August 20, 2024
The Robots Are Going to Take These Jobs. Thank Goodness.
Today, The Verge profiled a new Tesla project aimed at training robots for routine materials movement. The company is hiring workers between 5’7” and 5’11” to move 30-pound packages while wearing sensor arrays and virtual reality goggles. These workers will provide the motion capture data to train Tesla’s Optimus robots, which will eventually begin taking over this…
August 18, 2024
Why NYC’s Most Affordable Housing May Already Be Available
Mayor Adams’ ambitious rezoning proposal he calls the “City of Yes” — aimed at encouraging new housing construction throughout the five boroughs — is filled with commonsense ideas such as permitting apartments to be built above storefronts and relaxing the expensive requirements for new parking. Adams, in many ways, is harkening back to the golden…
August 16, 2024
The Harris Campaign’s Foolish Down-Payment-Assistance Scheme
On the surface, Kamala Harris’s proposal to provide $25,000 in down-payment assistance to first-time homebuyers looks to be an incentive for upward mobility. Historically, homeownership has been the foundation for wealth creation for those of modest means. On closer inspection, however, down-payment assistance sends the wrong message — not only because already high home prices are likely to…
August 15, 2024
Kamala Harris Will Pay You Not to Work
A recent study confirms that universal basic income—no-strings-attached benefit checks offered to recipients regardless of need or contribution to the program—discourages work. That’s relevant to the presidential race. Kamala Harris has called more than once for paying UBI-like benefits. Participants in the UBI program worked nearly 1½ hours less a week on average, and unemployment rose. Other adults in…
August 15, 2024
Women Want More Children Than They’re Having. America Can Do More to Help
In the wake of the media storm generated by Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance’s comment about “childless cat ladies,” fertility in America has vaulted to the top of the national conversation, with good reason. The fertility rate has hit a record low in the United States, with the average American woman now expected to have just…
August 6, 2024
Trump’s Tax Law Diminished Incentives for Charitable Giving, But We Can Fix It
Debate over the potential renewal of the so-called Trump tax cuts of 2017 will be building as their expiration approaches next year. The focus will likely be on corporate and personal tax rates. But there’s a less-appreciated but consequential side effect of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: its impact on charitable giving. Simply put,…
August 1, 2024
Two Outrageous Bills Kamala Harris Sponsored Would Crush Taxpayers
As a U.S. senator, Vice President Kamala Harris had a remarkably slim record of accomplishments, shepherding only a handful of minor resolutions across the finish line. But that’s far from the last word on her legislative record. In fact, two bills she introduced (that went nowhere) may best define her past, and potential future, priorities…
July 29, 2024
The Rise of ‘Marriage Deserts’ and What We Can Do About Them
What makes a marriage succeed or fail? To answer this question, psychologist John Gottman set up what came to be known as the “Love Lab” at the University of Washington in Seattle. Couples were invited to spend a weekend in a plush apartment with scenic views as Gottman and his team monitored their body language,…
July 14, 2024
Fostering Normalcy for Foster Kids
When my daughter was 16 and was offered a job as a lifeguard, her boss told her she’d need to have her own bank account in order to be paid. No one gets checks anymore, just direct deposit. So I took her to our local bank branch and helped her open an account. This process…
June 26, 2024
Reducing Racial Disparities in Foster Care Might Endanger Black Children
To what lengths should we go to reduce racial disparities in the child welfare system? In 2021 the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to require the Department of Children and Family Services to pilot a program of “blind removals.” The program, which had been tried to great fanfare in a couple of other jurisdictions, essentially…