Should the U.S. offer new parents paid leave?

"Tech companies are helping to lead the way on paid parental leave in America — but they're also highlighting just how inadequate paid leave policies are for Americans who don't work in Silicon Valley," reports Vox's Emily Crockett.

Spotify recently announced that it will offer an incredibly generous package for new parents — six months off at 100 percent pay for both mothers and fathers (same-sex couples included), with the option to split up that time over the first three years of the child's life.

And Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg decided to take two months of paternity leave when his infant daughter arrived — hopefully setting an example to his employees that it's okay to actually use their four months of paid parental leave.

Amazon now offers 20 weeks of paid leave to birth mothers and six weeks of paid leave to other new parents (like fathers, LGBTQ partners who don't give birth, or adoptive parents). Amazon was arguably trying to compete with Netflix, which now offers its employees "unlimited" paid maternity and paternity leave of up to one year. ... All of these policies are generous and innovative, and recognize how important it is for fathers, not just mothers, to take leave. But they also highlight some major structural inequalities in America, the only industrialized nation with no national paid maternity leave policy.

Today's Question: Should the U.S. offer new parents paid leave?

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