Immigration is a top concern among U.S. voters this election cycle. But Zeke Hernandez, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who studies immigration,thinks politicians and the media aren't giving the public the full story. Too often, he argues, they paint immigrants as objects of pity or fear, when the reality is much more complex — and positive. Today on the show, we look beyond the binary and explore the less talked about ways documented and undocumented immigrants shape the U.S. economy.
Related listening: Is the border crisis really a labor market crisis? (Apple / Spotify) Do immigrants really take jobs and lower wages? (Apple / Spotify) Welcome to the USA! Now get to work (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
The Old Joliet Prison has been around since the 1800s. Some visitors swear they’ve experienced the paranormal there. But do ghost stories detract from the specter of a truly dark history?
Some of the most frightening and iconic monsters in the history of the horror genre are vampires.
Vampires have a history that is both ancient and modern. For thousands of years, various cultures around the world have had stories of vampire-esque beings who would prey on humans.
However, in the last two centuries, these stories have coalesced into a very specific type of creature with a unique backstory and set of powers and weaknesses.
Learn more about vampires, how they were created and where they came from on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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Yotam Ottolenghi's books are a fixture on the shelves of many home cooks. In his latest cookbook, written with co-authors Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley, the Israeli-British chef and restaurateur turns his eye towards comfort food. Ottolenghi Comfort considers the rituals and recipes that produce comfort in our culinary experiences, like the simple acts of holding a bowl or making a one-pot meal. In today's episode, Ottolenghi speaks with Here & Now's Robin Young about the memories we carry with us, whether they're connected to a childhood dish or an Oasis song. They also discuss the chef's perfect equation for comfort food, which often involves cauliflower.
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Social Security has thus far been self-sustaining—payroll taxes go into this big fund, which then pays out monthly checks. But the problem we have now is the money coming into that fund is not keeping up with the money going out.
The election hasn't been great for people concerned about the government's finances. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that Donald Trump's election proposals will speed up the rundown in the Social Security fund by a few years.
So, when Social Security runs out of money as it's projected to do ... could we just borrow more money? And if so, what would that mean for the already rising government's debt?
Today on the show, how worried should we be about Social Security and the federal debt? We explain a fresh indicator to assess whether or not America's getting too far in the red.
In 1816, a group of friends who were writers were stuck indoors in Geneva, Switzerland, and were bored. So, they created a challenge for themselves. They were to each come up with a unique ghost story.
After several days of being unable to come up with a story, one of the women in the group was struck with an idea for her ghost tale.
Her story became the basis of one of the most important novels in English literature, one of the greatest characters of all time, and arguably spawned an entire form of literature.
Learn more about Mary Shelly, Frankenstein, and the legacy of her creation on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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Al Pacino's childhood was spent in a tough neighborhood in the South Bronx. But he grew up among a crew of wild kids who often found themselves on adventures rivaling those of Huckleberry Finn. Those childhood antics proved foundational for Pacino, who details these stories and more in a new memoir, Sonny Boy. In today's episode, Pacino speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about the experiences that ignited and fed his love of acting, like a performance of Chekhov's The Seagull that changed his life. They also discuss the influence of the actor's mother and grandfather on his upbringing and whether Pacino still feels like a nonconformist at 84 years old.
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Since the war in Gaza began, Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha says he has not lived a normal life. He lost 31 members of his extended family in an airstrike and now, he checks the list of casualties every day. Still, he has continued to write poetry. Abu Toha's new collection of poems, Forest of Noise, aims to document what he's witnessed and deliver the emotional experiences of Palestinians living in devastation and fear. In today's episode, Abu Toha speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about what the news fails to recognize about the war in Gaza and about the U.S. government's role in the conflict.
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The Maldives is a small island nation struggling with a heavy debt load. Its borrowing includes $500 million worth of something called sukuk. These are bond-like investments that don't pay interest, to be in line with Islamic law. Today on the show, we explain how sukuk works, how it fits into the larger world of Islamic finance and what might happen if the Maldives can't pay back its debt.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.