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Infrastructure Bill: Early last week, the Senate passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill. In short, the bill focuses on investments in roads, railways, bridges, and broadband internet. Still, it does not include investments into what Biden has called “human infrastructure”—including money allocated for childcare and tax credits for families. The package calls for $550 billion in new spending over five years.

Andrew Kelly | Reuters

1 million Jobs: Surprisingly, the U.S. is facing an interesting challenge ahead—how to fill 10 million job openings with about a million fewer workers than positions available. Last week, the Department of Labor reported there are some 8.7 million potential workers who have been looking for jobs and are counted among the unemployed.

Qualified Charitable Donations: If you, or someone you know, is approaching or in the age of Required Distributions, this might be a cue to shift your donation strategy. To avoid the tax hit, people aged 72 and older can direct their required distribution from a traditional IRA to eligible charitable donations. Here are a few solutions to be aware of: (1) Designated Fund—you specify the charity you want to donate to, (2) Field-of-Interest Fund—you donate based on your stated fields of interest or (3) Unrestricted Fund—your donation is given to where community needs are most substantial. Be in touch with your advisor if you’d like to hear more.

Stagflation: Stag what? The term stagflation is regaining circulation as inflation has sharply risen in the past months. The term is often associated with runaway inflation and lackluster economic growth. One way to measure this is by looking at inflation plus unemployment. While we are nowhere near where we were in the 1970s, the numbers are higher, yet experts do expect inflation to ease soon, the unemployment rate to steadily decline, allowing us to level out our long-term average. Bottom line: we continue to see economic growth, even if it’s slow. Sometimes slower growth is more sustainable as it keeps inflation at bay.

100 meters in less than 11 Seconds: An average person can run 100 meters in 27 seconds. But David Brown, who was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease as a toddler, had lost his sight by 13. A natural athlete, David eventually found a running guide. And then he became the only blind person to ever run the 100-meter in under 11 seconds. David’s story is told in the movie, Untethered—which is particularly apropos given that he is running without his running guide for the first time on September 1 in the Paralympics in Tokyo.