs are generally the biggest bills voters are responsible for, and<strong> </strong>politicians are realizing they simply can’t ignore it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="KvTIkk">
|
||
The president wants housing to be part of “Bidenomics”
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RsOgRS">
|
||
The <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">Biden administration</a> has talked previously about housing, but it wasn’t an issue that stayed particularly high on the crowded legislative agenda. It fell out of the president’s $2 trillion Build Back Better package, and Biden rarely gave any speeches on the topic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RQxARJ">
|
||
In 2022, his team did put out the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/16/president-biden-announces-new-actions-to-ease-the-burden-of-housing-costs/">Housing Supply Action Plan</a>,<strong> </strong>a grab bag of proposals that the White House called “the most comprehensive all of government effort to close the housing supply shortfall in history.” But housing advocates <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/23595421/biden-affordable-housing-shortage-supply">critiqued the administration</a> for failing to really lead bipartisan housing negotiations in Congress, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing-room/2022/11/15/letter-regarding-additional-funding-to-address-assistance-to-ukraine-and-to-support-the-united-states-response-to-covid-19/">for not fighting hard for housing</a> money in competitive spending bills, and for not working closely enough with the private sector <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/23595421/biden-affordable-housing-shortage-supply">to bring down construction costs</a>. (Daniel Hornung, deputy director of the White House’s National Economic Council, told Vox they discuss housing often and it’s “part of almost every economic conversation we have with members of Congress.”)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EOGf3S">
|
||
In <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/06/28/bidenomics-is-working-the-presidents-plan-grows-the-economy-from-the-middle-out-and-bottom-up-not-the-top-down/">promoting his<strong> </strong>economic agenda</a> in the summer of 2023, in what would become known as “<a href="https://www.vox.com/23815490/joe-biden-economy-bidenomics-jobs-inflation-2024-election">Bidenomics</a>,”<strong> </strong>the president emphasized three main planks: empowering workers, reviving domestic manufacturing, and reining in corporate power through competition.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RIxgyF">
|
||
Housing wasn’t much part of that<strong> </strong>conversation, but the White House is trying to change that now. In a<strong> </strong>newly released <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2024/03/21/the-2024-economic-report-of-the-president/">report</a>, the president’s staff economists dedicated <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ERP-2024-CHAPTER-4.pdf">an entire chapter</a> to increasing the supply of affordable housing and called for more aggressive federal action to lower costs, like pressuring cities to loosen zoning laws.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L91Z2A">
|
||
For now, the president’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/11/fact-sheet-the-presidents-budget-cuts-housing-costs-boosts-supply-and-expands-access-to-affordable-housing/#:~:text=The%20Budget%20includes%20that%20proposal,aging%20out%20of%20foster%20care%2C">$258 billion housing proposals</a> seem geared toward the election, elevating more popular issues like junk fees and rent gouging. Biden also proposed new tax credits for first-time homebuyers and for middle-class families selling their starter homes, and a new $20 billion grant program to increase housing production. And rather than running on a universal expansion of housing vouchers to all eligible renters, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/7/9/21316912/joe-biden-housing-plan-section-8">as he did in 2020</a>, the president is now proposing an expansion of housing vouchers to more politically popular groups — low-income veterans and youth aging out of the foster care system.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ah51G8">
|
||
Some conservatives criticized Biden’s<strong> </strong>plan on the basis that the proposals would <a href="https://www.aei.org/articles/state-of-the-union-bidens-housing-proposals-would-be-harmful-not-helpful/">actually make things worse</a> if supply didn’t also significantly increase. “Biden’s backwards solution is to subsidize demand by handing out more government money to buyers, renters, and developers,” <a href="https://manhattan.institute/article/bidens-housing-plan-will-backfire">argued</a> Judge Glock, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a right-leaning think tank.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Tja0QF">
|
||
It will be hard to make a real federal dent on housing without Congress, and it’s unlikely that any major congressional action will happen before the next election, with Republicans loathe to give Biden any more bipartisan victories to campaign on. While the House of Representatives did authorize a meaningful increase to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program <a href="https://www.novoco.com/news/house-passes-legislation-containing-lihtc-provisions-bill-goes-to-senate">in January</a>, that package looks increasingly dead in the Senate. Experts say the expiring Trump tax cuts in December 2025 look like the next big likely opportunity for new housing spending.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VcIMDe">
|
||
Until then, the president needs to walk a tight line between elevating the housing crisis and not polarizing it. The pro-housing “Yes in My Backyard” movement has been successful so far largely by <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/03/yimby-housing-bipartisan-zoning/677704/">building bipartisan coalitions</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U6FHIs">
|
||
Perhaps the biggest shift is really in the White House’s willingness to focus on the plight of renters, something tenant advocates say took years to finally see.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="44xliB">
|
||
“In the summer 2022, when inflation was really bad and the biggest driving factors were shelter and gas, the Biden administration never uttered the word ‘rent,’” Raghuveer said. “Two years later, they are talking about rent gouging and about exactly the policy solutions we’ve been proposing since 2020, including conditions for federal subsidies, tax credits, and financing. The bar is really low but we’re breaking new ground.”
