Wheeling, WV Correspondent — Policy failures can be corrected by later elections. A shared factual and procedural baseline can't be restored the same way. I'd say the part that makes this question hard rather than easy in December. The coalition that has spent a decade making this argument is about to hold the executive branch. … Continue reading Is the increasing politicization of once-neutral institutions now a greater long-term risk than any single policy failure?
Symposium Q&A 2024
Thinking Outside the Boxe — 2024 Annual Summit, December 31, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. Each correspondent is allotted up to five minutes. Only initial comments are recorded; subsequent discussion is not part of the record.
Is the current structure of the Electoral College still the best available mechanism for balancing national and federal interests in presidential selection?
Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent — This question reads differently than it would have in October, and that's the useful thing about answering it now. The winner carried the popular vote. So the argument most people have actually been having for twenty-four years — that the mechanism produces winners the country didn't choose — didn't arise … Continue reading Is the current structure of the Electoral College still the best available mechanism for balancing national and federal interests in presidential selection?
How should policymakers address the continued divergence between asset-price performance and the economic experience of lower- and middle-income households?
Clermont, FL Correspondent — Asset prices have been supported by low rates and concentrated ownership. Households experience the economy through wages, rent, food, and insurance. The insurance line is the one that's changed most in this state and it's absent from every national discussion. Premiums here have risen by multiples, not percentages, and for a … Continue reading How should policymakers address the continued divergence between asset-price performance and the economic experience of lower- and middle-income households?
Will the next generation of AI systems produce a significant, measurable increase in overall economic productivity within the next five years?
Dayton, OH Correspondent — Task-level gains are real and the aggregate hasn't appeared, and both of those have been true for two years now. The manufacturing view is that the useful applications are unglamorous — inspection, scheduling, predictive maintenance — and they're being adopted steadily without anyone calling it a revolution. Five years is enough … Continue reading Will the next generation of AI systems produce a significant, measurable increase in overall economic productivity within the next five years?
Should the United States begin a deliberate process of prioritizing its global military commitments rather than attempting to maintain all of them indefinitely?
Dayton, OH Correspondent — Resources and industrial capacity are finite and holding every line at readiness stretches all of them. The production numbers are the argument. We've been supplying one war for nearly three years and the artillery expansion is still short of what that single theatre consumes. There is no version of the current … Continue reading Should the United States begin a deliberate process of prioritizing its global military commitments rather than attempting to maintain all of them indefinitely?
Is the growing reliance on executive action to achieve major policy goals a temporary response to congressional gridlock or a lasting change in governance?
Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent — It expands when Congress won't legislate, both parties use it, and the pattern has persisted long enough to be a shift rather than a workaround. What's different heading into January is that unified control removes the usual excuse. A party with the House, the Senate, and the presidency can legislate. … Continue reading Is the growing reliance on executive action to achieve major policy goals a temporary response to congressional gridlock or a lasting change in governance?
Will the combination of elevated interest rates and high government debt eventually force a fiscal adjustment that neither party appears prepared to make?
Owatonna, MN Correspondent — Higher rates raise the cost of servicing the stock and high deficits keep adding to it. The number that ended the abstraction this year is that net interest exceeded defense spending. That's not a projection. It's the ledger, and it happened while both parties campaigned on programs that assume it away. … Continue reading Will the combination of elevated interest rates and high government debt eventually force a fiscal adjustment that neither party appears prepared to make?
Should the federal government continue expansive industrial policy, or shift toward broader reforms that improve the general climate for investment — and how should it reduce dependence on adversarial nations for critical minerals and pharmaceutical ingredients?
Dayton, OH Correspondent — Expansive industrial policy can accelerate capacity in narrow strategic sectors. As a general method it allocates capital by political preference and raises costs for everything unsubsidized. What's now visible is the execution record. Manufacturing construction spending is at a record and a substantial share of the announced projects haven't broken ground, … Continue reading Should the federal government continue expansive industrial policy, or shift toward broader reforms that improve the general climate for investment — and how should it reduce dependence on adversarial nations for critical minerals and pharmaceutical ingredients?
How should the United States manage the simultaneous pressures of high immigration levels, housing shortages, and strained local public services?
Clermont, FL Correspondent — Treating these as three separate problems guarantees continued strain, and the last four years demonstrated it. Management requires three linked pieces: predictable inflows, more housing supply where the jobs are, and either relief for localities or the tools to manage. I'd note what changed this year. Encounters fell sharply after the … Continue reading How should the United States manage the simultaneous pressures of high immigration levels, housing shortages, and strained local public services?
Did the presidential election produce a lasting realignment of the major-party coalitions, or another high-turnout polarized contest?
Wheeling, WV Correspondent — We now have a result rather than a forecast, and the result is more interesting than either camp's account of it. Nearly every county in the country moved in the same direction. Not the swing states — every county, including places that were never contested and had no advertising and no … Continue reading Did the presidential election produce a lasting realignment of the major-party coalitions, or another high-turnout polarized contest?
