White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, frustrated by large numbers of government workers refusing to come to the office, is begging and badgering Cabinet secretaries to break employees' stubborn work-from-home habits.

• Why it matters: Only about half of Cabinet agencies have hit White House goals for returning to offices by January, Axios' Hans Nichols reports.

With over 2.2 million employees, the federal government is the country's largest employer. Now it's facing a frustration that's common across corporate America: Getting workers into the office even a few days a week can be tough to impossible.

• In D.C., the reluctance of some 200,000 federal workers to return to the office has devastated downtown businesses.
• 🚇 Metro ridership in the D.C. area, where federal employees account for 1 in 3 downtown jobs, is at 57% of pre-pandemic levels.

Following up on a Cabinet-wide memo this summer, Zients has been calling agency heads this week to press them on their progress.

• He's holding up the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) — the first two to hit the benchmarks of workers spending five of every 10 work days in the office — as examples that federal workers can be convinced to return.

Zients hosted lunches last week for two groups of Cabinet secretaries where he stressed the importance of in-person work, among other issues.

• He also made in-person visits to the Department of Homeland Security and Energy Department to meet with senior leaders and rank-and-file workers to explain how crucial they are to the president's goals.

🔎 Between the lines: Zients, who led an effort by then-President Obama to reorganize the federal government in 2011, has long pressed for more efficiency in government.

• He also wants to ensure that the institutional knowledge is passed down to the next generation of leaders. That requires in-person interaction.

🐘 What we're watching: House Republicans are demanding better data on how many federal workers are actually showing up to the office.

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Corporate profits and the overall U.S. economy both boomed this summer despite high interest rates and persistent consumer gloom.

💰 By the numbers: New data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis shows total corporate profits in the third quarter grew 3.3% to an annualized rate of $3.28 trillion.

• That's just shy of the all-time peak of $3.3 trillion, reached a year ago, Axios Markets co-author Matt Phillips writes.

A GDP revision yesterday showed the economy grew at a 5.2% annual rate in Q3 — higher than preliminary estimates, Axios Macro's Neil Irwin and Courtenay Brown report.

🔮 What's next: The economy will almost certainly clock in a slower growth rate for the current quarter.

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Former President Trump's MAGA flock now has its own shopping platform, where like-minded conservatives can snub what they see as "leftist" businesses and buy things "from people who respect life, family and freedom," Axios' Sophia Cai reports.

The platform — dubbed PublicSquare and backed by investors including Donald Trump Jr. and his fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle — is part of a backlash to what many conservatives see as companies promoting progressive social agendas.

• Featured items include Christmas decorations, boxes for storing firearms, and coffee from a company called COVFEFE, inspired by an odd late-night tweet by Donald Trump in 2017.

Everylife Diapers, advertised as the product of the seller's partnership with pro-life organizations, are pitched as alternatives to Huggies.

• Faith Friends Dolls are touted as a "Christian alternative" to 18-inch American Girl dolls.
• Rifle-adorned onesies and hair scrunchies with pistol patterns are sold by a brand called "Moms Who Carry."

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Much of the country's electric vehicle use is concentrated on the coasts, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick and Kavya Beheraj report.

• California is at the top: Marin County takes the crown for the most electric miles traveled per 1,000 residents, followed by Santa Clara County and San Mateo County.

🔎 Between the lines: The areas with the most EV activity are generally those with better-developed charging infrastructure — plus higher-income households.

• Explore the data.

A key theme of Andrew Ross Sorkin's New York Times DealBook Summit was uncertainty about U.S.-China relations, as well as a potential conflict with Taiwan, Axios' Hope King reports.

• Jensen Huang, CEO of chip giant Nvidia, told Sorkin: "We are somewhere between a decade or two decades away from supply chain independence ... Our systems [have] 35,000 parts ... supply chain independence is going to be really challenging ... [But] we should absolutely go down the journey."
• JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon told the DealBook audience he's "not afraid of China," noting its "complex" Asian neighbors and "terrible demographics" — a reference to its aging and shrinking population.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen told Sorkin: "I think the Chinese leadership at this juncture is overwhelmed by its internal challenges."

• "My thought is that perhaps this is not a time for them to consider a major invasion of Taiwan ... [and because] the international community has made it loud and clear that war is not an option and peace and stability serves everybody's interests."

In other DealBook interviews, Elon Musk pushed back on advertisers boycotting X over antisemitism and other hate speech on the platform:

• "If somebody's gonna try to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f**k yourself. ... Don't advertise." (Keep reading.)

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said about mounting speculation he won't seek re-election to his House seat: "I have another week or so to decide ... If I decide to run again, I have to know in my heart I'm giving 110%."

• DealBook highlights (no paywall).

A record number of people in the U.S. died of suicide last year, pushing the country's suicide rate to the highest level in over 80 years, Axios' Jason Millman writes from new federal data.

• The suicide rate of 14.3 deaths per 100,000 people was 1% higher than in 2021 and is the highest rate since 1941.

🧮 By the numbers: Nearly 50,000 Americans took their own lives last year, a 3% increase from 2021, according to provisional CDC data. That number is likely to grow when data are finalized, the agency said.

• Suicide rates significantly decreased among younger people — possibly indicating that efforts to address the youth mental health crisis are working.

But rates increased significantly for most age groups 35+, rising the fastest among people ages 55-64.

• Men 75 and older had the highest rate last year, at nearly 44 per 100,000 people — double that for people 15-24, The Wall Street Journal notes.

Keep reading.

• If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988. Ayuda disponible en español.

Above is a first look at the top businesses in this year's American Opportunity Index, which measures companies' effectiveness at developing talent to drive business performance and advance individual careers.

Why it matters: Companies that outperform their peers in retaining employees can save massively on turnover costs.

The index is a joint project of the Schultz Family Foundation (founded by Starbucks chairman emeritus Howard Schultz and his wife, Sheri), the labor-market research organization Burning Glass Institute and Harvard Business School's Managing the Future of Work Project.

• "At a time when so many are questioning the vitality of the American promise, it's crucial that CEOs and corporate boards look inward and examine how effectively they are nurturing and developing their people," Schultz said.

🧠 How it works: The consortium says the index, which assesses 400 big companies, is unique because it isn't based on corporate surveys.

• It's a big-data analysis of career trajectories of 5 million workers from 2018 to 2022. It's drawn from changes in their work histories on social media platforms and résumés posted online + salary and job-posting data.

See the top 100 ... See the 41-page report ... Share this story.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger — one of the most powerful and influential Americans of the past 75 years — died at his home in Connecticut at age 100.

• As Walter Isaacson put it in his biography of Kissinger, he was "brilliant, conspiratorial, furtive, sensitive to linkages and nuances, prone to rivalries and power struggles, charming yet at times deceitful."

Kissinger helped broker President Nixon's trip to China, negotiate the end of the Vietnam War and ease tensions with the Soviet Union.

• But, as the N.Y. Times' David Sanger writes, Kissinger also "was often willing to be crudely Machiavellian, especially when dealing with smaller nations that he often regarded as pawns in the greater battle" — orchestrating or supporting military campaigns that cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

"With his German accent, incisive wit, owlish looks and zest for socializing in Hollywood and dating movie stars, he was instantly recognized all over the world," The Washington Post's Thomas Lippman writes.

• Kissinger will be interred at a private family service. Later, a memorial service will be held in Manhattan, his office said in announcing his death.

Photo timeline ... N.Y. Times obit (gift link — no paywall).