The Pointer: The American Worker is Top of Mind

Expanding opportunity and mobility for women and workers

Welcome to the August edition of The Pointer newsletter. As we approach Labor Day, we anticipate the Biden Department of Labor will unleash an unslaught of worrying labor regulations affecting millions of independent contractors and small businesses. Plus, European tech regulations will affect U.S. businesses while AI may not be as disruptive to American workers as expected.

Check out the latest tech, labor, and economic analysis below from Independent Women's Forum’s Center for Economic Opportunity.

Think someone on your team would like this newsletter? Pass it on.

BREAKING: CEO staff and fellows pen five-part series in the Washington Examiner on women’s labor force issues. Look out for the op-eds each day around Labor Day.

CHARTING TRENDS

ON THE MARK

Daily Caller | President Biden Fleeced Americans On The Inflation Reduction Act

On the first anniversary of President Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), two facts are true about this law: it was never intended to bring down inflation, and it has not brought inflation down. Through the deceptively marketed plan, the president exposed that his only priority has ever been enacting a radical and elitist green agenda. Meanwhile, hardworking poor and middle-class Americans are left to tread water as inflation sinks households deeper into financial trouble.

[Keep reading]

WHAT'S THE POINT

EU Tech Regulations Undermine American Competitiveness And Innovation
Although the Digital Service Act (DSA)—along with the competition-focused Digital Markets Act (DMA)—is set to transform how technology companies operate in Europe, the spillover effects will certainly be felt here at home.

Study Finds ChatGPT Is Politically Biased To Left
These findings also point to a market opening for a more politically-neutral entrant in the booming Wild West that is AI.

IWF Supports Ohio Removing Barriers to Practicing Lawyers
Ohio is one of the few states that require lawyers in private or public practice to work full-time for five of the previous ten years to be admitted without examination. This is an onerous requirement for all lawyers who move from another state to Ohio or work part-time.

PUTTING A FACE ON IT

IWF Public Comment: HHS Proposed Rulemaking on Child Care Access, Affordability, and Stability

Independent Women's Forum is tremendously concerned that the Department of the Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration of Children and Families’ proposal would take America’s childcare infrastructure in the wrong direction—making it harder for parents to find the types of childcare arrangements they prefer, making it harder for parents to keep a child home in a family-care setting, and making our childcare infrastructure less diverse rather than more.

In particular, we are concerned that subsidizing certain childcare facilities and making them beholden to government regulators—rather than parents—can lead to worse outcomes, including higher childcare costs and inferior quality.

[Keep reading]

ON OUR RADAR

ICYMI | Independent Women’s Forum Celebrates The Pursuit And Protection Of Female Opportunities On Women’s Equality Day

Hot Take | Bud Light Could Take A Page From Porsche

Blog | Unfair Tariffs Create Problems For U.S. Food Supply

FINAL THOUGHT

“If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman."

—2024 Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley quoting Margaret Thatcher during this week's Republican debate

Have a safe Labor Day!
Patrice Onwuka
Director, Center for Economic Opportunity, IWF

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