Consider This from NPR Folgen

Rent has skyrocketed in the United States. That means Americans are handing over a bigger portion of their paycheck to their housing costs. They have less money for things like food, electricity, and commuting. The pandemic and inflation have both played a role in pushing rents higher.Whitney Airgood-Obrycki a Senior Research Associate at Harvard's Joint Center on Housing Studies says rents are actually going down, but that increases have been so large it's going to take time for the market to even out.We look at how rent prices got so high and what it might take to bring them down. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

For half a century, during the Cold War, every U-S president painted Russia as the dominant threat. America's ideological opposite, a hostile and nuclear-armed power. Ronald Reagan went so far as to call the Soviet Union an Evil Empire.So the events of recent days have been noteworthy. On top of a holdup of U-S aid for Ukraine, former President Trump said he might NOT come to the defense of a NATO ally who hadn't spent enough on defense.And Tucker Carlson, the erstwhile Fox news host, flew to Moscow to sit down with Vladimir Putin for more than two hours of mostly softball questions. Afterward, he pronounced Putin "impressive" on stage at the World Government Summit.So what gives? Why the romance between the American right and Russia?For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

One single election does not a trend make. But does Democrat Tom Suozzi's victory in the special election for New York's 3rd Congressional District mean something bigger for democrats?The Congressman won his seat – which until recently had been held by disgraced Republican George Santos – by diving head on into an issue that democrats would usually rather avoid – immigration.Was that the opening chapter in a playbook Suozzi is writing, for fellow Democrats trying to find a way to deal with the thorny political issue of immigration?For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy