Thinking long-term

Larry Smith In every election cycle, the weight of our decisions at the ballot box are real, but not always as apparent as they should be. Our voting decisions ripple out to sculpt the societal, economic, and environmental landscape in which our children and grandchildren will live. As we edge closer to casting our votes, it is crucial to grasp not just the immediate impacts of our choices. We must also consider the far-reaching consequences that they often herald. The prevailing wisdom, underscored by recent Gallup findings, places the economy as the paramount concern across party lines. Yet, beneath the surface of this nominally bipartisan agreement, a divergence in priorities emerges — Republicans laser-focused on immigration; Democrats on the preservation of democracy itself. In this landscape, the economic pressures are palpable. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s alarming statistic of Americans shouldering more than $1 trillion in credit card debt paints a bleak portrait of a populace that is wrestling with inflation’s lingering sting. Despite a notable decrease in recent months, the financial burden being borne by millions of us involves not just the principal sums, but also crippling interest rates that can push upwards of 25%. This economic...