• • The Army recently announced it will fail to meet its critical recruiting requirements for the second year in a row. The nation’s main ground force could experience a significant decline of up to 7% within a mere two-year timeframe.

• • The Army is not the only branch falling short with the Navy expecting to fall about 6,000 short of its goals, and the Air Force around 10,000 when taking into account the active component, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve.

By: Meaghan Mobbs

• A college diploma does not guarantee higher productivity; relevant experience can be more valuable. Increasingly private and some public employers are removing diploma requirements for different jobs. 
• In lieu of degree requirements, employers should audit their hiring process, look for talent in non-traditional places, and groom talent in-house.
  
• Combating degree inflation can reverse shrinking labor force participation, boost productivity in the public and private sectors, and expand middle-class opportunities to people who are excluded from pathways to upward mobility. 

By: Patrice Onwuka

• • Nutrition is dynamic and confusing, and the government’s constant flip-flopping on the guidance and fear-mongering of certain consumables (like eggs, meat, and alcohol) doesn’t help.
  • The human body is complicated. Genetics play a big role in health. The Dietary Guidelines simply can’t provide individualized guidance that accounts for different needs.
  • Today, consumers can figure out the diet that’s best for them using a variety of sources. It’s time to do away with government dietary guidelines for good.

By: Patricia Patnode

• There are numerous tools and policy options available today that could restore our energy systems and deliver a steady supply of affordable heat.
• These tools include making fossil fuels cleaner and more efficient, ending specialized subsidies for certain renewable energy sources, ensuring grid reliability or resiliency standards are technology-neutral, establishing balanced environmental standards, and more.

By: Mandy Gunasekara

• Women dominate gig economy work when separating out ridesharing and delivery services.
• Women are selling used kids’ clothes, engaged in food/grocery delivery, tutoring, babysitting, and other activities arranged through online apps. 

By: Patrice Onwuka

• When parents clearly cannot rehabilitate, officials need not drag matters out for children.
  
• We don’t have enough homes for children who need foster care, so we need to protect faith-based foster agencies, who do most of the work in this space, from activists trying to shut them down.
  
• We must realize that even if policies mitigated the shortage of foster families, some vulnerable children would still have behavioral and mental health problems that need residential care.

By: Naomi Schaefer Riley