Mitchell Hartman

People are much more likely to rebuild and stay in place instead of picking up and leaving.

These community organizations seem to be much more important than even a formal government response.

Certainly.

And look, I think we absolutely need the state to provide repair for infrastructure, you know, roads, get the water and the electric turned back on.

But there are

services that government can't necessarily provide.

These kinds of immediate responses where a community comes together and clear the trees off the road, provide a shoulder for somebody to lean on and cry on when they're overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster.

These are the gaps that community members can really fill while people are waiting for FEMA funding to trickle in.

Thank you so much for having me, Amy.

All through the latter part of 2025, the job market was losing steam, says Bill Adams at Comerica Bank.

Job growth hit an air pocket and has really been in low gear since April of this past year.

And he says the working public has noticed.

People are more worried about job security.

They're less upbeat about the prospects of being able to find a new job.

And that is weighing on how they're thinking about their own personal finances.

This is evident in the University of Michigan's consumer surveys, says director Joanne Hsu.

People are worried about their own incomes falling or jobs getting eliminated, or they may know someone.

And even though high-income earners have been driving a lot of consumer spending, their sentiment about the job market has actually been deteriorating.

Among demographic groups, the worst deterioration in the job market has been for Black workers, says Valerie Wilson at the Economic Policy Institute.

In November, the Black unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent up from seven and a half in September.