To the editor:

How bad is reality right now? Unemployment down, under 4 percent for two years.

Employment up, with hundreds of thousands of jobs added every month.

Wages up, if only slightly, but recently rising faster than inflation.

Inflation down from nearly 9 percent to just over 3 percent; mortgage rates falling.

Gas down from nearly $4 to under $3, at least in Southern New England.

The stock market is doing very well, thank you, for those invested.

So tell me: how is the economy so bad?

Well, housing is still an issue, thanks to vulture (oh, sorry) venture capitalists. Single-family homes are being converted to short-term rentals for the already wealthy vacationers, while the service economy workers who serve them can’t find a place to live. We’re still relying way too much on fossil fuels, and the frequent storms are battering the coast around here, and everything everywhere else. Women’s rights stalled out, and under attack by the Supreme Court, but corporate “rights” are their primary concern. So there’s work to be done yet. I would like to be hopeful, for the sake of my offspring.

Clay Commons

22 Bayside Ave.

Portsmouth