What we want in 2019 – The top issues
Bottom Line: Now that we have a new Congress, and at least a temporary end to the partial government shutdown, it’s worth taking a look at what the most important issues are to us. The Pew Research Center is out with their top issues for 2019 according to us and they are...
- Economy (70%)
- Health Care Costs (69%)
- Education (68%)
- Terrorism (67%)
- Medicare/Social Security (67%)
The more things change the more they stay the same comes to mind looking at this list. What’s clear is that despite our concern over issues like immigration policy (51% view it as an important issue to address this year), we still mostly care about what personally impacts us. It’s notable that from a political perspective two hot button issues aren't priorities for Americans this year. Just 39% of Americans say trade policy changes are important and only 44% say we should take action to address climate change. In other words, politicos on both sides of the isle have dedicated a lot of time, energy and emphasis on issues majorities of us don’t want the government to address.
The economy is the best in a generation and Gallup research showed 73% of Americans say they’re better off today compared to a year ago. The big concern for Americans is to see it continuing with wages continuing to rise. The other four top issues are far more complicated. Health Care Costs are a top issue despite the ACA having been passed years ago because we put emphasis on insurance over prices. Will the transparency of healthcare costs begin to make a difference in 2019?
As for education, here’s another issue that the federal government has acted on that hasn’t led to better results. And Social Security and Medicare remains the elephant in the room that everyone is aware of but for political reasons no one really wants to reform until there’s no choice. There’s actually a lesson about what government does well and what it doesn’t.
- Lower taxes and less regulation = a better economy
- Heavy handed regulation and insurance mandates = higher healthcare costs
- One size fits all federal mandates on education = US trailing in education
- Emphasis on eliminating terrorism overseas = fewer domestic terror attacks/threats
- Federal government left to its own devices will borrow against and spend resources promised to future Medicare & Social Security recipients
This is a reminder to control what we can control. The government taking action doesn’t mean a problem will improve. As healthcare costs and education outcomes have proven it can be the opposite. What we see in the case of healthcare costs and education outcomes is that local actions and personal involvement net the best outcomes.