A recent Wall Street Journal article has surprisingly good news: US companies are seeing the highest profit growth in two years with “two consecutive quarters of double-digit profit growth for the first time since 2011.” This surprisingly comes not from policies pursued in Washington, but the hard work of the private sector.

As technology continues to digitize our daily lives, the urban-rural divide in Internet usage reaps public attention. Despite a decade of improvements between 2007 and 2017, including the near doubling of rural broadband usage from 35% to 63%, rural Americans are still 10% less likely than average to use the Internet. Much of this is attributable to low population density, which makes rural towns less appealing to Internet service providers (ISPs) than customer-packed urban centers. Broadband cable installation over the bare Midwestern and mountainous western expanses is expensive and inefficient. The cable infrastructure for some rural areas is simply too costly.

The Trump White House will seek to boost technology investment with a series of meetings this week. Dubbed as “Tech Week,” the meetings will include Silicon Valley and venture capital heavyweights and will prioritize discussing deregulations that would help investors develop 5g Internet, drone, and “Internet of things” technologies.

Is this spike in job growth a sign that businesses are hopeful for the economy under the Trump administration? According to the May 2017: ADP Employment Report, the private sector added 253,000 jobs in the month of May, up from 174,00 jobs added in April. Small businesses account for one-third for the workforce creating 83,000 new jobs last month with increases in construction, education and health, and professional business services.

Net Neutrality proponents argue that internet service providers (ISPs) will slow your internet speed and charge you extra fees if the FCC abandons its Title II regulatory expansion. Wrong. This goes against every ounce of recorded history, which shows that speeds increase and prices decline, and have done so without Title II.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai put the Obama-era “net neutrality” rules on the chopping block in a 2-1 vote on May 18th to move forward with a proposed rulemaking to overturn the 2015 Open Internet Order. One mythical claim by activists who favor net neutrality is that repeal of the Open Internet Order legalizes website censorship and hurts free speech. Following this narrative, internet service providers (ISPs) could arbitrarily block their broadband customers from accessing any websites they please. An especially feared target of censorship is online services provided by competitor companies.

Last month's proposed rules on school accountability are yet another reminder that it’s time for federal bureaucrats at the Department of Education to get their hands out of our education system. In its latest power grab, the department seeks to enact top-down measures that would remove authority from the hands of teachers, school districts, and state government. The regulation would impose Education Department-mandated accountability measures promulgating federal government oversight over student and school achievement.

The Senate recently passed legislation that would result in a minor victory against the regulatory state and for the legislative branch reclaiming its powers. The measure is now pending in the House, where Republican leadership should bring the measure up for a vote. What is the target of this unnecessary regulation? Catfish. Yes, catfish.

Given the harassment and everyday burdens that federal bureaucrats subject small businesses and families to, it seems obvious that decisions could be challenged by the basic process of judicial review. This right, however, was apparently not entirely evident. The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled unanimously in favor of property owners in a decision that weakens the EPA’s authority under the Clean Water Act. The ruling in United States Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co., Inc gives landowners and businesses the right to go to court when federal regulators trample their rights to property and due process.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced revisions to the proposed rules interpreting the Fair Labor Standard Act’s regulations on the overtime compensation pay of white-collar, salaried workers. Currently, salaried employees making more than $23,660 annually are exempt from the DOL requirement that employers pay time-and-a-half for each hour over 40 hours weekly. The final rule, with several key changes to the proposed rule, will extend overtime pay protections to over 40 million American workers.