Wednesday, November 5, 2025

List of 10 Current Major Issues facing the US that Political Leaders need to address - Draft 2025

Here’s a list of 10 major issues facing the United States that political leaders ought to address. These are drawn from recent research and assessments of the current national situation. The initial list was generated by Chat GPT. Add your own major priorities to this list.

Economic pressure: inflation, cost of living & household affordability
  • A large share of Americans say inflation remains a “very big problem.”  
  • The affordability of health care has climbed sharply as a concern.  
  • Political leaders need to address rising prices, stagnant wages for many workers, housing costs, and support for lower-income households.
Federal fiscal health & national debt
  • National Debt and rising health care are flagged as “perhaps the greatest long-term threat.” The top 1% wealthy corporations and individuals could pay a one time trillion dollar tax and pay off the US National Debt, and still have trillions left over.
  • The growing ratio of debt to GDP constrains government flexibility for policy, programs and future generations.  
Healthcare system & public health challenges 
  • Affordability and access to universal healthcare are top concerns for the public.  
  • The system needs reform for cost, access, preventative care, and public health infrastructure that must be strengthened.
Education, workforce readiness & inequality of opportunity
  • Education is also a growing policy battleground for the US.  
  • Gaps in educational outcomes, access to higher-skill jobs, and regional differences (urban vs rural) point to opportunity inequities.
  • The US must invest in education, vocational training, and adapt to changing labour market.
Technological change, especially AI, and more effective regulation
  • Emerging technologies (AI, robotics, quantum computing) are flagged as some of the biggest issues to watch for in the coming decade.  
  • These raise questions of job disruption, privacy, fairness, bias, regulatory frameworks.
  • Political leadership must develop smart governance for tech while preserving innovation.
Political polarization, governance and institutional trust
  • Many surveys show concern about poor government leadership and an inability of the political system to work.  
  • Broader institutional trust in media, government, etc. is also weak.
  • Leaders need to rebuild trust, improve bipartisanship or at least functional governance, and strengthen democratic norms.
Infrastructure, resilience including climate & disaster vulnerability
  • Insurance markets, disaster-risk, and infrastructure resilience are under pressure due to more frequent extreme climate disasters.  
  • Aging infrastructure, under-investment and climate-related risks all compound the problem.
  • Political leaders must invest in emerging infrastructure and build more resilience transportation, utilities, broadband, disaster readiness.
Immigration and demographic change
  • Immigration, particularly illegal immigration, regularly appears among the top public issues.  
  • Demographic shifts and aging population affect labour force, social services, and fiscal burdens as well.  
  • Leaders must craft sustainable immigration policy, integrate newcomers, and plan for demographic change, e.g., older population.
Social equity, opportunity gaps & civil rights
  • Issues of unequal opportunity—whether by race, region, socioeconomic status—remain central as the gap between the wealthy and workers grows..  
  • Ensuring all citizens have access to education, healthcare, food and economic opportunity is key for social stability and fairness.
Global competitiveness, security & trade dynamics
  • The U.S. is operating in a more contested global environment, i.e.technology, trade, diplomacy.  
  • To maintain economic and strategic strength, U.S. leaders must better handle trade policy, alliances, technology leadership, supply-chain resilience.
  • Domestic defense and trade policy intersects with foreign policy in important ways.
Why this list of priorities matters
  • All of these issues are interconnected: e.g., economic pressure + workforce readiness + tech change → all affecting each other.They require long-term  strategy, not just short-term fixes.
  • Many of these issues involve structural problems (debt, demographic change, climate, healthcare, education, technological infrastructure) will unfold over decades.
  • Public sentiment surveys shows these issues matter to people—even if they prioritize them differently.
What other major issues and priorities should be added to the list above?



No comments:

Post a Comment