Dayton, Ohio Correspondent — Partial decoupling in the critical sectors can improve resilience if it's deliberate and paired with real capacity, domestic or allied. Semiconductors, certain rare earths, advanced telecom. Broad, rapid separation across the whole relationship produces mutual damage — higher costs, disrupted chains, slower innovation on both ends. What I'd watch for is … Continue reading Is the current trajectory of U.S.–China economic decoupling more likely to produce strategic resilience or mutual economic damage?
Thinking Outside the Boxe Releases Transcript of Q&A Session from 16th Annual Symposium
Myrtle Beach, SC, Orlando, FL and Washington, D.C. January 3, 2020—Thinking Outside the Boxe has released the transcripts of the question and answer session from its 2019 Annual Symposium. Participants included correspondents from Prescott Valley, Arizona; Wheeling, West Virginia; Dayton, Ohio; and Bismarck, North Dakota. Discussion centered on U.S.–China decoupling, the proper use of impeachment, … Continue reading Thinking Outside the Boxe Releases Transcript of Q&A Session from 16th Annual Symposium
Should Congress reassert clearer statutory limits on the use of emergency economic powers by the executive branch?
Dayton, Ohio Correspondent — These authorities were written for genuine, time-limited crises. They've become a route for policy that would be harder to pass ordinarily. Tighter definitions, automatic sunsets, faster congressional review. That restores balance without stripping the ability to act when speed genuinely matters, which it sometimes does. The practical case from my side … Continue reading Should Congress reassert clearer statutory limits on the use of emergency economic powers by the executive branch?
Will the 2020 presidential election cycle further accelerate the nationalization of every local and state political contest?
Wheeling, West Virginia Correspondent — National money, national media, and national messaging have already turned a lot of state and local races into extensions of the presidential fight. Candidates get judged by their alignment with a national figure rather than by anything they did locally. In a state this small that's a genuine loss, because … Continue reading Will the 2020 presidential election cycle further accelerate the nationalization of every local and state political contest?
How can the United States improve the resilience of its pharmaceutical supply chains after repeated shortages of critical drugs?
Clermont, Florida Correspondent — The pattern in the shortages is worth stating plainly, because it isn't what people assume. The drugs that vanish are almost never the expensive new ones. They're cheap, old, off-patent sterile injectables — the things that cost four dollars a vial. That's an economics problem before it's a security problem. At … Continue reading How can the United States improve the resilience of its pharmaceutical supply chains after repeated shortages of critical drugs?
Is the growing use of national-security justifications for tariffs and investment restrictions creating a new form of permanent industrial policy?
Owatonna, MN Correspondent — National-security language is being applied to a widening set of economic measures. Some uses are legitimate. Others are conventional industrial policy wearing a more convenient label. The tell is usually the product. When the security case is made about uranium or semiconductors, it's at least arguable. When it's made about a … Continue reading Is the growing use of national-security justifications for tariffs and investment restrictions creating a new form of permanent industrial policy?
Should large social-media platforms be required to disclose more detail about how their algorithms amplify or suppress political content?
Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent — These platforms determine political visibility at scale, and when amplification happens through an opaque system, public accountability is nearly impossible. Requiring disclosure of the principal factors driving distribution of political material would let researchers and the public evaluate claims of bias with data instead of anecdote. At the moment every … Continue reading Should large social-media platforms be required to disclose more detail about how their algorithms amplify or suppress political content?
Will the rapid expansion of electric-vehicle mandates outpace the actual development of charging infrastructure and battery supply chains?
Dayton, Ohio Correspondent — Mandates can force adoption of the vehicle. The supporting systems move on entirely different clocks — charging networks, grid capacity, secure mineral supply. Right now the targets run ahead of both, and I'd point out that the binding constraint isn't the one people name. Everybody talks about chargers. The harder problem … Continue reading Will the rapid expansion of electric-vehicle mandates outpace the actual development of charging infrastructure and battery supply chains?
How should policymakers respond to the increasing evidence that many major cities are becoming unaffordable for middle-income workers?
Clermont, Florida Correspondent — When teachers, nurses, firefighters, and service workers can't live near where they work, the city starts losing functional balance, and it loses it in a specific order. The hardest positions to fill go first. The core response is supply in high-demand areas. More density near jobs and transit, faster permitting, fewer … Continue reading How should policymakers respond to the increasing evidence that many major cities are becoming unaffordable for middle-income workers?
Is the current pace of Federal Reserve interest-rate reductions appropriate given the mixed signals in the labor market and global growth?
Owatonna, MN Correspondent — The data are genuinely mixed. A solid labor market against softer global growth and weak manufacturing readings. A cautious, data-dependent pace is appropriate. Faster risks reigniting the imbalances we spent a decade unwinding. Slower risks falling behind an actual slowdown. What I'd note from years in financial planning is that the … Continue reading Is the current pace of Federal Reserve interest-rate reductions appropriate given the mixed signals in the labor market and global growth?
