Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. It's Thursday, December 16th. I'm Naila Boodoo. Here's what you need to know today.

How one church in Mayfield, Kentucky is helping its neighbors. Plus, tips on managing mental health this winter.

But first, today's one big thing, the economy of 2021.

The U.S. economy dominated so much of the news this year. Just this week, we learned that wholesale

inflation in November rose at a record rate from a year ago.

Axis' Courtney Brown has that and the other big stories of 2021 in economic news. Hey, Courtney.

Hey, Nyla. I think we have to start with inflation. Is that the one big thing of 2021 for you?

The one big thing of 2021 for me, as far as the economy is concerned, is shortages.

But this idea of prices rising at the fastest pace since I've been alive, right?

Like that idea and shortages are very intertwined.

One of the reasons why prices are rising so rapidly is because

there's so much consumer demand, and there isn't enough stuff to meet said consumer demand.

It's kind of like Econ 101. And do we expect that we'll continue? This is the big puzzle that the

Federal Reserve has to solve.

Last week, the Fed chair had to do a mea culpa.

He basically has been saying that inflation is going to be transitory.

It's going to be temporary.

But it's not only stuck around, it's gotten worse.

Another story that really surprised me this year around the economy

was a lot of movement around workers' rights.

I think coming into 2021, no one anticipated that we would have a labor shortage, considering the millions of people who are still unemployed.

But I think companies realize, you know, it's hard to find workers right now.

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