Allen Jackson NOW

Allen Jackson: Good evening and welcome to Nashville. I'm Allen Jackson. President Trump is giving artificial intelligence a new name. He's calling it "super intelligence." Following a White House meeting with some of the biggest names in technology, President Trump officially ordered the executive branch to adopt the new terminology, saying that today's technology has advanced far beyond what was imagined when the term "artificial intelligence" was created.

But the name isn't the only thing changing. AI, or super intelligence, may be the beginning of the next great economic revolution, and already Washington is fighting over whether government should unleash it or step in and slow it down. A new McKinsey report estimates that roughly 11 million American workers may have to change occupations over the next decade as AI and automation transform our labor market. The expanding AI economy could generate roughly 41 million jobs.

With the midterms approaching, the battle lines are forming. President Trump says America cannot afford to stifle innovation, especially when we're locked in a technological race with China. But progressive leaders are pushing for greater government control. Senator Bernie Sanders has proposed pausing advanced AI development, and he wants Washington to create a new department of artificial intelligence with sweeping oversight responsibilities.

We're seeing two very different visions emerge. Do we trust American innovation, capitalism, and competition to drive the next technological revolution? Or do we build another layer of federal bureaucracy and potentially international regulation to control it? In a recent CNN article titled "Barack Obama's Hidden Hand Shaping Democrats' AI Debate," the author writes how the former president has been regularly urging rising Democrats to make stronger federal AI regulation a larger part of their agenda.

Obama wants Washington to take a much bigger role in AI, calling for what he describes as a "serious regulatory framework." Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has pushed to prohibit construction or expansion of AI data centers until Congress intervenes and establishes broader AI rules. Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, an original squad member, says government must impose AI guardrails, and she co-authored the AI Civil Rights Act. It aims to prevent racially biased algorithms.

Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan introduced legislation to permanently ban large AI data centers on land owned or managed by the US, including military bases. Senator Bernie Sanders says big tech cannot be trusted to police itself. He argues that AI poses potentially catastrophic risks and wants the US to push for broad international agreements, a global governance to oversee AI development.

The CNN article I referenced earlier also stated that Obama is conversing with the leaders of all the major artificial intelligence companies, including Sam Altman of OpenAI, as well as executives at Google and Anthropic. Keep that in mind when the media, certain politicians, and social media commenters frame the AI and data center issue during this final stretch of the midterms. It's not a coincidence.

I'm not saying I know what the solution is or that we shouldn't be concerned about the potential dangers of AI, but I am saying that we're going to have to become more astute consumers of information. We're going to have to pay attention to the world we're living in. Politicians have gotten it wrong before. It was two decades ago when former Vice President Al Gore made some bold statements in his books about global warming.

He predicted Glacier National Park's glaciers would disappear by 2020. They're still there today. He said sea levels could rise by about 20 feet. In reality, a 20-foot rise has not remotely occurred since Gore's 2006 prediction. Gore, the United Nations, and other globalist groups generally lean toward the same tendency of emphasizing worst-case scenarios, then using fear to drive urgency and then calling for greater government intervention as the solution.

In this time, I propose that being anchored in truth is vital because we're walking through a season of change and unprecedented discontinuity. Let's take a big-picture view for a moment. For thousands of years, you could take a skill, a trade, a means of earning a livelihood, and a grandfather could pass those skills down to his grandson, and he would expect everything to go well.

We live in a very different world today. My grandfather's first job required him to have a team of horses, and he had to bring the team. I doubt very many people watching today would even know how to harness a team of horses. Here's another example of change. I've got access to more information on my cell phone right now than I had in most of the libraries I visited when I attended the university.

The rate of change brings tremendous discontinuity. It leaves us not understanding how to navigate where true north is to maintain our boundaries. It seems to me that we as a society are a bit dizzy with the boundaries and the moral perspectives in our lives—with right and wrong, with good and evil, with who we trust for information. We're seeing things that we're not familiar with and we're trying to sort it all out.

