Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.Please reply to this email to arrange an interview.

More Bad Policies and Government Spending Will Worsen Labor Shortage <[link removed]> – The Biden administration and liberal politicians want to enact policies that will double down on these troubling employment trends by further inflating the demand for goods and services with
$3.5 trillion of government spending and policies that would further limit the supply of available workers by making it easier for able-bodied individuals to sit on the sidelines. Such massive spending would stoke fiscal distress and inflation concerns and add insult to injury for struggling businesses by raising taxes on employers, imposing new
regulations on businesses, and micromanaging employer and employee relationships. Instead of spending more money to enact even more barriers to employment and growth, policymakers should seek to remove existing barriers to employment and higher incomes. Heritage expert: Rachel Greszler <[link removed]>

Schools Group That Urged Attorney General’s Anti-Parent Initiative Has Ties to Democrats, Unions <[link removed]> – The National School Boards Association, which urged the Biden administration to use federal law enforcement to investigate parents who speak out on local education matters, has
political ties to the Democratic Party and labor unions. The national association represents members of locally elected school boards, which usually are officially nonpartisan, and is a federation of state school board associations. Although most funding for the National School Boards Association comes from state
school boards, the National Education Association—the nation’s largest teachers union and a major donor to Democrat candidates—contributed in the past two years. The teachers union contributed $68,000 to the national association in 2020 and $50,000 in 2019, according to union reports to the Labor Department. Each contribution is a relatively tiny portion of the association’s annual $19.2 million in revenue and $17.2 million in expenses. Heritage expert: Fred Lucas <[link removed]>

Xi Jinping’s Taiwan saber-rattling is all about
shoring up domestic power <[link removed]> – Xi will likely stoke nationalist fervor, both by sounding the alarm about “splittists” on Taiwan and blaming foreign powers,
especially the United States and Japan, for trying to tear China apart. He can invoke the need to defend territorial integrity to justify military saber-rattling, while also enhancing the military’s image as guardians of the nation as well as party. Mobilizing a “rally around the flag” public sentiment will help mute critics and reinforce his own standing. This pattern, along with increased military confrontation with other neighbors such as India and Japan, is unlikely to abate before the 20th Party Congress late next year. All of which suggests that tensions in the Taiwan Straits, and indeed across the Asian littoral, will remain high for months to come. Heritage expert: Dean
Cheng <[link removed]>
<[link removed]>

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