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- 🌊 Economy Wrapped: Jobs 📉
🌊 Economy Wrapped: Jobs 📉
Plus: Next Fed chair, Don Jr's latest deal, & raccoon passes out in liquor store
Can’t say we didn’t warn you about Spotify Wrapped Day…
Yesterday, Spotify Wrappeds descended on social media feeds like wasps on a pot of honey, or broccoli-haired Gen Zers on a new Raising Cane’s, or NYU girls on a Timothee Chalamet lookalike contest in Washington Square Park. Everyone was so eager to share their favorite artists — wow, another Taylor Swift! — and music analytics to the world that some users made it their first post of the year.
We will say that we did find the new “Listening Age” Spotify Wrapped analytic to be amusing. We saw some of our friends get a 77 for being an “old soul” who listened to too much James Taylor, while others got a 22 for listening to too much Sabrina Carpenter. What did concern me, however, was seeing the age 4,000 on my own Wrapped after I evidently listened to “too much Mesopotamian flute music."
📉 Private sector takes a hit
🤔 The next Fed chair?
🥃 Raccoon passes out in liquor store
–Max and Max
KEY STORY
Private Sector Sheds Most Jobs Since 2023
Private employers cut 32,000 jobs in November, according to payroll processor ADP
The recent government shutdown disrupted the release of official economic data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for November, leaving the ADP report, which measures hiring and pay in the US private sector, as one of the few up-to-date indicators
The November figure represented a decline from October's revised gain of 47,000 jobs and fell short of economists’ expectations. The decline marks a continuing trend: In four of the last six months, private employers have cut more jobs than they’ve added
Small companies with fewer than 50 employees led the decline, cutting 120,000 jobs in November
Dig Deeper
The weak report could influence the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates at its final meeting of 2025 next week. Investors expect the Fed to cut rates by another quarter percentage point, which would mark the third consecutive rate cut
The BLS November jobs report, originally scheduled to be released on December 5, will now be published on December 16 – after the Fed meets for the last time this year
KEY STORY
Don Jr.-Backed Startup Wins Pentagon Contract
The Pentagon awarded a record loan to Vulcan Elements – a rare earths company backed by Donald Trump Jr.
Trump Jr. joined 1789 Capital as a partner in 2024. In August, the venture capital firm invested in Vulcan Elements – a small startup that produces rare-earth magnets
Vulcan Elements received a $620M loan last month from the Defense Department as part of a larger $1.4B deal to boost magnet production. The Trump Administration has awarded contracts worth a combined $735M to at least four other companies in 1789 Capital's portfolio this year
Dig Deeper
Critics raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest involving the Trump family and government contracts
Vulcan’s CEO, John Maslin, and officials at the Pentagon defended the deal. A Pentagon spokesperson said neither Trump Jr. nor 1789 Capital were involved in any discussions about the loan, while Maslin said he had "zero contact with the president's son" and called the process "purely merit-based"
KEY STORY
Hassett Likely Fed Chair Pick
President Trump said he planned to announce his selection for Federal Reserve chair in early 2026, with Kevin Hassett emerging as the likely choice
Trump has spent months criticizing current Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates quickly enough. Powell's term expires in May 2026
Trump said he had narrowed the list to one person after considering approximately 10 finalists and indicated that Hassett was a "potential Fed chair"
Hassett is the current director of the National Economic Council and served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers during Trump's first term
Dig Deeper
Wall Street investors have expressed concern about Hassett's potential appointment, with critics worried that Hassett's close alignment with Trump could threaten the central bank's independence
However, supporters praise Hassett's qualifications, with one former Trump adviser saying Hassett possesses a "unique ability" to translate complex economics into clear language
QUOTE OF THE DAY
We're like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice.
KEY STORY
Pentagon Finds Hegseth Violated Protocols
A Pentagon report found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated security protocols by sharing sensitive military information on Signal
The Pentagon's inspector general launched an investigation in April after The Atlantic reported that a journalist was accidentally added to a Signal group chat where senior US officials discussed US military strikes against Houthi militants in Yemen
On Wednesday, the inspector general released a report that found Hegseth violated Defense Department policies and put US personnel at risk by using his personal device for official business. The report found that the operational details he shared would have posed a risk to troops and the mission if intercepted
Dig Deeper
Signal is an encrypted messaging app, but it is not authorized for classified information and is not part of the Defense Department's secure communications network
The report's release came at an inopportune moment for Hegseth, as he faces ongoing scrutiny over a September military strike in the Caribbean that killed 11 people. Congressional committees from both parties opened inquiries into whether the operation amounted to a war crime
A Pentagon spokesman called the review a "total exoneration" and said no classified information was shared
WE THE 66
The $140,000 Poverty Line
In a viral Substack post last week, Michael Green claimed that the US’ poverty level today is not $32,150 — as the federal government says — but is actually closer to $140,000.
In today’s FREE WeThe66, we break down the arguments behind and counterarguments to Green’s assertion that the poverty line is nearing $140k
See what Green defines as a basic budget for a family of four, and let us know how that stacks up against yours
Read it here for FREE, and email us with your thoughts
RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office
🤵🏻 Federal agents arrived in New Orleans on Wednesday as part of the Trump Administration's expanded immigration enforcement operations.
🇮🇱 Israel announced on Wednesday it will reopen the Rafah border crossing “in the coming days” but only to allow Palestinians to leave Gaza.
🧑🤝🧑 On Wednesday, President Trump said he will pardon Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife, Imelda, ending their prosecution on bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy charges.
