Editorial: Slash and Burn
Recently overheard comment from a local resident: “It doesn’t matter how crazy Trump is; It won’t impact us here in Del Mar.” Think again.
Medical care impact
Medicaid and Medicare are threatened. Hospitals are struggling now, and insurance options are limited and more expensive. Grants for clinical trials are frozen, so new treatments will be slower to appear. The FDA is being gutted, so approval of any new medicines will take longer. Research grants are frozen too, so the basic research that leads to new therapies will halt. Public health information is not being gathered or shared with the public. Unqualified health skeptics lead the HHS, NIH, CDC and FDA.
Personal services impact
Do immigrants cut your lawn, clean your house, fix your irrigation system or clean your car? Even if they are documented, the fear of deportation has impacted their daily lives, as has their blanket characterization as criminals. Who will replace them if they are forced to leave?
Financial impact
Tariffs will increase the cost of many items, including building supplies and cars and trucks. Considering a new ADU? Its cost just went up 25%.
Add to that the shortage of immigrant labor, and the cost is now up 50%. The local economy in San Diego County is heavily dependent upon federal grants for research and clinical trials, both of which are currently on hold. Proposed cuts to these grants would cause severe loss of jobs at local institutions close to Del Mar, and add to the economic downturn (i.e., recession) triggered by the tariff wars. Tax cuts for millionaires will not offset the pain suffered by most of us, especially those retirees in Del Mar living on fixed incomes (if Social Security survives).
Tourism and Entertainment impacts
As we learned during the worst years of the COVID pandemic, Del Mar depends on tourism for its financial survival. If the stock market crashes and we head into the feared recession, the cost of visiting Del Mar will be prohibitive for many. Funding for the National Endowment for Arts has stopped, so local art and music events as well as KPBS are threatened. No National Parks reservations allowed; too few rangers left.
Energy impact
The least expensive source of electricity is solar and wind energy. With the current federal emphasis on fossil fuels and denial of climate change, we will be faced with rising energy costs and increased air pollution. We in Del Mar are somewhat buffered from some of these impacts if we get our energy from the Clean Energy Alliance, but you should watch your SDG&E bills grow each year and get ready to suffer from warming temperatures, sea level rise, more wildfires, and fewer federal dollars to combat these impacts.
Craziness in Washington will impact all of us in Del Mar. Not to mention the new impacts announced every day.