Bill Whelan

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Bill Whelan? No, Whelan, no.

Billy.

Bill

The regulatory states AI safeguards and roadblocks to affordability, with polls showing the public wanting more government oversight of artificial intelligence and some AI leaders themselves begging Congress and the White House to step in.

What's a sensible path forward at both the federal and state levels? Research fellow Patrick McLaughlin joins distinguished policy fellow Bill Whelan to discuss how to avoid what he calls the 50-state tollbooth problem for AI.

Also discussed, why regulatory reform and the concept of lowering consumer prices by thinning red tape isn't part of the election year conversation.

How Idaho, Virginia, and British Columbia made deregulation work in their respective jurisdictions.

Joining us now for all the upcoming opportunities in the aerospace and broader defense space is Bill Whelan, portfolio manager and partner at Cloud Capital.

Bill, thanks so much for joining us on this Tuesday.

Now, defense stocks have seen a pretty substantial repricing, unfortunately, to the downside this year, despite ongoing conflicts around the world.

Yeah, execution does remain still.

I think a bit of a, we need to see that consistency from an execution standpoint, but at least a lot of favorability as far as the recent picture we've gotten from earnings, but really appreciate it.

Great conversation today, Bill Whelan, Portfolio Manager and Partner

at Cloud Capital.

It's Wednesday, September 30th, 2026, and you're listening to Matters of Policy and Politics, a podcast devoted to the discussion of Hoover Institution research and issues of local, national, and geopolitical concern.

I'm Bill Whelan.

I'm the Hoover Institution's Virginia Hobbs Carpenter Distinguished Policy Fellow in Journalism.

But I'm not the only Hoover Fellow who's podcasting these days.

That was during the Obama administration, where his portfolio included a climate research program and energy technology strategy.

Stephen, thanks for coming on the show today.

Great to be chatting with you, Bill.

So, research from my own shows, according to the Electric Choice website, Stephen, there are about 2,100 data centers across the U.S., another 620-plus are under construction.

California, subject for debate.

In a post-debate installment of California on Your Mind, distinguished policy fellow Bill Whelan evaluates how the only scheduled debate between California's gubernatorial candidates went down on television.

Javier Becerra, the Democrat and frontrunner, played it safe as expected, Whelan writes, while Steve Hilton, the Republican challenger, talked about big ideas and held Becerra's feet to the fire.

But he missed out on the chance to dig into actual policy problems.