It is past time to jog our memories in this election year. Four years ago, we were in the throes of the pandemic, reeling from lack of effective national policies under the Trump administration’s official disdain for public health expertise, and many parts of the economy were raging in free fall.

A shift in administrations, to capable and informed leadership under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris (do not forget that Donald Trump never read his briefing papers), led to substantial investments in keeping our families and businesses afloat. Following that came more investments in the Chips Act for domestic computer production, and modern energy and transportation investments.

It is worth noting that while many may surely feel real strains, we are the only developed country that did not enter a recession following the pandemic, even though it was widely predicted and heralded. The pandemic environment was weird by any calculation. Raging buying sprees, along with supply chain shortages of everything from pasta to dishwashers to wood screws, were our daily world.

Ships stacked up 20 miles off the coast of Long Beach waiting to unload. And lumber products tripled in price. Nestled in those details is greed, no doubt, and its cousin “never enough.”

It is fundamentally true that public spending on public works and public needs is a deterrent to poverty and misery, and a necessary part of moving the country forward. Government has a job to do. During the Trump administration, no infrastructure bill was passed, despite control of all government branches. We may not like the lines and detours, but, folks, our stuff was falling apart, and so let us brace ourselves for the decade of reconstruction and renewal for a better and more efficient nation.

Over the last 3½ years under Biden and Harris, child poverty is trending sharply down. Sustainable energy and infrastructure is on the move. As much as possible without a willing Congress, segments of student debt relief are surviving court challenges. The student loan outrage is a legacy from Newt Gingrich, off which some have made fortunes while so many are weighed down and dispirited by debt and faltering promises.

Returning reproductive health policy and access to the states is precisely the same shadowy shame that brought us states’ rights and segregation. The rights of citizens to access health care is universal and without borders. I am flabbergasted that a national party will undertake extensive policies that cause death, disease, and trauma. Why? Trump and the Republicans have never proposed meaningful proposed changes or any upgrade to the Affordable Care Act, because they do not have any proposal and have no interest.

Employment is at record levels. Our rate of unemployment rate is half that of, say Spain, which considers itself a successful emerging European economy. That does not mean everyone is getting the wages they need, but it is better and will get better still under Harris.

The Obama administration handed Trump a thriving economy, and yet Republicans could not resist billions in inflationary tax cuts for the wealthy. Note there were no benefits in that package for working people. And the funds do not flow down and, no, not all boats are lifted.

Vast personal wealth was accrued by a small number of citizens, using money largely borrowed from China that our kids will have to deal with. And no, none of those tax cuts were offset by growth. Independent research inside and outside of the government has confirmed repeatedly that the tax cuts were inflationary and did not create requisite growth.

Yes, those tax cuts significantly fueled inflation. Current independent estimates confirm that another Trump administration and continued low taxes on the wealthy will add more debt than a Harris administration, and those same proposed tax cuts would fuel inflation and ever-accelerating increases in debt.

Do not be fooled by table scraps for the middle class from Trump. Rather, take a close look at the Harris tax credit plan for creating investments in new small businesses in the private sector.

If you want to be the party of fiscal responsibility, institute fair taxes and stem the bleeding. Republicans have long ceded any claim to fiscal conservatism. The cuts they propose to public health, health care, education, Social Security and transportation are dangerous for citizens of all ages, are ineffectual in deficit reduction, and reflect a full range of punitive social policies without benefit.

Fuel costs are relatively stable despite two wars in Europe and the Mediterranean.

As for the view forward, the core drumbeat from Trump on economic policy is unbridled fossil fuel drilling to bring back historically low fuel prices. That is it. But fuel producers will not invest to saturate the market, so that is a hoax.

And why, in the face of staggering climate change, would it be prudent to ramp up emissions and pollution for the few decades that known supplies allow? So we can drive bigger, thirstier trucks for a few years before we perish? It does not even rise to the level of policy — it is just an aberration.

So, as we feel the pressures of modern life, we can be grateful for where we are, and the progress being made. Make no mistake, however, that in our shared quest for a livable planet, we have no days or years to wallow in falsehoods and fictions. There is no future in going backward into chaos.

Trump has been running for office for 12 years. It is the same old cluster of uninformed lies. So, for an economy that works, see Trump for what he is. Do not buy it.

Jonathan A. Wright lives in Northampton.