USAFacts — the nonpartisan civic data initiative founded by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer — is stepping out of its usual spreadsheet-and-report routine and onto the debate stage, launching its first-ever YouTube debate special titled “The American Dream at 250: Data doesn’t argue. They do.”
The 75-minute program pairs conservative commentator and Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro with progressive author and NYU Stern professor Scott Galloway to hash out escalating cost-of-living pressures and the viability of homeownership — all while tethering their arguments to official government numbers. PBS NewsHour co-anchor Geoff Bennett moderated.
Ballmer steers the effort from the organization’s Fact Desk, leaning into USAFacts’ core mission of grounding national political flashpoints in verified government numbers rather than partisan rhetoric.
“Americans can disagree about the role of government in their lives, but productive debate begins with a shared understanding of the numbers,” USAFacts President Lauren Woodman said in a news release Wednesday, explaining that the project is designed to give the public a common factual baseline to evaluate competing policy choices.
The debate focused on three core economic questions, using federal data as a launching pad:
Capitalism vs. government intervention: The debaters tackled whether free markets or government programs are better equipped to preserve the American Dream and address mounting economic pressures.
The scale of government: They sparred over whether Washington is currently doing too much or too little to intervene in the everyday lives and finances of citizens.
The housing crisis and homeownership: The discussion zeroed in on whether homeownership remains a realistic milestone of the American Dream for younger generations, and whether the government should step in to make housing more attainable.
Founded by Ballmer in 2017 with $10 million of his own money, Bellevue, Wash.-based USAFacts operates like a reporting unit for the public sector, aggregating statistics from over 70 federal sources.
The organization is best known for publishing annual corporate-style “10-K” reports on government revenue and spending, as well as running a data-driven “State of the Union” companion timed to the president’s annual address to Congress.
Watch the full debate below: