Many of us have been inspired by the unity displayed at the Democratic National Convention this week. I know I am. Yet even as we attain this greater solidarity in our politics, America grows ever wider apart in its economics. I’m talking about the stock market.

You might not have noticed, but even as many great speeches were being given on Tuesday, the NASDAQ was hitting an all-time high. When I heard that news, I thought: Wow! That’s bonkers!

Meanwhile, U.S. job losses are the highest since the Great Depression. 5.4 million Americans have lost their health coverage in the middle of a global pandemic. An imbalance between supply and demand is pushing U.S. home prices to new heights. And thousands of Hoosier renters may face eviction.

America’s richest 1% now own half the value of the U.S. stock market and the richest 10% own 92% of Wall Street. So when men like Trey Hollingsworth say the stock market is the economy and America is doing just fine, know that he’s saying that he and his ultra-wealthy friends are doing OK and the rest of America, especially the working class folks like you and me, can go jump in a lake.

The stock market is NOT the economy. 

America was built on sweat and a hard day’s work, not the fleecing of the middle class by speculators like the Hollingsworth family. Hoosiers don’t have to filter their money through Wall Street to know they earned it.

I believe that:

• The economy should be tied to our productivity, because I know that Hoosiers are hard-working people who not only put in the effort but are industrious and conscientious.

• We should fight COVID-19 by listening to medical professionals and scientists in order to stabilize the economy.

• High-quality healthcare is a human right and no one should go broke because they had to seek emergency care.

• Housing insecurity is un-American. No man, woman or child in this country should be homeless, especially children.

• People who work hard should have not just a roof over their heads; they should have a home.

I recognize that some in the working class have done quite well by investing their retirement savings in 401(k)s and IRAs. I know savvy Hoosiers who have profited from the stock market, whether trading on their own or using a stockbroker who fulfills their fiduciary responsibility. But I also know Hoosiers who have been stripped of their savings via the dot-com bubble, the Great Recession or other downturn, and I see that those losses were not those people’s fault. The stock market is a gamble.

If you have been fortunate enough to successfully save for retirement, I ask you to think of the most vulnerable person you know and vote in their interest. If you’re already prospering, think of how you might help a neighbor.

‘Tennessee’ Trey Hollingsworth is a fraudster who ran for Congress to grift Hoosiers on behalf of his Wall Street executive buddies. Trey doesn’t think about helping his neighbors because he’s not a real Hoosier. He’s a parachute candidate who doesn’t really live here. He’s your representative, but he’s not your neighbor and he’s not looking out for you. 

Vote him out in November. I’m a Hoosier, born and raised, and I’ll fight for you if you’ll fight for me.

Best wishes. Stay safe.

-ANDY