How do you stay anchored? The best way I know to maintain your equilibrium is to stay grounded in your Bible. I know that sounds like an oversimplification, but it's not. It's worth an investment of your time on a daily basis to read your Bible. Then determine to honor Christ in every area of your life so that you can walk in the light of his truth. If we'll do that, I promise there are more reasons for hope than despair.

In a moment, we'll hear from the former director of the Congressional Budget Office, Doug Holtz-Eakin. He's now the president of American Action Forum. I'll be right back.

I have a new book. It's called "Let's Pray for America." It's 30 prayers for America's future. I've had the honor of traveling around the world in the name of the Lord, and I can tell you this, there's just no place quite like America. You know we were founded upon biblical values. The biblical worldview shaped our founding documents, our educational system, and our legal system. From that, we have lived blessed lives in many, many ways. Not perfect, but with the blessings of God.

This is our 250th anniversary. We're celebrating God's faithfulness. It's also an election year. I want to encourage you to do two things: vote, but more importantly, pray. Prayers shape our future. Take this simple book, make it a part of your daily devotions, share it with your friends, and share it with your family. Make it a part of your life for these next few weeks. Prayers will shape our future more than politicians, politics, or ideologies. God's moving in the Earth. Let's join him. This book will help you.

Tonight we're joined by the president of the American Action Forum, Doug Holtz-Eakin. Welcome to the show, Doug.

Doug Holtz-Eakin: Thank you.

Allen Jackson: The Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released its final reading of the second quarter GDP, which showed the US economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.2%. That was a bit faster than they'd expected. What does that tell us?

Doug Holtz-Eakin: It was quite a surprise. This is the third estimate, and you usually don't see it move very much, and it moved substantially. We saw business investment—you've heard a lot about the AI boom and the construction that's behind it. That was nearly 10% annual rate, very fast.

But I thought the biggest surprise was household spending was very strong. 3.8% is a pretty big number for the household sector, and that included over 7% on durable goods. So that's an upgrade to the economy. It's good news.

Allen Jackson: We'll take good news. On the other side of the equation, the national debt has crossed $40 trillion. It doesn't seem to be showing any signs of slowing down. Some predictions say it'll grow to $54 trillion the next decade. What's the path forward with that debt?

Doug Holtz-Eakin: The flat truth is if we continue to do what we're doing, we will run into a financial crisis eventually. Eventually is the key word there. We don't know exactly when, but it would be wise for the United States government to change course and make the books balance a little better. Right now, we're borrowing $2 trillion every year and $1 trillion of it is interest on previous borrowing. That's no way to live.

Allen Jackson: You were the director of the Congressional Budget Office. A budget is a spending plan, and it seems to me we have lost any connection to planned spending in our nation. We just spend however we want to.

Doug Holtz-Eakin: I think you're putting it mildly. The reality is that the federal government has never had a budget. There's never been a single piece of paper on which the House, the Senate, and the White House agreed. They just come up with plans for the Congress, and the president has his own budget and they rarely match. Right now, we're not even doing that. It's time to get back to basics and decide what we are going to spend the money on and then raise the amount necessary to finance it.

Allen Jackson: At the midterm convention, the president announced that were the Republicans to control the Congress after these midterms, every American would get a $5,000 check. It made me really uncomfortable. The national debt, the buying of votes—it just doesn't seem like a good plan. Am I reading that wrong?

Doug Holtz-Eakin: You're not reading it wrong. If you add that up, that's $1.2 trillion of additional borrowing in a single year. That's not a good idea. It's also $1.2 trillion of stimulus in a single year. That's roughly what the Biden administration did and that gave us 9% inflation. I don't think we want to go there again.

Allen Jackson: Again, I'm somewhat simple. I live in Tennessee. But government doesn't have money. They can print money, but they have our money. So when I hear the government start distributing wealth, I get a little bit of a twitch because they're taking money they collect from us and then they're deciding who benefits from those dollars. There's got to be some more limits around that than we've had of late.

