Mid-December Mailbag

Advice to a newly elected local official and the problem with today's NBA

There will probably be a longer post about this in the coming weeks, but I am struck by the fact that as the Trump campaign continues to make news, there is still remarkably little clarity regarding what Republicans actually plan to do on almost any governance front.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed Jon Favreau’s election postmortem. It’s a bit gentler than my own takes, but perhaps more persuasive as a result.

We are also getting into the prime gift-giving season and want to remind everyone that Slow Boring hats are available, as are gift subscriptions to Slow Boring.

On to some questions!

Shoshanna O’Keefe: I asked a version of this question in the spring but it's even more useful to ask now:

I've just been elected to local public office. Namely, the City Council of Berkeley, CA. Other than push for more housing (duh), what suggestions do you have for policies to pursue?

First off, congratulations!

Second, as you say, housing is by far the most important issue in local government, especially in a place like Berkeley. Your campaign already correctly emphasized public safety and public education as the two other pillars of local government in the United States, and as you know better than I do, the actual role of city government in California public schools is pretty limited. I don’t really know much specifically about Berkeley, so I’d hesitate to offer much advice. But one idea that I think is underrated is just asking questions about why city agencies do things the way they do them, and keeping an open mind about the possibility that some of the procedures are bad and ought to be drastically changed. Oftentimes, something will be done in a bad way because of some state or federal requirement, or the perception of a requirement. Or it will be because of a rule that was passed a long time ago when the situation was different. Veteran civil servants tend to mold themselves the rules and not necessarily advocate for improvements, and elected officials often pass the buck and say, “Well, that’s a state requirement.” Sometimes, just talking about problems publicly can help get them solved.

Lauren K: In your answer to the “what pieces of the IRA will survive?” question you said that you think the revenue-generating provisions might because they can offset tax cuts. Do you think that’s true of the Medicare drug price negotiations as well, for the same reason?

All I really know about this is that the pharmaceutical industry seems to have decided to take a dive on RFK Jr.’s confirmation because they’re hoarding their political capital to fight for drug price negotiation repeal. This indicates to me that they think they’re in trouble. Repealing this would be unpopular and tend to make it harder to do a big tax cut, so there’s a good chance it doesn’t get done.

David: Is there anything you would change if you were to make a 2nd edition of 1B Americans?