Author: TheConversation

By Thomas Doherty, Professor of American Studies, Brandeis University Throughout much of the last century, a lethal and terrifying virus besieged America. Then, as now, the fear of contagion gripped ordinary Americans. And then, unlike now, a president displayed decisive leadership in fighting the virus, maintaining an unfailingly good humor and leaving the immunology to the experts. The scourge was infantile paralysis, or polio, and the president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was its most famous victim. First clinically described in the late 19th century and persisting deep into the 20th century, the virus invaded the nervous system and destroyed the...

By Paige Marta Skiba, Economist, Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University; Dalié Jiménez, Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine; Michelle McKinnon Miller, Associate Professor of Economics, Loyola Marymount University; Pamela Foohey, Associate Professor of Law, Indiana University; and Sara Sternberg Greene, Professor of Law, Duke University As more Americans lose all or part of their incomes and struggle with mounting debts, another crisis looms: a wave of personal bankruptcies. Bankruptcy can discharge or erase many types of debts and stop foreclosures, repossessions and wage garnishments. But our research shows the bankruptcy system is difficult to navigate even in normal...

By Greggor Mattson, Associate Professor of Sociology, Oberlin College and Conservatory Gay bars have been shuttered by public-place closure orders during the coronavirus pandemic. In March, more than half of U.S. states issued statewide closure orders for bars and restaurants, decimating the nightlife industry. This has left LGBT people without a place to gather in public and LGBT workers without employment. But gay bars were already closing their doors before the virus hit. Their decline began sometime around 2002 and has since accelerated. My research shows that as many as 37% of the United States’ gay bars shut down...

By Judith Ridner, Professor of History, Mississippi State University “Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.” That’s what the CDC has advised all Americans to do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 during this pandemic. It is common-sense advice. The surfactants found in soap lift germs from the skin, and water then washes them away. Soap is inexpensive and ubiquitous; it’s a consumer product found in every household across the country. Yet few people know the long and dirty history of making soap, the product we all rely on to clean our skin....

By Laura Schultz, Director of Fiscal Analysis and Senior Economist, Rockefeller Institute of Government, SUNY Empire State College When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, expressed reluctance to fund coronavirus relief for hard-hit cities and states, suggesting they would be “blue state bailouts,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had a quick retort. “We put into that pot $116 billion more than we take out,” Cuomo said. “Kentucky takes out $148 billion more than they put in. Senator McConnell, who’s getting bailed out here?” The debate sparked a furor on social media and has generated a great deal...