Letter to the editor: What prosperity?

OPINION:

An early October Gallup Poll found that the economy was the top issue for voters in this year’s hotly contested presidential race. A majority evidently agreed. But it still seems to be a debated point. Have we been thriving, as some have asserted, or are we struggling, as others claim?

Status quo supporters have cited the current low unemployment rate and job creation figures as positive indicators. Critics have countered by claiming that the new jobs constituted little more than recovery of positions lost during the pandemic and that unemployment data ignores job-seekers who have given up looking. 

Thrust and parry, as they say in fencing. But the metric that decided it for me is a staple count of the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. Since its inception in April 2020, this social/economic battery of questions includes one of pertinence here: How many households have reported struggling to meet expenses each month? Since 2021, on the Democrats’ watch the percentage had risen from 27% post-pandemic to 36% in 2024.

No question about it: The paycheck-to-paycheck crowd has grown. As a conservative and an independent, I haven’t seen all the prosperity the Biden-Harris crowd has been crowing about. Neither, evidently, have a majority of American voters. I’m looking forward to Donald Trump resuming his position in January and going to work on this issue.

TOM GREGG

Niles, Illinois