Good morning.
Monday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 49. Sunrise is 7:14, and sunset is 4:20, for 9 hours, 6 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 61.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater School Board meets at 5:30 PM to review a community referendum survey.
On this day in 1775, British troops and Loyalists, misinformed about Patriot militia strength, lose the Battle of Great Bridge, ending British rule in Virginia.
Now, in December 2024, America has a fundamentally sound economy:
The economy added 227,000 jobs in November, making for a strong jobs report despite a slight increase in the unemployment rate. Although the labor market has cooled this year, the Trump administration stands to inherit a fairly healthy labor market, with decent job growth across many sectors.
The number of jobs was bolstered by the return of striking workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Employment in transportation equipment manufacturing rose by 32,000 jobs. Boeing machinists who went on strike in September seeking higher pay and better retirement benefits reached a deal in November.
The agency also revised up the number of jobs added in the October and September reports by 56,000 jobs combined.
Although the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.1% to 4.2%, the economy is looking strong, particularly when you look at gross domestic product, said Louise Sheiner, with the nonpartisan Brookings Institution.
“It’s been remarkably strong. If you look at what the Congressional Budget Office projected the level of real GDP before the pandemic, it’s higher now. We’ve just had a really strong economy,” said Sheiner, who focuses on fiscal policy.
See Casey Quinlan, US adds 227,000 jobs in what analysts say is a healthy economy, Wisconsin Examiner, December 8, 2024.
There are three reasons to mark the present state of the national economy: (1) a simple affirmation of the truth, (2) a reminder that the national economy has been good before when local special-interest types failed to capitalize on it (notably 2014 to 2017 and 2019 to early 2020) in Whitewater, and (3) a reminder that these old-guard types expect deference today despite serial failures for many years.
Amazon is using generative AI to drive more same-day shipping using smarter robots and better routes: