Systems Under Strain Policymaker Perspectives

Policymakers see US economic and governance systems as stable by traditional indicators, but increasingly constrained in practice. Across issue areas, institutions remain operational but lack the capacity, coordination, and resilience to absorb additional shocks, making current stability conditional rather than durable.

Economy: Policymakers noted how inflation is still a daily burden. They noted high prices for essentials and economic uncertainty driven by global disruptions and rapid shifts from the current administration.

Banking: Policymakers highlighted issues around risk controls and transparency at large institutions and noted uneven supervision across regulators.

AI & Technology: Policymakers described AI as moving faster than governance. They pointed to misinformation, fraud, cybersecurity risk, and workforce disruption, along with unclear accountability and coordination across agencies.

Energy: Policymakers emphasized high costs and the need for reliability. They noted grid capacity limits, storage constraints, rising demand from data centers, and permitting delays as barriers to resilience and planning.

Healthcare: Policymakers framed healthcare as both an affordability issue and a capacity problem. They pointed to rising costs, staffing shortages, and uneven access with spillover impacts on budgets and workforce stability.

Across issue areas, policymakers described systems that remain operational but increasingly constrained. While traditional indicators suggest stability, limited capacity, fragmented governance, and rising exposure to external shocks have made that stability feel conditional rather than durable. This report explores how that dynamic is shaping policymaker perceptions across the economy, banking, AI and technology, energy, and healthcare.

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