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Connecting today’s news with the research & opinion you need.

Soy Burger in Paradise?

What to Know: They’re coming for your burger.

“Americans will need to cut their average consumption of beef by about 40% and Europeans by 22%, for the world to continue to feed the 10 billion people expected to live on this planet in 2050, according to a new report,” the Denver Channel reports. “That means each person could have about a burger and a half each week. This calculation comes from the World Resources Institute, a global research nonprofit that supports better use of natural resources to sustain a growing population.”

The TPPF Take: Just as Thomas Malthus was wrong in 1798 and Paul Ehrlich was wrong in 1968, the World Resources Institute is wrong now; food is now cheaper and more abundant than it has ever been.

“This is just the latest example of what U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff admitted recently—that the Green New Deal was never about the environment; it was always about forcing the masses to change their behaviors,” says TPPF’s Jason Isaac. “The Green New Deal boils down to one question: Do you really want the government telling you where to live, what you can eat, and what kind of car you can drive?”

This Isn't News

What to Know: High deductibles are discouraging even those with insurance from getting health care.

“Very poor Americans, millions of whom gained coverage through the 2010 Affordable Care Act, can see a doctor or go to the hospital at virtually no cost, thanks to Medicaid, the half-century-old government safety-net program,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “Squeezed in the middle are legions of working Americans who face stagnant wages, insurance premiums that take more and more of their paychecks and soaring deductibles that leave them with medical bills they can’t afford. ‘The system increasingly doesn’t work for this group in the middle,’ said Drew Altman, longtime head of the Kaiser Family Foundation, or KFF, a California nonprofit that researches the U.S. health system.”

The TPPF Take: High deductibles are just one way in which the Affordable Care Act has failed.

“These large financial obligations left to the patient often leave them in the position of not being able to afford to see the doctor, despite having insurance,” says TPPF’s David Balat. “And this makes it clear—health insurance is not synonymous with health care. We need a system in which everyone has more choices, not fewer, and the government role is limited to a safety net.”

Working for Opportunity 

What to Know: Two Florida lawmakers—U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican, and U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Democrat—have filed legislation to create a commission to study the social status of black men and boys.

“A lack of economic opportunity and prosperity for black men is a tragedy for our nation. The United States needs their talents to solve the challenges of our time.” Rubio said in a statement. “It is intolerable and unacceptable that many black men come to believe, often for good reason, that the American Dream is not available to them. I remain passionate about working to find a solution to these problems and am proud to join Senators Harris and Booker in introducing this important, bipartisan and bicameral legislation to establish the Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys.”

The TPPF Take: It’s vital that our nation learn why many black men and boys seem left behind.

“I think that it is important to examine the status of African Americans both in Texas and across the country,” says TPPF’s Bradford Traywick. “That's why the work that TPPF is embarking on through the Booker T. Washington Initiative is so important. We have to create policy that addresses the condition of African Americans and then creates opportunity for them truly prosper and take part in the American Dream.”