For the last few years I have been subscribing to the newsletter written by Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman.
I think he knows more about the state of the nation’s economy and future trends than most. His predictions a year ago, for example, about the economy, and especially inflation, that went against the grain of what others were predicting, have turned out to be right on target.
In a recent article he writes about how amazingly well the economy and most Americans have recovered from the devastation caused by the pandemic.
“None of the good news,” he writes, “about how well things are going undoes the Covid death toll or the serious learning loss suffered by millions of students. But overall, both our economy and our society are in far better shape at this point than most people would have predicted in the early days of the pandemic — or than most Americans are willing to admit.”
That last line is the primary point his article tries to make. Even though our nation’s recovery from the pandemic over the last three years has been amazing and better than what other western nations have experienced, many Americans still believe things are worse than they were before the pandemic hit.
Krugman cites impressive evidence to the contrary, but he is very aware that many Americans are reluctant to believe the good news, in large part because of news sources that present negative and often false stories about how bad things are.
Nevertheless, he concludes, “…what you need to know is that America responded remarkably well to the economic and social challenges of a deadly pandemic. By most measures, we’re a nation on the mend.”
And then adds, “Let’s hope we don’t lose our democracy before people realize that.”
His final comment underscore something very important, which is that the two are inextricably woven together. The way people feel about how things are going affects they way they vote.
The recovery led by a competent and resilient President Biden has been stunning by every standard of measurement in spite of the political and news naysayers who have been trying to convince people that just the opposite is true.
I think some people are susceptible to misinformation and downright false reporting because the pandemic was so traumatic that they have forgotten that life wasn’t ideal before it happened and that life always has its challenges with most of us at some point facing difficult struggles.
Yet, life is also good, positive, productive, meaningful, and a daily gift when all things are considered. Indeed, it is not being Pollyannaish to have a positive view of life and to refuse to play the role of a victim or spend everyday focused on grievances as if they are the whole story.
The big challenge as we enter this new year of 2024 is to embrace genuine good news about what is happening. This can be the year when we, the people, decide to have done with negative news, have done with grievance politics, have done with voices that tear down while offering nothing to build up.
In the last three years our country has turned the corner on the pandemic, changed the economic trajectory from the top down to the bottom up, and seen the good results of decisions made and policies implemented by leaders who are focusing on solutions rather than politicizing problems.
As Krugman says, we are a nation on the mend. Things are looking up, which means we can also be on the cusp of regaining our balance politically in the same way we have economically.
The choice is ours, and if we make the right one, it is very possible that a year from now we will be able to look back on 2024 and describe it as the year a majority of Americans chose the positive over the negative, light over darkness, and then vote accordingly.
linnposts.com 