Author: TheConversation

By Michael Humphries, Deputy Chair of Business Administration, Touro University It is a case of déjà vu all over again on the debt ceiling debate. Republicans, who regained control of the House of Representatives in November 2022, are threatening to not allow an increase in the debt limit unless they get unspecified spending cuts in return. In so doing, they risk pushing the U.S. government into default. Brinkmanship over the debt ceiling has become a regular ritual – it happened under the Clinton administration in 1995, then again with Barack Obama as president in 2011, and more recently in...

By Gerald P. Dwyer, Professor Emeritus of Economics and BB&T Scholar, Clemson University Consumers and businesses are not the only ones feeling the pain of higher borrowing costs because of Federal Reserve rate hikes. Uncle Sam is too. The U.S. government spent a record US$213 billion on interest payments on its debt in the fourth quarter, up $63 billion from a year earlier. Indeed, a jump of almost $30 billion on the previous quarter represents the biggest quarterly jump on record. That comes as the Fed lifted interest rates a whopping 4.25 percentage points from March through December. As...

By Sita M. Syal, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan The race to decarbonize passenger cars and light-duty trucks in the U.S. is accelerating. Battery electric vehicles accounted for almost 6% of all new vehicle sales in 2022, up from close to 3% in 2021, and demand is outstripping supply, even as manufacturers roll out new models and designs. The Biden administration is spending billions of dollars to build out EV charging networks and providing incentives for purchasing new and used EVs. This shift offers big economic and environmental benefits, but they’re not spread equitably. People who...

By Miguel Schor, Professor of Law and Associate Director of the Drake University Constitutional Law Center, Drake University; and Erin Lain, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law, Drake University The United States Supreme Court is deciding a pair of cases that could end affirmative action programs that consider race in college admissions. Though the court is the most diverse in American history – with three justices of color and four women – the conservatives, who have historically opposed affirmative action programs, hold a 6-3 majority. And that majority has the power to ban the use of...

By Meredith Broussard, Assistant Professor of Journalism, New York University Ted Florence is ready for his family trip to Botswana. He has looked up his hotel on Google Maps and downloaded a digital map of the country to his phone. He has also packed a large paper map. “I travel all over the world,” says Florence, the president of the international board of the International Map Industry Association and Avenza Maps, a digital map software company. “Everywhere I go, my routine is the same: I get a paper map, and I keep it in my back pocket.” With the...

By Greta Uehling, Lecturer, Program in International and Comparative Studies, University of Michigan As the first anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches, one thing is clear: The destruction the war has wreaked upon Ukrainians over the last 12 months is so catastrophic that the country will be dealing with the humanitarian consequences for the foreseeable future. One of the consequences is trauma. As an anthropologist, I have long sought ways to describe my interviewees’ narratives in ways that are true to what they experienced. This is particularly challenging after shocking, painful or overwhelming experiences, which are...