Whether playing three card monte with a sidewalk shark or watching the magician levitate an elephant in front of your eyes or attempting to outwit the stock market, the key is what you do not see. The perpetrators of the misconception rely on you to be focused elsewhere, either directly or indirectly.

What is happening right now in Washington can fairly be labeled a tragedy or farce or abomination or some other colorful descriptor.  However, as ridiculous as the scene, the actors, and the screwed-up messaging may be, I think of the whole situation as constituting a diversion from the reality of America (or maybe I call it a diversion because I want to be diverted from the current American world).

The incomplete list below is of on-going challenges to the country that are not being addressed.  This was the habit of prior Presidents as well, and, unfortunately, probably would be mostly true if the losing presidential candidate of 2016 were instead in office.

Social Issues:

The impact of demographic change, which is happening irrespective of immigration policies.

An absence of any substantive discussion about the impact of single parent “familiies.”

The collateral damage caused by a conflicted criminal justice system.

The balkanization of America, as more people live and work with others of the same political views.

A chilling repression of free speech on college campuses and elsewhere.

Education:

The role of social media/technology.

The multiple shortcomings of both the education system and the education reform debate.

Financial:

Entitlements as a rising/unaffordable percentage of government budgets.

Healthcare costs which are double those of peer economies, with drug prices rising 10%++ annually.

Economic:

Rising income inequality and, as important, a reduction in both mobility and the belief in advancement.  (How does one fighting for 2% wage increases relate to a hedge fund manager earning a billion dollars in a single year, to a painting being sold for over $100 million, to a $20 million house in the Hamptons being torn down to build a bigger mansion!)

Productivity increases which do not support a level of economic growth that could mask other ills.