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The ADVANCE, December 15, 2021/Page 10A
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STUDENT OF THE MONTH
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STUDENTS OF THE MONTH — Toombs County Middle School has announced November
Students of the Month. These students are recognized for having good grades and
good attendance, and for exemplifying good citizenship. (L to R): Back row: Luis Valen-
tin-Gonzalez, Vick Moore, Trenton Summers, Ryan Biggose, Andrew Osorio, Middle row:
Erick Nahuaca, Elliette Taylor, Haydee Hernandez, Jocey Garrett, Front row: Marceli Lu-
na-Munoz, Abby McLendon, and Mareli Munoz-Maya. Not pictured: Addisyn Dasher,
Economist sees full recovery
for Georgia next year
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia’s economy
will bounce back from the
coronavirus pandemic next
year, despite inflation and
the latest COVID-19 vari
ant, the dean of the busi
ness school at the Univer
sity of Georgia predicted
Monday
“We’ve made tremen
dous progress getting back
to normal, Benjamin Ayers
of UGA’s Terry College of
Business, told an audience
of about 475 business lead
ers at the Georgia Aquari
um in downtown Atlanta.
“By late 2022, Georgia’s
economy will fully recover
from the COVID-19 reces
sion.”
In fact, Georgia’s fore
cast economic growth rate
of 4.3% next year will out
perform the predicted in
crease in the nation’s gross
domestic product of 4.0%,
Ayers said during Terry
College’s annual Economic
Outlook luncheon.
That growth will be
driven mainly by strong
consumer and business
spending and a robust
housing market, he said.
Pent-up demand by
consumers, particularly
for services they couldn’t
get during the pandemic,
will result in both higher
consumer spending and
less saving. On the busi
ness side, companies will
spend more on technology
needed to facilitate remote
work.
While there will less
demand for commercial
real estate due to the in
crease in Georgians work
ing from home, Ayers ex
pects significant increases
in single-family and multi
family housing construc
tion.
But home prices that
have risen 23% during the
pandemic are expected to
increase more slowly next
year.
“Homes have become
much less affordable, and
we expect mortgage rates
to be higher,” he said.
Ayers said he expects
Georgia’s workforce to
fully recover in 2022. The
state’s unemployment rate
should average 3.2% next
year, a point below the na
tional jobless rate.
The most job growth
is expected to occur in
hospitality and live enter
tainment, the economic
sectors hurt worst by the
pandemic. Sectors such as
manufacturing, health care,
retail and government will
grow at slower rates.
Ayers said potential
headwinds that could re
sult in lower-than-expected
economic growth include
supply chain disruptions,
worker shortages and the
lingering pandemic.
“Inflation may run
higher and longer than ex
pected,” he said. “A large
increase in interest rates
could trigger recession.”
But Ayers rates the
likelihood of a recession as
“quite low.”
Mark Vitner, senior
economist with Wells
Fargo Securities, who gave
the national economic
forecast, said states includ
ing Georgia that reopened
their economies early in
the pandemic are recover
ing faster than states that
locked down over a long
period of time.
Vitner said he doesn’t
expect much economic
impact from the spread of
the new omicron variant
because Americans have
grown more accustomed
to the virus than in its early
days.
“People are less afraid
of contracting the virus,”
he said. “We’re likely to see
less economic blowback
from a resurgence of CO-
VID.”
Still, Vitner predicted
inflation will likely remain
a problem for the U.S.
economy for the next three
to five years if not the rest
of the decade.
“We’re not going to
see a replay of the ‘70s,” he
said. “But inflation is going
to be persistent, and it will
be pernicious.”
This story is available
through a news partnership
with Capitol Beat News
Service, a project of the
Georgia Press Educational
Foundation.
Merry Christmas to you
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Ms. Magnolia^
Letters have been edited for length and clarity.
Dear Ms. Magnolia,
American writer William Syd
ney Porter, using the pen name O.
Henry, wrote “The Gift of the Magi,”
published in 1905. A major reason
given for the enduring appeal of this
famous story is its affirmation of un
selfish love.
The story tells that in New York
City around 1900 in a tiny apartment
on Christmas Eve, a young husband
and wife try to buy secret Christmas
gifts for each other with very little
money. “Now, there were two posses
sions of the James Dillingham Youngs
in which they both took a mighty
pride. One was Jim’s gold watch that
had been his father’s and his grand
father’s. The other was Della’s hair.”
Della discovers that she has only
$1.87 to buy a present for her hus
band Jim. So she visits a hairdresser
who buys and cuts Della’s long, beau
tiful hair to make wigs. Della then
uses the money to buy a platinum
pocket watch chain for Jim’s watch.
When Jim conies home from work
that evening and sees her hair, Della
excitedly gives him the chain and ad
mits that she sold her hair to buy it.
Then Jim gives Della her present — a
set of ornamental combs, which she
can’t use until her hair grows back
out. When Della asks him to put the
chain on his watch, Jim confesses that
he sold the watch to buy the combs.
While the gifts that Jim and
Della gave each other can’t be used,
“each sold the most valuable thing he
owned in order to buy a gift for the
other.” The story ends as the narra
tor compares these sacrificial gifts of
love with those of the Biblical wise
men, or Magi, who brought gold,
frankincense, and myrrh to the new
born Jesus.
If you have a question for Ms. Magnolia, please mail it to P.O. Box 669, Vidalia, GA
30475, or e-mail to msmagnoliaadvance@yahoo.com.
State to expand personal finance
education for high school students
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia high school
students soon will be re
ceiving more instruction
in how to handle their per
sonal finances.
The state Board of Ed
ucation Thursday approved
revisions to the high school
economics course that sig
nificantly expand the per
sonal finances portion of
the curriculum.
Students will learn
more about managing
budgets, building credit,
protecting against identity
theft and understanding
tax forms, student loan ap
plications and pay stubs.
“I strongly believe that
education is about prepar
ing students for life,” said
State School Superinten
dent Richard Woods, who
proposed the changes.
“This revised course
will ensure that every Geor
gia high school student will
learn essential life skills like
managing a budget, filing
taxes, and using credit re
sponsibly, while also gain
ing an understanding and
appreciation of free market
principles.”
The revisions to the
economics course were
developed by a committee
that included content-area
teachers and finance indus
try experts. They were put
through 30 days of public
comment to get input from
teachers, parents and stu
dents.
The curriculum chang
es will take effect during
the 2022-23 school year.
This story is available
through a news partnership
with Capitol Beat News
Service, a project of the
Georgia Press Educational
Foundation.
Call 537-3131
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