The American Compass Podcast

For decades, antitrust policy rested on the assumption that markets would correct themselves and that consolidation posed little risk to consumers and workers. But across the economy, from housing and healthcare to Big Tech and labor markets, concentration has grown, competition has weakened our economy, and the assumptions that conservatives once held on antitrust are no longer holding.Gail Slater, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice, joins Oren to discuss the renewed push to police monopoly power and why competition policy has reemerged as a conservative concern. They examine recent DOJ enforcement actions, from challenges to Google’s dominance and RealPage’s rent-setting scheme to increased merger scrutiny in the meatpacking and electricity markets. Finally, they make sense of what these actions signal about a conservative approach to competition that aims to restore market discipline without expanding the regulatory state.

The assumptions that once defined global trade are cracking. The United States can no longer absorb the world’s trade surpluses, China has become a near-peer adversary, and allies are facing hard choices about their own dependence on Beijing. This year has made it clear that the era of unquestioned free trade is over—and that America is charting a new course.Mark DiPlacido, policy advisor at American Compass, joins Oren to discuss why the United States is embracing a new trade paradigm. They also explore the history that led to this turning point, how a results-oriented approach is replacing the old rules-based order, and what a post-WTO world could mean for America’s partners, competitors, and workers.Further Reading:“On Balance“ by Mark DiPlacido

Globalization was once viewed as economic destiny: it would spread prosperity worldwide, destroy authoritarian regimes, and counterbalance industrial decline with innovation and growth. The reality has been far more negative, with communities hollowed out and a political landscape defined by resentment of elites, strategic rivalry with China, and skepticism that the system was ever meant to support American workers.One of the leading architects of globalization, Ernesto Zedillo, former Mexican president and professor at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, joins Oren to make the case that the old international trade system remains sound and that the real failures lie in domestic policy and the lack of institutional reform. During the conversation, Oren presses him on whether those explanations can withstand the reality of deindustrialization, supply-chain vulnerability, and worker displacement.Together, they examine what went wrong, what defenders of the old order still believe, and whether the next technological wave will intensify the debate rather than resolve it.

Heading into the holidays, the hottest gifts on the shelf are AI-powered smart toys, leading parents to confront a troubling question: what happens when machines start reading to our kids, teaching them, and becoming their companions? At the same time, schools, already grappling with record learning loss, are rushing to adopt AI tools with little evidence they help children learn or grow.Brad Littlejohn, director of programs and education at American Compass, joins Oren to explore how AI slipped into classrooms and Christmas shopping carts and why smart devices often undermine the very skills childhood and education depend on. They discuss the rise of phone-free schools, the lure of AI tutors, and what it will take to draw real boundaries in a technological world built to erode them.

For decades, America told its young strivers that the path to economic security ran through degrees, credentials, and a foothold in the professional class. But as housing costs climb and career ladders shrink, even the “successful” are finding the old promise slipping away.John Carney, economics editor at Breitbart, joins Oren to unpack why today’s economy feels like a winner-take-all contest and why rising productivity—not rising population—must anchor America’s next stage of growth. They explore the collapse of old economic assumptions and narratives, the emergence of a new economic paradigm, and what it will take to rebuild broad-based prosperity.Further Reading: "Zohran's Park Slope Populists" by John Carney.