THE BAC: The Business America Correspondent

Welcome to the March 20, 2023 edition of Leadx3m's North-America Business Report.?The BAC?offers positive insights for domestic and especially international businesses in the USA.?

Legendary Warren Buffet is quoted as saying,?"Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked," which resonates well with the current climate in the U.S. and globally. Since the financial crisis, our economies have churned?red-hot for a good decade, and now the Federal Reserve?Board is doing precisely what the FED is expected to do to cool down inflation. As humans, we like stability; as entrepreneurs, business leaders, and researchers, we like opportunities. Indeed, a readjusting economy is a great reflection point to explore, adjust, and pivot to the future, but not always painless. With the recent defaulting casualties of prominent financial institutions in mind, hiking inflation and interest rates impacts us all, some more than others. That said, the swift government and industry internal actions act as a balancing act, at least for now, giving affected people and businesses a saving hand with deposits in mind.?

In the meantime, Washington, D.C., is living up to its reputation with full-blown?partisan politics front and center. At the same time, few seem to be?at least publicly dealing with the rapidly closing August date for federal debt limit default, fingers crossed it does not materialize. In the current D.C. climate, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the White House presents a drastically larger?federal fiscal budget for 2024, which is yet to be approved across party lines. Looking at some of the budget line items, they show that amid all the turbulence, the U.S. continues to offer tremendous business opportunities for domestic and international business, so let's take a closer look on what it all implies across sectors of interest for us.?

Energy & Environment

Federal commitments to fight global warming by boosting the clean energy transition are becoming increasingly concrete. According to what is proposed, the Department of Energy is seeking a whopping $52 billion in discretionary spending in the 2024 budget proposal. Interesting for us in business and science; the proposal includes $11.9 billion for climate and renewable energy research, $8.8 billion for the DOE’s science office, and $9.4 billion for developing technologies that accelerate the transition to clean energy. For instance, coal-fired power plants are fiercely targeted in the budget proposal, opening new venues for international businesses that offer alternatives to meet the stricter regulations.?

Finance

In addition to the current banking rollercoaster, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the unemployment rate rose 3.6% in February, and 311,000 jobs were added to the workforce. While the technology, transport, and warehousing sectors are recalibrating after years of gazelle-like growth, now its leisure and hospitality, retail trade, government, and healthcare that are in charge of offering new job opportunities. Positively for companies looking to hire qualified talent, the sudden shifts in demand may steer towards great hires. At the same time, in sectors continuing to face a labor shortage, an increasing human-machine integration is increasingly likely and, as such, can turn out to be a lucrative business for knowledge-intensive businesses also located abroad.?

Healthcare

The U.S. is in a race to reduce healthcare costs across the board; for instance, the largest U.S. insulin manufacturers have since this week aligned on lowering the cost of their products, strongly encouraged by the government.?The proposed 2024 budget includes?$144 billion in discretionary spending for the department of Health and Human Services, with interesting priorities for healthcare researchers and businesses, emphasizing?family planning, infectious diseases, home and community-based services, and cancer research.??

Higher Education

For the first time since 2012, the number of undergraduate?degree earners has declined by 1.6%, according to a recent?report from NSCRC, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The bullish job market, changing demographics, and post-pan epidemic trends drive higher education in new directions.?While reported student enrollment numbers were generally down across the board, the volume of first-time certificate students is rising, with a 9% growth since last year. Still, there is time to say if these trends are here to stay or caused in the intermediate by pan epidemic and economic realities. That said, it's evident that the sector is moving, and dynamic yet credible education providers and newcomers have a chance to shape the industry's future.

Technology & Innovation

The current geopolitical landscape demands increased emphasis on security standards across multiple economic sectors. The White House released last week a five-part?cybersecurity strategy, which will directly impact the business landscape and offers interesting openings to help defend critical infrastructure, disrupt?and dismantle threat actors, shape market forces to drive security, invest in a resilient future, and forge international partnerships to pursue shared goals.?

Focusing on the Northeast U.S., there are plans to invest significantly in research, development, and manufacturing of microelectronics and other cutting-edge science venues in the region. This and similar initiatives are potentially great opportunities, for domestic and foreign businesses and researchers from partnering countries. Check out Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech) and Northeast Microelectronics Coalition (NEMC) for more information.

Trade

The?U.S. Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the U.S. Census Bureau's monthly trade data show?that America’s goods and services trade deficit continues to grow to $68.3 billion in January compared to $67.2 billion in December. US and E.U. reached a part consensus last week regarding the US issuance of up to $7,500 tax breaks for those buying electric vehicles (EVs) with domestically sourced (or recycled) batteries. In essence, enabling relevant critical minerals extracted or processed in the European Union to count toward requirements for clean vehicles.

Transportation & Infrastructure

The U.S. is in demand for great investments across transport and infrastructure, as we can feel first hand when consuming the infrastructure, and see from recent announcements of safety issues and incidents on the railway network, aviation, and in pipeline networks, among a few key areas. Some of the critical underlying problems seem regulatory, operational, and workforce shortage related - fewer incident lawyers and more focus on proactive doers and inspectors who can advance safety and reliability is the call, and opens opportunities again for researchers and businesses to help make a difference. ??

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The BAC report targets people interested in doing business in North America. The goal is to keep it accurate while remaining brief and positively geared toward underlying business opportunities. The content is at the reader's discretion; our inspiration stems from sources like?Reuters, Bloomberg Businessweek, Time Magazine, The Economist, Harvard Business Review, Chronicle of Higher Education, Wired, Inc. Magazine, and the New England Council, PBS, CNN, etc.