The cost of college continues to soar. Trump's response? Make it easier for for-profit colleges to defraud students. His Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is eliminating regulations that had required for-profit colleges to prove they provide gainful employment to the students they enroll.
Commuting to and from work is becoming harder, as roads and bridges become more congested, and subways and trains older and less reliable. Trump's response? Nothing. Although he promised to spend $1.5 trillion to repair America's crumbling infrastructure, his $1.5 trillion tax cut for big corporations and the wealthy used up the money.
Climate change is undermining the standard of living of ordinary Americans, as more are hit with floods, mudslides, tornadoes, droughts, and wildfires. Even those who have so far avoided direct hits will be paying more for insurance -- or having a harder time getting it. People living on flood plains, or in trailers, or without home insurance, are paying the highest price.
Trump's response? Allow more carbon into the atmosphere and make climate change even worse.
Too often, discussions about "the economy" focus on overall statistics about growth, the stock market, and unemployment.
But most Americans don't live in that economy. They live in a personal economy that has more to do with wages, job security, commutes to and from work, and the costs of housing, healthcare, drugs, education, and home insurance.
These are the things that hit closest home. They comprise the typical American's standard of living.
Instead of an "economic boom," most Americans are experiencing declines in all these dimensions of their lives.
Trump isn't solely responsible. Some of these trends predated his presidency. But he hasn't done anything to reverse them.
If anything, he's made them far worse.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
1
1
