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Recently, Elon Musk, a special government employee and outspoken leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), showcased a graph displaying the issuance of millions of Social Security numbers to noncitizens since 2021. One of the primary concerns is that Social Security benefits are being given to individuals not legally entitled to them.

For most of the 2010s, U.S. energy use remained fairly flat after growing for decades. A recent spike in energy consumption since 2017 (discounting a COVID-era brief decline) has led many experts to speculate that the cause of this increase is the proliferation of powerful but energy-intensive Artificial Intelligence (AI) computing technologies. Everything Policy researchers dug in to learn more about what’s happening and what to expect in the coming decade.

Every few years, Republicans and Democrats clash over raising the national debt limit. They issue warnings about the consequences of not raising the limit—known as default—and argue over whether increases should come with spending cuts, tax hikes, or other policy adjustments. For Americans, this drama raises the question: Why does the U.S. have a national debt—and how can we manage it?