Ep 81 | Bob Stein | Will Populist Politics Upend the 2026 Midterms…and the Economy? | ROI Podcast

First Trust Deputy Chief Economist Bob Stein joins the ROI Podcast for a pre-midterm check-in on populist politics and its economic implications. The episode covers bipartisan pushback on data center construction and permitting, the debate over AI regulation and frontier model companies' calls for rules, and the outlook for the Social Security Trust Fund.

1. Stein argues hostility toward data centers is bipartisan and political ahead of the midterms, citing pauses or moratoriums attributed to governors in Texas, New York and Pennsylvania.
2. He says data centers and AI have been a leading source of economic growth and argues slowing construction carries national security and competitiveness costs relative to China.
3. He describes calls by leading AI companies for regulation as partly regulatory capture aimed at slowing competitors, while conceding he is not a technology specialist.
4. The episode also addresses the long-term solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund.