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Average American is losing $34K and everything else on Biden’s watch <[link removed]> - Have you taken a peek at the balance in your 401(k) retirement accounts lately? Here’s our advice: Don’t bother. It will ruin your whole day, week and month. Here’s why: We’ve now had seven straight months of 8%+ inflation. A year ago we were assured by the White House economic wizards that these rapid price increases in everything from groceries, to rental cars, to gasoline <[link removed]> at the pump, to health insurance were merely “transitory.” Whoops. The average 401(k) plan had over $135,000 at the start of this year. Today, those assets have shrunk on average to about $101,000. In other words, the average 401(k) plan is down about $34,000 — more than 25% in less than one year! (In terms of purchasing power, inflation also has brought the “real value,” in 2021 dollars, of the average 401(k) down another $5,000, from $101,000 to $96,000.) A year ago, the White House insultingly tweeted out that inflation is merely “a high-class problem.”
Wrong. The victims of ever higher prices at the store and the gas pump are not the millionaires, but the little guys — and, in particular, older Americans — whose paychecks and savings accounts get walloped. Heritage Expert: EJ Antoni <[link removed]> 
 
The U.S. Marine Corps Has a Choice: Transform or Die <[link removed]> - For years, the Corps has said it must be “most ready when the nation is least ready.” Where is the nation least ready today? In its ability to confront the most advanced threats since the early days of the
Cold War. Force Design 2030 will deliver a Corps with new combined-arms formations organized for distributed operations against the most capable enemies, equipped to prevent an enemy from controlling key terrain on land, at sea, and in the air, and trained to project naval power and larger, Joint Force capabilities anywhere on the planet. Some critics worry that the Corps is proceeding too quickly,
that it does not yet have sufficient buy-in from the other services—especially the Navy, whose ships are an essential component to operations. There is some merit to this argument, but only some. If the Commandant waited until he got broad concurrence from all interested parties, until the Navy got its ship-building act together, until the Joint Force was fully on-board, until all applicable concepts were fully proved in a range of operational settings, until all processes and systems bearing upon the matter were perfected, then nothing would ever get done. His tour as Commandant would end with no progress made in any area. The Corps’ bold approach shows progress and application in real-world settings. It demonstrates seriousness and practical utility. And it has strong support in Congress <[link removed]> and among the regional combatant commanders <[link removed]>. If the Corps does not transform, it will die the death of irrelevance, useful only as an adjunct to the U.S. Army or for small, crisis-response missions like reinforcing an embassy, the type of task for which the U.S. military has other options. If the Corps does not transform, it will lose the things that differentiate it from the Army or the special operations community. Heritage Expert: Dakota Wood <[link removed]> 
 
The Democrats Are Losing Black Men. The Moynihan Report Explains Why <[link removed]> – It might be
surprising that only 20 percent of Black men have defected to the Republican Party, which can only be explained by the Democrats' claim to be the only viable party on race; the Left sells itself as the guardian against the ever-present threat of Jim Crow (and his offspring—James Crow, Esq. <[link removed]>, Jim Eagle, <[link removed]> and Jimmy Crow <[link removed]>). The cynical manipulation of America's bloody racial history for the sake of political loyalty—a phenomenon I call the "Selma Syndrome <[link removed]>"—is one of the strongest forces holding Black voters in place right now. But BLM's alleged financial mismanagement helped many Black men realize that our deaths are being used as raw material for the Left's pursuit of political power and financial gain. Democrats can feel their grip slipping. People who use their platforms to decry masculinity can't also claim to care about men. The Moynihan report included a quote from Dorothy Height, former president of the National
Council of Negro Women, that still holds true today: "If the [Black] woman has a major underlying concern, it is the status of the [Black] man and his position in the community and his need for feeling himself an important person, free and able to make his contribution in the whole society in order that he may strengthen his home." Height understood something today's liberals don't: Disaffected
and alienated men—of any color—do not help build strong homes or communities. Heritage Expert: Delano Squires <[link removed]> 
 
The Troubling New Changes to North Korea’s Nuclear Doctrine <[link removed]> - North Korea’s relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons and missiles poses an increasing risk to South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Pyongyang could use its ability to target the entire continental United States with nuclear weapons to deter Washington from coming to the aid of its allies. The regime’s development of a dozen or more new capable tactical missile systems and announced intent to deploy improved tactical nuclear weapons for battlefield use further raises the specter of nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang continues to reject all allied requests for negotiations on denuclearization, arms control, tension reduction, or confidence-building measures. As such, South Korea, Japan, and the United States must take appropriate measures to protect their national security by augmenting and improving their deterrence and defense capabilities. Heritage Expert: Bruce Klingner <[link removed]> 
 
Central Bank Digital Currencies: Potential Financial Catastrophe in Search of a Problem <[link removed]> -
The White House released a framework <[link removed]> recently on regulation of digital assets that included a call for the
Federal Reserve and Treasury Department to continue behind-the-scenes efforts to impose a government-run cryptocurrency known as a Central Bank Digital Coin. A Central Bank Digital Coin would be one of the most authoritarian—and one of the most reckless—government scheme of the past 50 years. It would gamble with our economy and our financial system, threaten our fundamental liberties, and could, ironically, reduce the dollar’s existing prestige. Instead of copying China’s shriveled financial markets and totalitarian surveillance, Congress should respect and support market solutions to the domestic problems government has already created, solutions from private stablecoins to CashApp and other payment apps. If there is any role for the federal government to play in how we use our dollars, it’s to proactively get out of the way. Heritage Expert: Peter St. Onge <[link removed]>  
 
Silenced for Their Discomfort: New Daily Signal Video Tells Story of Vermont High School Girls Attacked for Protesting the Male in Their Locker Room <[link removed]>—The Daily Signal,
the media arm of The Heritage Foundation, released a powerful video <[link removed]> featuring four high school girls who have been the targets of significant backlash for speaking out against their school allowing a male in their locker
room. Mary Margaret Olohan <[link removed]>, a senior reporter for The Daily Signal, interviewed the girls this week in Randolph, Vermont. These volleyball players tell The Daily Signal they don’t bear any ill will toward the “transgender-identifying” student, but it makes them uncomfortable to have a male in the room when they are changing. "It’s not fully the trans student’s fault. It is much more the school board’s fault and they’re failing everyone—not just the volleyball team, not the transgender student. They just want people to be in trouble and they’re not trying to help make a change,” 14-year-old Blake, a freshman volleyball player, says in the video. Blake and other teenage girls detail an incident <[link removed]> in September when a male student who “identifies” as transgender came in the Randolph Union High School’s locker room while girls were dressing.  The Daily Signal Reporter: Mary Margaret Olohan <[link removed]> 
 
‘Michigan could become Texas’ — Voters see stark choice on abortion referendum <[link removed]>— At face value, proponents of
Michigan’s Proposition 3 constitutional amendment argue that it would protect a woman’s right to choose an abortion. What they fail to mention, however, is that it would enable a woman to get an abortion for all nine months of pregnancy, destroy parental rights, encourage minors to make life-changing decisions about their reproductive capability under the influence of ideologically motived schoolteachers or adults, and overshadow the state’s ban on taxpayer funding going towards abortion, contraception,
cross-sex hormones, and more. The amendment does not specify who is included as an “individual,” or if there are any age requirements. Because of the amendments text, a minor is guaranteed these rights regardless of parental consent. Additionally, it’s definition of “reproductive freedom” includes, but is not limited to, abortion, pregnancy, sterilization surgeries, contraception, and infertility treatments. This is huge. The amendment would not only ensure access to abortion for all nine months of pregnancy (given the weak “life, mental health, or physical health” exception for the mother), but it would preempt the nearly 70 state laws that address each of these areas of reproductive freedom. In short, the amendment would give minors or adult men/woman the right to abortion, transgender surgeries, cross-sex hormones, and even IVF/surrogacy. Heritage Expert: Emma Waters <[link removed]> 
 
If You Like Your Uber, Can You Keep Your Uber? <[link removed]> - The new rule, if adopted as proposed, would add another layer of complexity to small businesses, independent drivers, and potential enforcement actions. The Internal Revenue Service has a 20-factor test for independent contractors, and anti-discrimination laws have their own common-law test. In addition, States have their own criteria for unemployment, workers compensation, wage and hour rules, and taxes. It is already difficult for small businesses and independent contractors, who have little knowledge of law, to stay out of trouble. Americans do not want to move back to the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and most of the 20th century, when people had to rely on hailing a passing taxi or go to a taxi stand to find one. In those days the platform economy, with Uber and DoorDash, was unimaginable. The new Labor Department proposed rule would be a serious setback for people who use app-based ride share services and drivers who provide them. Who knows if your Uber will survive? Heritage Expert: Diana Furchtgott-Roth <[link removed]>

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