Explain It to Me

Latest Episodes:

A safety net’s poverty trap Mar 27, 2024

Show notes

What if you weren’t allowed to have more than $2,000 at any given time? Could you make it work? For people who receive Supplemental Security Income, this isn’t a what-if — it’s reality. SSI beneficiaries are subject to strict requirements and risk losing their benefits if they have more than $2,000 in financial assets, even if they exceed that by just a dollar. Why is the limit so low, and is anything being done to fix it? That’s today on The Weeds.

Read More:

Tyler (@tylerlimaroope) | TikTok

The Case for Updating SSI Asset Limits | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

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Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

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Let’s fix child care together Mar 20, 2024

Show notes

America is in the midst of a child care crisis. The cost of child care has skyrocketed to the point where, in some states, caring for kids in pre-k is more expensive than college tuition or a home mortgage. According to economist Kathryn Anne Edwards, it’s a market failure. So how do we fix it? That’s in today’s installment of our series exploring economic fanfiction and the stories we should be covering this election year.

Read More:

Kathryn's plan to fix child care

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Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Rob Byers, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

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Bringing back the SAT Mar 13, 2024

Show notes

Four years after a pandemic pause, some colleges and universities are again requiring applicants to submit standardized test scores. Inside Higher Ed’s Liam Knox and the University of Delaware’s Dominique Baker explain.

This episode of Today, Explained was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Rob Byers, and guest-hosted by Jonquilyn Hill. It originally ran on March 8th, 2024.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained

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The AI election Mar 06, 2024

Show notes

2024 is a big year for elections, not just in the US but globally: More than 50 countries will be holding elections this year. With rampant disinformation and polarization in politics, fast-moving technologies like AI pose a unique threat to democracy. On a scale from 1–10, how worried should we be about AI and the election? Host Jonquilyn Hill talks to New York Times reporter Tiffany Hsu to find out.

Learn More:

The Black Box: Even AI's creators don't understand it - Unexplainable

Test Yourself: Which Faces Were Made by A.I.? - New York Times

In Big Election Year, A.I.’s Architects Move Against Its Misuse - New York Times

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Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

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The case for banning...millionaires? Feb 28, 2024

Show notes

Political philosopher Ingrid Robeyns believes that there should be a maximum amount of money and resources that one person can have. She tells Sean how much is too much and why limiting personal wealth benefits everyone, including the super rich. This episode of The Grey Area originally aired in January 2024.

Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area

Guest: Ingrid Robeyns. Her book is Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth.

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This episode was made by:

Producer: Jon Ehrens

Engineer: Cristian Ayala

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How racism ages Black people Feb 21, 2024

Show notes

There are a host of health disparities across the racial divide. Black people are more likely to develop chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Black people are also more likely to be diagnosed with fibroids or die from pregnancy complications. One of the factors in these disparities could be a phenomenon known as weathering — the stress of racism literally aging Black people’s bodies at a faster rate. Host Jonquilyn Hill discusses this with Dr. Uché Blackstock, the founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity and the author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine.

Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society by Arline T. Geronimus

Health in Her HUE

Irth App

Advancing Health Equity

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We want to know what you’re curious about.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

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Skipping the broom Feb 14, 2024

Show notes

Romantic relationships are in a weird place right now. Statistically things are shifting, but the numbers are particularly stark for Black Americans. In the last 50 years, the percentage of Black women who have yet to walk down the aisle has more than doubled; now 48 percent haven’t jumped the broom. Professor and author Dianne M. Stewart argues that there are policies in place keeping Black women from partnering, resulting in what she calls forbidden Black love. Could policy shifts have a major impact on the marriage rate? And why does marriage even matter in the first place?

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We want to know what you’re curious about.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

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Eviction: the scarlet E Feb 07, 2024

Show notes

According to the Eviction Lab, about 7.6 million Americans every year face the threat of eviction, and a disproportionate number of those threatened are Black women. This week, host Jonquilyn Hill sits down with New America senior writer and editor Julia Craven to discuss why this disparity exists and what policies could help end evictions for everybody. It’s the first of a special series this month entitled “Black women and ...” that examines the ways policy particularly impacts Black women.

Eviction Tracking System | Eviction Lab

Evictions: a hidden scourge for black women - Washington Post

TANF Policies Reflect Racist Legacy of Cash Assistance

Evictions and Infant and Child Health Outcomes - PMC

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We want to know what you’re curious about.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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Let’s fix retirement together Jan 31, 2024

Show notes

It’s an election year, and there are so many different policy discussions we could be having: affordable child care, housing, health care, you name it. Based on how the campaigning has gone so far, though, it seems that hard policy debates and discussions won’t get much — if any — airtime. So, how about we have that discussion? Today on The Weeds: the economic policies we should be talking about.

Kathryn Edwards on TikTok (@keds_economist)

Submit your policy questions!

We want to know what you’re curious about.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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How to be a (realistic) climate optimist Jan 24, 2024

Show notes

The Earth was its hottest in recorded history in 2023. Our winters are shorter, our summers hotter, and our natural disasters more extreme. It’s dark. But maybe it doesn’t have to be. Hannah Ritchie is deputy editor at Our World in Data and author of the book Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet. On this week’s episode of The Weeds, she talks with host Jonquilyn Hill about how the world has never been sustainable, why scientists shouldn’t advocate for policy, and ways to balance optimism and realism when it comes to stopping climate change.

Hannah Ritchie fights climate doomerism with facts — Vox

What If People Don't Need to Care About Climate Change to Fix It? — NYT

Submit your policy questions!

We want to know what you’re curious about.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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