Owatonna, Minnesota Correspondent — The scale is historically large and some of it prevented a deeper collapse. Both true. Sustaining this level after the acute emergency raises the probability of higher inflation and higher rates once demand recovers and the balance sheet normalizes. The part I'd flag from a planning background is behavioral. We have … Continue reading Is the current level of federal deficit spending in response to the pandemic sustainable, or does it create larger risks for future inflation and interest rates?
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How should the United States balance the need for rapid vaccine development with traditional standards of long-term safety testing?
Dayton, Ohio Correspondent — Speed mattered. Traditional multi-year timelines would have left the country exposed considerably longer, and the exposure has a body count too. The balance is compressing the process rather than the evidence. Parallel trial phases instead of sequential ones. Manufacturing at risk before approval, so that authorization and availability aren't eighteen months … Continue reading How should the United States balance the need for rapid vaccine development with traditional standards of long-term safety testing?
Will the rapid shift to remote work permanently alter the economic geography of major cities and the value of commercial real estate?
Orange County, California Correspondent — Hybrid and remote work are already reducing the five-day demand that underpinned core-district values. Some returns. A meaningful share doesn't. The mechanism worth understanding is that this arrives slowly and then all at once, because it arrives through lease expiry. A ten-year lease signed in 2017 doesn't reprice until 2027. … Continue reading Will the rapid shift to remote work permanently alter the economic geography of major cities and the value of commercial real estate?
Should governments have the authority to impose prolonged business and school closures on the basis of epidemiological models that later prove imperfect?
Clermont, Florida Correspondent — Emergency authority to close for short periods when hospitals are at immediate risk is one thing. Prolonged closure on models carrying wide uncertainty bands is another. Models are planning tools. When they prove imperfect, and most early ones did, the justification for continuing heavy restrictions weakens rather than staying constant. My … Continue reading Should governments have the authority to impose prolonged business and school closures on the basis of epidemiological models that later prove imperfect?
Did the early pandemic response demonstrate that centralized public-health authority is more effective, or that it is prone to significant error and overreach?
Wheeling, West Virginia Correspondent — Centralized authority moved faster in the first weeks than a purely decentralized system could have. That speed came with real costs — shifting guidance, models that missed in both directions, and rules that ignored the difference between a county with four cases and a borough with four thousand. The record … Continue reading Did the early pandemic response demonstrate that centralized public-health authority is more effective, or that it is prone to significant error and overreach?
Did the closure of houses of worship raise constitutional questions the courts have handled well, or has judicial deference to emergency public-health authority gone further than it should?
Owatonna, MN Correspondent — I taught music for years, so let me say the uncomfortable thing first, because nobody at these tables who isn't a musician is going to. The singing evidence is real. In March a choir rehearsed in Washington state — sixty-one people, one infected, and fifty-three of them caught it and two … Continue reading Did the closure of houses of worship raise constitutional questions the courts have handled well, or has judicial deference to emergency public-health authority gone further than it should?
Did the closure of houses of worship raise constitutional questions the courts have handled well, or has judicial deference to emergency public-health authority gone further than it should?
Las Vegas, Nevada Correspondent — I'm the wrong person to be neutral here, because the case that made this national was about my industry. Nevada capped worship attendance at fifty people. Not fifty percent — fifty people, in a building of any size. A casino floor operated at half capacity, which in this town is … Continue reading Did the closure of houses of worship raise constitutional questions the courts have handled well, or has judicial deference to emergency public-health authority gone further than it should?
Did the disruption of the 2020 census produce a count the country can rely on for the next decade?
Owatonna, MN Correspondent — Minnesota is the state with the most direct stake in this and most people here know it. In 2010 we kept our eighth congressional seat by fewer than nine thousand people. That was the last seat apportioned in the entire country. Had the count gone slightly differently, it would have gone … Continue reading Did the disruption of the 2020 census produce a count the country can rely on for the next decade?
Did the disruption of the 2020 census produce a count the country can rely on for the next decade?
Bismarck, North Dakota Correspondent — I'd say we won't know for some time, and that not knowing is itself the problem. The count was suspended in the spring, the schedule was compressed, the end date moved more than once and finally landed in mid-October after the Supreme Court allowed the shortened deadline. Then last month … Continue reading Did the disruption of the 2020 census produce a count the country can rely on for the next decade?
Briefly, what are the three or four most important issues that the winner must address in the first year, and which candidate is better positioned to handle them?
Clermont, Florida Correspondent — Finish the acute phase and get a vaccine distributed, assuming one works, without leaving permanent emergency rules behind. Restore economic activity and employment. Re-establish order in the cities that had sustained unrest. Set a coherent course on China and critical supply chains. Trump's instincts on reopening, on order, and on strategic … Continue reading Briefly, what are the three or four most important issues that the winner must address in the first year, and which candidate is better positioned to handle them?
