It's the Economy, Stupid!

Lost in all the drama of the culture wars is the fact that Concord and Washington have neglected an entire generation of hard-working men and women. Let’s cut through the noise and get straight to the hard truth: the economy isn’t working for anyone entering the workforce today, and policymakers are spending too much time on issues that get attention but offer no real solutions.
 

Instead of addressing the housing crisis, wage stagnation, the childcare shortage, and the skyrocketing cost of health insurance, policymakers are attacking trans children, immigrants, and vaccines. In fairness, these are emotionally charged issues that many people care deeply about, and they deserve robust, honest debate. But among the areas where we can make the biggest difference for the most people right now, these issues rank low on the priority list. Cultural battles are incredibly effective at dividing us, but they serve only to distract from real kitchen-table issues.
 

What a lot of politicians won’t say—or don’t understand—is that policies designed to “raise all boats” were remarkably successful at improving the standard of living for those with the least, but middle-class families have languished. The theory that improving the condition of the neediest would uplift everyone ran headlong into trickle-down economics, which allowed the wealthiest to earn more while paying less in taxes—on the assumption that their investments would create better jobs.
 

Instead, the middle class fell behind. While policymakers were advocating for the poor, unions that once advocated for the middle saw their jobs shipped overseas. We can debate whether that happened because unions became too powerful or corporations too greedy, but the result was the same: as manufacturing declined, workers lost clout, and unions became a convenient scapegoat. Employers used the threat of outsourcing and a fragmented workforce to keep wages low, even as productivity and corporate profits reached record highs.
 

The problem with all this is that while the poor have made progress, the middle has declined to the point where full-time workers are often the same people who qualify for government assistance. Some policymakers argue that the problem is that government provides too much assistance to the neediest, but the real issue is that wages have failed to keep pace with the cost of living.
 

We need to tackle the housing crisis and make everyday life more affordable, but the real answer lies in empowering workers to demand fair wages so they can pay their own way. It’s wrong to say the poor have too much when the middle class has been hollowed out.
 

Stagnant wages and rising costs have made it nearly impossible to survive on entry-level salaries. Of all the contributing factors, housing is the most critical. Years of underinvestment in new construction have driven home prices far beyond wage growth. The cost of owning or renting has become out of reach for too many. In some areas, historically low vacancy rates make finding affordable housing near work nearly impossible. That forces workers into long commutes or leaves employers unable to hire people who can’t afford to live nearby.
 

In the end, an entire generation finds itself cut out of the economy—priced out of housing, burdened by healthcare costs, and left without affordable childcare or livable wages.
 

In my three terms in Concord, I’ve focused on real policy solutions—not ideological battles or headline-chasing distractions. We need to demand that our leaders stop feeding the fear and division of the culture wars and start delivering practical solutions that make people’s lives better. It’s time to get back to governing for the real world, not the outrage economy.