I Do Not Think That Word Means What You Think It Means
What to Know: The Biden administration is changing the definition of “recession,” just ahead of Thursday’s economic reports.
The TPPF Take: Changing the definition won’t take the pain away.
“The Biden administration would like to deflect any cause for concern about a recession given its poor approval rating below 40%, but the evidence of crushed income, savings, and dreams felt by many Americans prove this is not a good economic situation whether they want to call it a recession or not,” says TPPF’s Vance Ginn. “But the last 10 times there were two consecutive quarters of negative real GDP growth there was a called recession.”
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Social Media is Harmful to Children
What to Know: Instagram and other social media giants are facing lawsuits and accusations that their content and algorithms are harming the mental health of children.
The TPPF Take: It’s time to regulate social media for minors, just as we regulate alcohol and tobacco.
“The fact of the matter is that the limited benefits minors get from social media are not worth their lives,” says TPPF’s Zach Whiting. “No amount of mental illness and physical anguish is worth the ‘connectivity’ that can easily be made through in-person interaction. But if you still aren’t convinced, know this: social media’s own executives and tycoons are wary of their product’s powerful influence on children.”
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This Isn’t Math
What to Know: “Social emotional learning” (SEL) has crept into a Florida math textbook, and parents are upset.
The TPPF Take: SEL is actually providing another portal for prohibited concepts like critical race theory to enter and thrive in K-12 classrooms.
“The question for Texas, like other states that have made efforts to remove critical-theory-based concepts from K-12 classrooms, is how to close and lock the door — to prevent social justice warriors and activist teachers from using SEL materials and their own values to evade the intent of ‘prohibited concept’” legislation,” says TPPF’s Carol Swain.
For more on SEL, click here.