Doug Holtz-Eakin: We haven't had any serious attempt to control federal spending. And we have had big deficits for the past 25 years. It's just finally catching up with us. We've seen the economy not grow in the way that it did in the past and young people now not having the same opportunities. Now we've got the big debt we've got to clean up. It's time to change our ways.

Allen Jackson: The Federal Reserve weighed in on that. They raised interest rates last month for the first time in three years. They've got another meeting in October just ahead of the elections. Have you got any ideas on what they're going to do?

Doug Holtz-Eakin: They're signaling. Some of their officials have been giving speeches that they have time to wait and see what the data say. But we got an inflation report yesterday and it says that inflation is at 3.4% and that the core inflation's at 3% and it's been there for three years and has shown no signs of going south.

I think it's time for the Fed to get serious. They might have to raise rates again, but we've got to get inflation under control. Right now, it's rising faster than wages and people can't live like that.

Allen Jackson: I read an article this week that the Fed had a bit of an overrun on their own office remodeling project. If they can't manage their own office, why are they managing the rest of ours?

Doug Holtz-Eakin: Here's what we've learned. Number one, the good news is there doesn't appear to be any criminal activity involved in it. Number two, if you put 280 economists together, they can't build a building. It's time to give this job to somebody else.

Allen Jackson: I would agree. Affordability seems to be one of the biggest issues that Americans are weighing as they head to the ballot box this November. Have you got any imagination of what that impact's going to be?

Doug Holtz-Eakin: I think this is actually pretty simple. A lot of people point to affordability meaning beef prices, gas prices, or your health insurance. I think the fundamental problem is that right now inflation is rising faster than our wages. If you don't have enough money, you can't pay for your stuff. That's what unaffordability looks like. We need to get those reversed. We need to get wages rising faster, get the inflation under control, and then people will be able to afford things with their paycheck.

Allen Jackson: It also feels like emotion is driving so much of the momentum as we move into this election. I'm grateful for emotions, but they're really lousy predictors for the best behaviors in our lives. And yet the media seems determined to create emotions that work towards the candidates they favor. How do we sort through all the clutter and get to the facts?

Doug Holtz-Eakin: One of the things I learned when I was on a presidential campaign is that nothing works like fear and anger. People aren't telling you the facts; they're trying to get you angry or afraid of somebody. Try to put aside those emotions and ask what's the issue here and what are the facts on it.

Right now, many people in the economy are doing very well and you hear only that it's in terrible shape. There are going to be some people who are in trouble. Let's figure out how to help them and not paint with a broad brush.

Allen Jackson: Because there really are some wonderful indicators. We're energy independent, and investment in American manufacturing is at unprecedented levels. There's a number of things that suggest our future could be really positive if we can sustain the direction we're in. But that's not the emotion we have to go with it, is it?

Doug Holtz-Eakin: No, it's not. It's really quite striking. At the top of this segment, we talked about the numbers on GDP; they're tremendous. Unemployment's 4.1%. It's been in the low fours—historically very low for a long time now. Inflation's at 3%. I'm not a fan of that, but that's not nine, and we've had nine. In many ways, the economy looks really good, but you would not know that if you looked at the surveys of how people feel about the economy. I think they're not seeing the whole picture.

Allen Jackson: Doug, we need to take a short break. Can you standby for another segment?

Doug Holtz-Eakin: Sure.

Allen Jackson: For those of you watching, if you've got a phone nearby, try logging on to ajnow.com. Send me an email with your thoughts on this topic. We'd love to hear them. I'll be right back.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us a handful of times: do not worry. Well, here's what I know about Jesus. If he tells us not to do something, it's possible for us to put it down. We've put together a six-week email series to help each of us lead lives free of worry. We live in a tumultuous world, lots of confusion, but I don't believe we have to be plagued by worry. You can go to allenjackson.com/freedom and sign up for the email series. Let's live worry-free.

