Some things won’t change no matter who occupies the White House

By Dian Vujovich

I must have voted at the only poll in Palm Beach County that didn’t have a long waiting line. While that pleased me, I had prepared for the worst and packed bottled water, snacks and a couple of folding chairs just in case my 80-something year old neighbor and me had to endure hours of waiting.  But when we got to our designated poll, no lines. No nothing except for the one lonely poll attendant standing outside.

I asked where everybody was and she said that around 6:30 a.m. a long line had formed. Okay. But by the time I arrived it was 9-ish and things clearly had changed.

Being a last-part-of-the-alphabet person, I walked in, showed my ID, signed my name, picked up the ballot and went at it. Something like 150 people had fed the calculating machine their completed three-page ballot by the time I left.

Funny how things rarely turn out as expected.  Then again, we’re talking politics here. Forecasts and predictions in this arena, just like those from weather people and economists, have never come with guarantees. Why we kinda sorta expect them to is truly a mind mystery. And, a subject for another blog.

Sticking strictly to the economic reference in that last paragraph, no matter who winds up living in the White House for the next four years, there are some things that just won’t change. Three that I see, in no particular order, are:

• We’ll still have huge economic challenges. It would be nice to think that the prez has the power to ease all of the nation’s economic  woes but things aren’t  that simple.  Our economic problems are huge and intertwined.  Think of them like this: We all know how hard it is to get a wad of bubble gum out of a 5-year old’s head of curly hair because there are so many hairs playing into it. Well, the same is true when it comes to solving our country’s financial issues. So don’t think the  president elect can turn things around quickly, easily or painlessly.

• Within the financial arena, risk will remain as it is today: Ever present. There are no riskless investments. Never have been. Never will be. If you think there are, you are lying to yourself. Or, the person pitching you a riskless investment is lying to you even if that person resides in the White House.

• When it comes to money, the individual you need to trust the most doesn’t live in the White House but in  your house. Financial challenges are a part of everyone’s life. The enormously wealthy face them throughout all of their lives, as do the very poor and all folks in between.