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>BCCI invites IPL owners for informal meet in Ahmedabad on April 16</strong> - The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the game between Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bashir, Cellini and Star Prosperity excel</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL-17: RCB vs LSG | Royal Challengers Bengaluru eye collective improvement against Lucknow Super Giants</strong> - Lucknow Super Giants have their own set of worries as the fitness of regular captain Rahul, who came in as an Impact Sub against Punjab Kings, will be closely monitored.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sri Lanka holds 476-run lead over Bangladesh at stumps on Day 2 of 2nd Test</strong> - Kamindu Mendis was stranded on 92 as the 10th wicket fell to a run-out dismissal; Kusal Mendis made 93 while Dimuth Karunaratne scored 86, captain Dhananjaya de Silva added 70</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Martínez scores first career goal, rallies NYCFC to 1-1 draw with Inter Miami</strong> - Suárez staked Inter Miami to a 1-0 lead just 15 minutes into the match, scoring on a header with an assist from Julian Gressel off a set piece</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Katchatheevu island | Opposition cites 2015 RTI reply by MEA, jabs Govt over ‘change in stance’</strong> - The opposition’s response came after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar claimed that Prime Ministers from the Congress displayed indifference about Katchatheevu island</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Watch | What is the vote-from-home facility and who can apply? | Lok Sabha polls 2024</strong> - The initiative would allow more than 85 lakh senior citizens and 88.4 lakh persons with disabilities to cast their votes</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Couple found dead at their residence in Kondapur</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Two workers killed in empty oil tanker blast in Kakinada district</strong> - They were doing welding work on the tanker when it exploded near Kathipudi village, says police</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Katchatheevu | What is the controversy all about?</strong> - Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘X’ post has rekindled the issue of ‘ceding’ Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka in 1974, also an issue in which INDIA bloc allies Congress, DMK and MDMK are not on the same page</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Investigation links ‘Havana Syndrome’ to Russia</strong> - Media reports further fuel the view that US diplomats may have been targeted with sonic weapons.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Barrage of Russian attacks aims to cut Ukraine’s lights</strong> - Russia has launched a wave of additional strikes across the country targeting the energy supply.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>French toddler Emile Soleil’s remains found</strong> - Emile Soleil disappeared in a tiny Alpine village nine months ago. How he died remains unclear.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Turkish opposition stuns Erdogan with local elections win</strong> - President Erdogan fails to regain Turkey’s big cities that he lost five years ago.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia ends efforts to rescue trapped gold miners</strong> - The miners are presumed dead after a landslide two weeks ago at the far eastern facility.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Daily Telescope: A flying telescope gets photobombed by some planets</strong> - It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s a telescope. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013723">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What we know about the xz Utils backdoor that almost infected the world</strong> - Malicious updates made to a ubiquitous tool were a few weeks away from going mainstream. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013894">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The entire state of Illinois is going to be crawling with cicadas</strong> - And the land shall feast on their dead. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013710">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Proteins let cells remember how well their last division went</strong> - Scientists find a “mitotic stopwatch” that lets individual cells remember something. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013795">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Playboy image from 1972 gets ban from IEEE computer journals</strong> - Use of “Lenna” image in computer image processing research stretches back to the 1970s. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013640">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>April’s Fool’s is canceled this year.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
No one has managed to come up with a prank that can match the unbelievable shit going on in the world right now…
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Make_the_music_stop"> /u/Make_the_music_stop </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bszp52/aprils_fools_is_canceled_this_year/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bszp52/aprils_fools_is_canceled_this_year/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“Head, shoulders, knees and toes,” used to be a fun little kids’ song.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Now it’s a list of things that hurt.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TheQuietKid22"> /u/TheQuietKid22 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsws8v/head_shoulders_knees_and_toes_used_to_be_a_fun/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsws8v/head_shoulders_knees_and_toes_used_to_be_a_fun/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pizza guy: your total is $38.24</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Me: I can’t afford that<br/> Pizza guy: well you’re gonna have to pay some other way, then<br/> Me: [takes out wallet] wait I forgot I had 40 bucks<br/> Porn director: Cut, WTF?
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/karatekid430"> /u/karatekid430 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsu8z0/pizza_guy_your_total_is_3824/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsu8z0/pizza_guy_your_total_is_3824/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A woman is caught in the very act of adultery…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
and Jesus is asked “The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
And he sits down on the ground, and starts writing the names of sins in the dust before them. The tension fizzles slowly out of the crowd. The Pharisees continue to demand an answer from him, though, Jesus ignores them. Finally Jesus looks up at them and says “Go ahead, but let the one who has never committed a sin cast the first stone.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
And he fixes his gaze on the Pharisees, who look away. Everyone is silent, and the tension fizzles out of the crowd. The older men drop their stones.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
And suddenly a half-brick comes flying through the air, hits the woman smack in the face; she goes down, and everyone joins in.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
But Jesus isn’t looking; he marches to the back of the crowd, grabs an elderly lady by the shoulders, shakes her, and screams: “Mum! You really can be a pain in the arse at times!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Saint__Thomas"> /u/Saint__Thomas </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsgnun/a_woman_is_caught_in_the_very_act_of_adultery/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsgnun/a_woman_is_caught_in_the_very_act_of_adultery/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Just got my Wife’s Test Results…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Doctor: “I have some concerning news. It’s either AIDS or Alzheimer’s.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Me: “Seriously? What on earth do I do with that info?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Doctor: “Go take her for a drive, drop her off somewhere and if she comes back home: DONT FUCK HER.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/cosmic_kitten_club"> /u/cosmic_kitten_club </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsed3s/just_got_my_wifes_test_results/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsed3s/just_got_my_wifes_test_results/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html> |