🎞️ Stranger Things Season 5 drew 59.6M views in its first five days on Netflix, marking the best premiere for any English-language series on the platform and third-best overall behind Squid Game Seasons 2 and 3.
🖥️ Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched Trainium3, its new AI chip designed to compete with Nvidia and Google processors.
What does Roca Nation think?
🇺🇸 Yesterday’s Question: Do you believe that America’s “diversity is our strength”?
Not if that diversity becomes divisive. The whole should become more than the sum of its parts. Never truer than for western nations now, who see host nations overwhelmed by economic opportunists. These are not refugees wishing to contribute, belong and acculturate; morphing into a stronger nation of core values. These are destructive forces, bring old fights into new arenas, wanting to dogmatise and dominate.
So, no, the current diversity, whether of the woke pronoun kind or invasion migranti kind, are weakening, not strengthening.
Yes! Diversity in America is a core foundation that it has been built upon, and it is something that makes us unique compared to so many other nations, especially ones that have been historically very homogeneous. America was built upon various diverse native people, and then later various European settlers, African slaves who became free people of America, and various other immigrants through our history. To deny our diversity is to deny the reality of America, and thus we can only see it and use it as a positive force.
Usually not. Diversity in ways that don’t matter (looks, tastes, hobbies, aesthetics etc) doesn’t bring any meaningful strength, and diversity in ways that do matter is usually harmful (values, language, ethics, religious beliefs). It’s impossible to come to an agreement with someone who you disagree with on a fundamental level. It’s impossible to be a good neighbor to someone who you can’t even communicate with. America is in desperate need of an overarching culture and needs to make sure immigrants (and citizens) buy into that overarching culture. Otherwise we fragment into enclaves that can never agree on anything important. We’ve passed out of the realm of “we agree on goals, just not methods” and into the realm of “we want fundamentally different outcomes for this country.” And that is simply unworkable.
The caveat is that if people from different backgrounds do buy into an overarching culture, they can bring unique perspectives, backgrounds, etc. And of course race and culture are correlative, not causative, so this isn’t about race, just culture.
🤔 Today’s Question: Which artists did you listen to the most last year? What was/would be your listening age?
POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour
🦝 Black Friday Bender: A raccoon broke into a Virginia liquor store over Thanksgiving weekend and was found unconscious in the bathroom after drinking bottom-shelf spirits.
🐙 No Time to Die-gest: A New Zealand man allegedly swallowed a $19,000 limited-edition Fabergé octopus pendant while attempting to steal it from an Auckland jewelry store.
🐶 Tongue Twister: An Oklahoma French Mastiff and Bullmastiff mix named Ozzy has been crowned the Guinness World Record holder for longest tongue on a living dog at 7.83 inches.
🦏 Heir Apparent: A critically endangered eastern black rhino calf has been born at Folly Farm in Wales, marking only the second rhino birth ever in the country.
🍻 Happy Hour Extended: Thailand relaxed its decades-old alcohol sales restrictions on Wednesday for a six-month trial, eliminating the previously banned 2:00-5:00 pm sales window.
ROCA WRAP
The Grateful Guitarist
Jerry Garcia
The lead guitarist of the Grateful Dead lost two-thirds of a finger as a child and later survived a coma that forced him to relearn his instrument.
Born in San Francisco in 1942, Garcia's childhood was marked by tragedy. At four, his brother accidentally severed most of Jerry’s right middle finger during a family vacation. Less than a year later, his father drowned in a fishing accident. His mother took over the family bar and sent Jerry to live with his grandparents, where he discovered country music and picked up the banjo.
Garcia stole his mother's car at seventeen and chose military service over prison. After going AWOL repeatedly and receiving a discharge in 1960, he was thrown through a car windshield in a high-speed crash that killed one passenger. He emerged with a broken collarbone but credited the accident as his awakening, committing himself to guitar.
Garcia met future bandmates Robert Hunter and Phil Lesh in the early 1960s around the bohemian Perry Lane neighborhood, where counterculture novelist Ken Kesey lived. By 1965, Garcia’s jug band – the Warlocks – needed a new name. Garcia randomly opened a dictionary and found "grateful dead," defined as a spirit showing gratitude to someone who arranged their burial. Despite initial resistance, it stuck. The band played their first show as the Grateful Dead on December 4, 1965.
The Grateful Dead played 2,314 shows over thirty years, with Garcia's extended improvisations becoming legendary. Drawing from bluegrass, rock, blues, and jazz, his playing never repeated the same way twice. He also played on over fifty albums as a session musician and maintained numerous side projects.
Garcia's heroin addiction intensified through the early 1980s, costing him $700 daily. In July 1986, he collapsed into a diabetic coma lasting five days. He woke describing visions of "insectoid presences" and had to relearn guitar. Despite recovering, his health deteriorated through the 1990s as smoking, weight problems, and repeated relapses took their toll.
After stints at the Betty Ford Center and Serenity Knolls treatment facility, Garcia died of a heart attack on August 9, 1995, at age 53. About 25,000 people attended a memorial at Golden Gate Park. His ashes were scattered in both the Ganges River in India and San Francisco Bay in California.
The guitarist who survived a severed finger, a car crash, and a coma couldn't outlast his own addictions.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts
When will Roca get its investment from 1789 Capital? We think we’re ready for that $200M deal with the Department of the Interior we’ve long been eyeing. Fingers crossed.
Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday. See you tomorrow!
–Max and Max