AT Kearney has produced the following chart:

America Today

Inspiring Possibilities

  • Innovation: U.S. technology leads the world
  • Higher Education: 17 of the world’s top 25 universities
  • Energy: America again the world’s largest oil and gas producer
  • Business: Home to 209 of the world’s largest 500 companies
  • Demographics: Greatest population growth of advanced economies

Sobering Truths

  • Government: Historically low public confidence
  • Infrastructure: Requires at least $3.6 trillion investment by 2020
  • Climate Change: Facing a ‘megadrought’ this century
  • Wealth: Income inequality highest in nearly 100 years
  • K-12 Education: U.S. students lagging behind global competitors

 Ready or Not, Here Come the Millennials

 Millennials — the 18-34 year olds poised to become America’s dominant age group — were born into unprecedented prosperity. Yet Millennials also endured the shock of 9/11, the frustration of protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the devastating effects of the Great Recession, and chronically stalemated government.

A resultant question is where will OIRA , the regulatory review office in the White House Office of Management and Budget, be at 2050; it is a  relevant question given that OIRA is the cockpit of the regulatory state and the majority of the aforementioned issues will be addressed through the issuance of regulations.

An examination of OIRA@2050 is of particular relevance because OIRA marks its thirty-fifth anniversary this year which is identical to the thirty-five year development plan envisioned herein—in essence we have thirty-five years of operating experience to shape the next thirty-five years of its operation.

Will OIRA  be:

— functioning at fifty per cent of its original staff level?

— reviewing primarily individual regulations?

— establishing a cap on the total cost of regulations?

— allowing  the public to police the accuracy of federal data bases by an energetic use of the Data Quality Act?

— reviewing the rules of independent agencies?

—  overseeing  pro-active, multi-agency and multi-administration regulatory programs aimed at addressing critical  issues of substantial national interest?

To assist in the answering of these questions, CRE has requested the views of the millennials by (1) sponsoring a student writing competition and (2) developing an OIRA teaching module for use by schools of law, economics, public policy, public administration and political science.

The next step is for CRE to sponsor a number of OIRA@2050 Roundtable [TM] discussions at universities with students from the aforementioned disciplines as set  forth herein. Our plan is to produce videos of each roundtable and distribute them nationally to universities, regulators, the regulated community and Members of Congress.