Truth matters. I'm not talking about your truth or my truth, but the truth. On "Allen Jackson NOW," I talk with top voices and insiders about what's happening today. Because it's easy to look away from evil, and when you do that, it gets worse and worse and worse. Including the economy: "I expect a very strong year in 2026." Conflicts in the Middle East: "And if there's something that is evil and you're silent and you don't speak out against it, you're agreeing with it." Energy, political unrest: "They're trying to thwart the law to benefit them politically." You'll be surprised at how much isn't covered by the legacy media. Well, our goal is to equip you, to help find a trustworthy perspective on what's happening around us. So when you have conversations throughout your day, you can bring the truth you learn into those places. It's time to be salt and light. Our nation needs it.

We're back now with the president of the American Action Forum, Doug Holtz-Eakin. Doug, it seems like AI captures a great deal of the conversation around our economic future and what's coming. President Trump recently made some statements. He gathered the leaders to the White House. Listen to what he said and then I've got a question.

Guest (Donald Trump): These are the most brilliant people in the world and the job they've done is unbelievable. We have a very big lead and we're going to keep our lead and it's a very positive thing. It's an amazing industry. There are those that say it's bigger than the Industrial Revolution.

Allen Jackson: It's been reported that AI could force 11 million US workers into new careers by 2035. That's about 6.5% of the current workforce. I guess that's better than 11 million people losing their job, but AI is going to bring sweeping changes to us, isn't it? How do we prepare?

Doug Holtz-Eakin: I think the reality is that it's already done some things that we didn't expect. First of all, the big construction boom has provided opportunities for a lot of blue-collar workers that weren't anticipated. A lot of construction, a lot of the skilled trades. That's going to continue to happen.

Things that we didn't expect are going to shift. The actuarial sciences are going to be changed; people reading X-rays are going to change. But I don't think it's going to be 11 million people in a year. This is something that will happen over time. It's something that the US economy historically has been able to adapt to, and I expect it to do it again. The best thing to do is to be ready for it by educating yourself so that you have the skills to shift from one occupation to another. That's the best insurance for almost anybody.

Allen Jackson: There's a lot of voices, especially progressive voices, clamoring for greater government control of AI, even global control of AI. I don't seem to have a memory of the government bringing greater efficiency or greater benefits. Do we really want them driving AI?

Doug Holtz-Eakin: No, we don't. And there isn't a thing called AI. There are a zillion things which are very capital-intensive programming skills that are going to be deployed across the economy. The government's not good at things like that. Companies are very good at trying to figure out what tools they need to make their workers more productive. That's what these AI tools will look like. They're already showing up in some places. They've been around actually for decades in their primitive forms. So we should make sure that the workers are safe, we should make sure the products are safe, and we should let the firms figure out how to use these technologies.

Allen Jackson: I think your point is very well taken. There's not a thing that's AI; it's really a description of how technology's going to interface our lives. We want that to bring the maximum benefit, so we don't have to be afraid of it, we just need to figure it out.

Doug Holtz-Eakin: We need to figure it out and we need to keep in mind that it's going to allow some of our workers to be much more productive than they otherwise would. This is a good news story for a lot of people. It's being portrayed as nothing but bad news and I don't think that's fair.

Allen Jackson: We watched the frenzy over first global warming and then climate change drive all sorts of policies that had sweeping economic impact. Then we found we didn't have as much change as they told us. I feel a bit of that same fear-mongering around AI. We survived the introduction of the internet. I think we can flourish with the introduction of this new set of technologies as well, can't we?

Doug Holtz-Eakin: I think we can. There's no question. There are a small number of very high-profile technologies, these so-called cutting-edge AIs, where the regulations may or may not have to be a little bit stronger. But that's a tiny fraction of this. That's the tip of the iceberg. The vast majority of it is just more productivity that allows us to pay people better and to produce products that are much more competitive around the globe. That's all good news.