Plus, the impact of climate change on economic security, and the privatization and automation of the U.S. government.
| Why merging USAID into the State Department would undermine US strategic interests On day one, the Trump administration suspended new obligations and disbursement of U.S. foreign assistance. A few days later it dismissed the senior career leadership and then thousands of mid-level staff from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), essentially preventing the agency from carrying out its mandate. These decisions impact the livelihoods of thousands of Americans who manage the country’s critical foreign assistance programs and tens of thousands of citizens in developing countries who either implement or are the beneficiaries of U.S. assistance. George Ingram explains the stakes. |
| More research and commentary Rethinking place-based economic security. The United States has long encouraged homeownership as a primary pathway to wealth accumulation. However, the destructive force of climate change makes homes a less reliable store of wealth. Vanessa Williamson and Ellis Chen discuss the dangers and reforms. Greater privatization and automation of the US government. The influence of Big Tech leaders, who are formally and informally advising the Trump administration, may be accelerating a smaller government workforce based on their own values. Nicol Turner Lee argues that changes embedded in the opaqueness of decisionmakers, and driven by politically motivated issues, are not the way to serve Americans. |
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