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America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan—but our zoning laws make them illegal
Zoning and food safety laws add up to outlaw tiny restaurants operated by one or two staff.
Sep 10, 2025
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Abi Olvera
136
20
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DC required daycare workers to get degrees. The news only talked to those who stayed.
I'm the child of a daycare worker. The women who left didn't get a story.
Feb 13
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Abi Olvera
69
26
10
Colleges Need Low-Income Students. The Students Don't Know.
Our information ecosystems aren't great at providing life-changing information. I stumbled on a list of full-ride programs at 18 and it changed my life…
Feb 2
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Abi Olvera
28
17
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How Working-Class People Talk About Uber Is Not How the Media Covers It
Jan 7
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Abi Olvera
265
58
26
Healthcare Has a NIMBY Problem and It's Why Independent Primary Care Clinics Have Nearly Disappeared
Dec 10, 2025
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Abi Olvera
82
24
19
The Boring Reason We Don't Have $7 Rideshares
Dec 19, 2025
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Abi Olvera
84
12
12
We scrutinize Uber because we've heard of it, not because it's worse than other low-wage work
Jan 16
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Abi Olvera
88
22
8
DC required daycare workers to get degrees. The news only talked to those who stayed.
Feb 13
•
Abi Olvera
69
26
10
The Misinformation I Fell For
Nov 21, 2025
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Abi Olvera
63
34
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57% of Americans think AI is risky, but when you ask how it'll affect them personally, they're optimistic
It might be the same phenomenon that makes people think crime is terrible nationally (but fine in their neighborhood) and that their fellow citizens are…
Jan 23
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Abi Olvera
21
14
6
We scrutinize Uber because we've heard of it, not because it's worse than other low-wage work
Outrage is well-meaning. But it comes from taking a narrow sample of low-wage work, being surprised at its nature, then blaming the most visible…
Jan 16
•
Abi Olvera
88
22
8
How Working-Class People Talk About Uber Is Not How the Media Covers It
The people writing about whether gig work is exploitative have usually never competed for a restaurant shift. The people most helped by a new tech are…
Jan 7
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Abi Olvera
265
58
26
Aviation's Safety Culture is Weird and Could Make Drugs So Much Better
The FAA treats human-caused crashes as system failures. The FDA optimizes for avoiding blame. This drastically reshaped how I approach policy.
Jan 1
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Abi Olvera
27
17
3
The Boring Reason We Don't Have $7 Rideshares
Rideshare rules written for a skeptical era are now a barrier to the affordable transportation people actually depend on.
Dec 19, 2025
•
Abi Olvera
84
12
12
Healthcare Has a NIMBY Problem and It's Why Independent Primary Care Clinics Have Nearly Disappeared
The system lets existing hospitals block new clinics, keeps qualified foreign doctors from practicing, and gives specialists control over pricing, which…
Dec 10, 2025
•
Abi Olvera
82
24
19
Why Americans Are More Pessimistic About AI Than the Rest of the World
Over the past years, tech skepticism became a marker of being informed and progressive. When beliefs signal group membership, they can trump even direct…
Dec 7, 2025
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Abi Olvera
27
9
10
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