After each election, I used to talk with my students. I would suggest they establish benchmarks to measure what happens next. I would say factual measures should guide their future votes, not politicians. Here’s what I know about the 2024 election results.
Since Trump’s election, our Nation has preemptively attacked three foreign nations who posed no actual threats: Iran; Venezuela; and Cuba. We have threatened a fourth (Greenland) and have estranged our Nation from the Western civilizations.
Since the election, the cost of ‘living simply’ has risen. It costs workers more just to work. Working class people now labor three or more hours each week just to buy gas money to get to work. Car payments and insurance consume another 6-10 hours labor each week.
Since Trump was elected, the cost of basic foods has risen. The prices on meats, produce, bread and all other groceries are going up, because the American supply chain requires diesel fuel (as does our military when at war). And the quality of that food is declining.
Since 2024, fixed living expenses (auto, home, health insurance; rent or mortgage; electricity; heating costs; clean water; etc.) have soared upward. The cost-of-living indices surpass wage growth. Many Americans cannot afford to wear anything other than Walmart knockoff brands or “thrift” clothes. Hungry children are intentionally having food taken away from them. So too are the working-poor. Access to medicine is intentionally being taken away from the poor, the sick, the disabled.
