Innovation Takes Center Stage As U.S. Boat Sales Cool Following COVID-Era Demand Surge

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FEATURED INDUSTRY NEWS Innovation Takes Center Stage As U.S. Boat Sales Cool Following COVID-Era Demand Surge NMMA reports new powerboat retail sales are estimated to be down slightly in 2023, approximately 1% to 3%, to 258,000 units. For the 2024 calendar year, recreational boating is poised to see new unit sales on par with 2023 levels as the industry continues to navigate interest rates, as well as ongoing shifts in consumer confidence. Read More Discover Boating Atlanta Boat Show, In Partnership With Progressive Insurance, Opens Today The Discover Boating Atlanta Boat Show, in partnership with Progressive Insurance, returns to the Georgia World Congress Center today and runs through Sunday. This year’s event features more dealers, more boats and brands to attract the thousands of boating enthusiasts who attend the show annually, plus a host of activities to engage newcomers and avid boaters alike. Read More LEADING ECONOMIC AND POLICY NEWS Administration Rule Targeting Companies Using Independent Contractors Likely To Face Legal Challenges Reuters reports a new Administration rule “will likely prevent companies in a range of industries from treating some workers as independent contractors, who cost less than employees, and could create new legal headaches for app-based services that rely on gig workers.” The rule “unveiled on Tuesday adopts a test similar to the ones many courts have used for years to determine whether workers should be treated as independent contractors or employees under U.S. wage laws.” However, the new rule “will have to withstand expected court challenges by businesses and trade groups and the scrutiny of Republicans in Congress who will likely move to repeal it.” Business groups “are widely expected to seek to block the rule in court, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest U.S. business lobby, has already said it is considering a lawsuit” while “individual businesses, freelancers and gig workers, and Republican-led states also could mount legal challenges.” House Conservatives Rebel Against Speaker Johnson Over Spending Deal Politico says Speaker Johnson is “trying to quell the most significant conservative rebellion he’s faced since taking the gavel.” Politico says House conservatives are “furious over a deal on overall spending levels he struck with Democrats – looking to avoid a partial government shutdown that would start next week – that largely resembles the bipartisan agreement former Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached with President Joe Biden last year.” According to Politico, “Conservatives have harangued the speaker both in closed-door meetings and publicly on social media since congressional leaders announced the deal. ... ‘Before we could even get together, he announced the terms of the surrender,’ said Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), telling reporters that he was leaving Wednesday’s conference meeting early because he didn’t want to listen to more ‘drivel.’” Negotiators Outline $70 Billion In Corporate, Family Tax Cuts Bloomberg reports Congressional negotiators “are nearing a bipartisan deal to renew expired business tax breaks and boost the child tax credit in time for many voters to receive the benefit during the current election year.” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), “chairmen of the Senate and House tax committees, presented an outline of their roughly $70 billion proposal, evenly split between the corporate tax cuts and child credit, to their colleagues as talks continue.” Report Finds US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Declined By 2% In 2023 The AP reports greenhouse gases “declined by nearly 2% in the United States in 2023, even as the economy expanded at a faster clip, a new report finds.” The decline – while a “step in the right direction” – is “far below the rate needed to meet President Joe Biden’s pledge to cut U.S. emissions in half by 2030, compared to 2005 levels, said a report Wednesday from the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm.” Lead author Ben King said that “absent other changes,” the US is set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 40 percent below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. However, to reach Biden’s pledge, the decline would have to occur at a rate “more than triple the 2023 figure and be sustained at that level every year until 2030, [King] said.”         CNN reports the lower emissions, “driven largely by retirements of dirty, coal-fired power plants, put US climate pollution at its lowest level since 1991.” The data also “shows continued cutbacks on coal energy have a big impact on US climate pollution.” The data from Rhodium also “underscores cutting emissions and growing the economy can be done at the same time, King noted.” However, Rhodium was not able to integrate some of the new tax credits within the IRA within their data and research. Also reporting is The Hill. Stocks Closer Higher On Wednesday CNBC says, “Stocks closed higher Wednesday, with investors awaiting the release of fresh U.S. inflation data and earnings.” The S&P 500 “gained 0.57% to end at 4,783.45, while the Dow Jones industrial Average added 170.57 points, or 0.45%, to close at 37,695.73. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.75% to settle at 14,969.65.” Previous Top Stories  • Discover Boating Chicago, New England Boat Shows Drop Anchor Today  • Labor Department Enacts New Rule Targeting Companies That Rely On Independent Contractors

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