According to Hal Brands, America’s position toward Communist China has strengthened significantly since the beginning of 2023. Brands says US policymakers have made “real progress in two areas: Creating a workable defense strategy in the Western Pacific, and waging the technological cold war with Beijing.” He highlights recent developments, such as semiconductor sanctions and closer ties with the Philippines.

In his State of the Union address on February 7, President Joe Biden reintroduced several tax proposals he has previously endorsed. Kyle Pomerleau reviews these priorities, which included quadrupling the excise tax on stock buybacks and expanding the child tax credit, and identifies some potential consequences for the federal budget, businesses, and households.

Mackenzie Eaglen and William C. Greenwalt celebrate the Army’s embrace of multiyear procurement contracts, which Congress recently authorized, and argue that other services should follow suit. “These contracts send a steady demand signal to companies,” write Eaglen and Greenwalt, “incentivizing them to ramp up capacity, expand workforces and invest their own funds in research and development.”

In the latest report for AEI’s Survey Center on American Life, Daniel A. Cox finds profound shifts in Americans’ experiences of dating and relationships. Surveying more than 5,000 adults age 18 and above, Cox observes that the historic decline in marriage has been accompanied by a rise in cohabitation and the share of Americans in committed relationships who have never married.