Sometimes, it’s hard for people to connect the daily stuff of their own lives with Washington D.C. policies or even state-level politics. Military aid for Ukraine doesn’t seem to hamper our day-to-day struggles, but defending Ukraine against Putin’s Russia also seems remote from everyday issues, especially if politicians begin to demagogue against this commitment to our NATO allies. The rise of Axis powers in the 1930s seems long ago, and even the Cold War is easy to forget. The price of eggs seems more relevant, and if that can be blamed on Biden’s “terrible policies,” that’s an easy call.

Inflation has many causes, especially in the after-wash of the pandemic, which gave Americans a lot of free dollars to protect against economic collapse (Trump and Biden were together in this) and worldwide supply chains were choked. Coming out of the sheltering and having more money increased “demand”; meanwhile, supply chain problems crimped “supply.” Serious inflation followed. The Fed, over which Biden has no control, is using its leverage over interest rates to keep a lid on this over-heating economy. That’s all working as it should. But inflation, even as it comes down, is a powerful talking point for Trump and the Republican Party. So is “immigration,” an issue as complex as inflation until Congress has the guts and intelligence for comprehensive immigration reform. Meanwhile we can’t even get piecemeal immigration reform, because Trump sabotaged a bipartisan fix at the border as he cynically understood that this temporary measure would cool down the issue as a political weapon. Without this Congressional fix, Biden used a federal order to clamp down, which reduced illegal crossings dramatically and angered a lot of his supporters.

Trump supporters are ignoring the reduction of illegal crossings. Biden’s temporary and somewhat cynical political fixes didn’t help his standing in the polls. I hope Harris, with the sudden energy and enthusiasm she has unleashed, can show that running on Biden’s record isn’t a liability but an asset. He has been good for labor, and good for clean energy. Biden’s Federal Trade Commission Chair Nina Kahn has been brilliantly successful putting a check on monopolistic corporate power, the essential guardrail of a healthy free enterprise system. Things are working well now, considering the circumstances Biden inherited at the beginning of 2021.

Biden’s best policy successes have been about liberal spending that is in the form of “investment.” Investment is a great way to look at how our own household dollars might be spent. We can spend money three ways: on entertainment, on short-term necessities like groceries and transportation, and on investments that pay off in the future, for ourselves or our descendants. Investments are buying a house, paying the mortgage, improving the house. Other investments: Planning a career with future prospects and a sense of personal “calling”; getting married and keeping in touch with friends and community; service to church or society’s nonprofits; education, at all levels, including support for public education even if your family doesn’t use it yourself. That’s self-interest as an investment.

Many of the benefits of Biden’s policies are beginning to show, but they are hard to see because they are investments. For instance, the CHIPS Act is bringing manufacturing of computer circuitry (the cotton-textile dynamo of the 21^st century) back to U.S., for good jobs and more control over supplies. How does this affect my life, right now? I can’t see it. But the freight elevator in our condo building is out of order and we are told to minimize use of the only other elevator, using the stairs when we can. The problem is that a specific microprocessor must be ordered and it won’t come until next week, according to the German company, Thyssenkrup, that manages the elevators. Meanwhile, the refrigerator in the half of the duplex we own is broken, and our tenant there is having to use a half-sized refrigerator we gave her while we wait for the repairman to get the parts he needs. It’s on order. The heater burned out and fried the thermostat. I don’t know, but I assume micro-chips are involved.