Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 62. Sunrise is 6:24 and sunset is 7:21, for 12 hours, 58 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 93.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1774, the First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.
We had heard, more than once, that the time after January 20th was to be the beginning of a New Golden Age. The claim doesn’t match America’s circumstances:
U.S. job growth slowed significantly in August, a sign the labor market is under increasing stress.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that the United States added 22,000 jobs in August, well below expectations of 75,000. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 4.3%, in line with expectations.
“The U.S. economy appears to have stagnated” since July, analysts with Citi said in a note this week. They cited a separate survey from the Federal Reserve released Wednesday that showed little to no increase in economic activity or employment over the past several weeks.
Revised data reported by the BLS showed the jobs market actually contracted in June, though it climbed slightly more than initial estimates in July. Combined, employment for the two months is now 21,000 lower than previously reported, the BLS said. The federal statistical agency issues revisions as more businesses and governments provide data, and as seasonal factors get recalculated.
See Rob Wile, The U.S. added just 22,000 jobs in August, confirming dramatic slowdown in the labor market (‘The August report is the first since President Donald Trump fired a top Labor Department official over accusations of releasing inaccurate data’), NBC News, September 5, 2025.
None of this should be surprising. Extreme populism does not, at bottom, have a coherent economics (let alone a sound economics); it has cultural grievances and political scores to settle.
Car goes airborne over Long Island highway: