Mark Twain, arguably Bermuda’s first and most celebrated repeat visitor, didn’t overstate matters at all when he remarked that lack of money is actually the root of all evil.

Twain’s wry assessment is borne out by the direct and indirect effects of the whiplash-rapid economic contraction his happy, little mid-Atlantic paradise experienced in recent years.

The negative repercussions have been felt across the socioeconomic spectrum. They have manifested themselves in everything from declining GDP figures to an unprecedented spike in violent crime, which, mercifully, was arrested and reversed before it could spiral completely out of control.

Although Bermuda’s almost decade-long recession is now technically over, the hangover stubbornly lingers on.

Long-term unemployment and underemployment, particularly among young people, are demoralising everyday realities for too many Bermudians.

Even for those who are not out of work, stagnant wages are failing to keep pace with ever-increasing living costs.

And inefficient and sometimes extravagantly wasteful government spending continues to hinder private sector dynamism and growth.

Although the island’s economy remains frustratingly sluggish, there have been a number of encouraging signs in recent months suggesting a fits-and-starts rebound may be finally under way.

Consumer confidence has been registering modest but relatively consistent upticks, although long-term uncertainty remains about Bermuda’s economic and political conditions, and the viability of a sustained and sustainable recovery.

And there are now tangible examples of how the economic benefits of hosting the 2017 America’s Cup in Bermuda are lifting all boats — not just the yachts of a select few, as some of the naysayers had predicted.

Similarly, the news that Bermuda has finally secured Solvency II equivalence from the European Commission after six years of marathon negotiations is an extremely welcome development for our offshore financial services sector.

While an abstract and abstruse concept for many laymen to grasp, this week’s decision will have immediate, practical and highly beneficial consequences for Bermudian-based insurers and reinsurers, making them more competitive in the European Union and, by extension, enhancing the island’s reputation as a power player in the global industry.

But the road to recovery for Bermuda’s underperforming economy remains a long and uneven one. And too often partisan political gamesmanship and one-upmanship continue to distract from the monumental task at hand: rebuilding and recalibrating a once world-class economic model fallen upon hard times and in urgent need of a long period of deliberate and thoughtful stewardship.

Bermudians are, by and large, a realistic and pragmatic people.

If we have learnt anything from our nascent recovery, it is that nothing can or should be taken for granted. Growth will deliver new jobs and new investments, but only in a slow and incremental way.

A rebound may be under way, but a crisis — either in the global economy or of the self-generated variety — could very easily derail it. But Bermudian patience and common sense are offset somewhat by an understandable degree of disillusionment and frustration, particularly among some in the island’s increasingly squeezed middle and lower-income households.

This is the same type of post-recessionary anxiety we are witnessing elsewhere, the kind that can very easily give rise to populist backlashes when ignored by those in power or crassly exploited by those seeking political power.

Think of it as a combination of disappointment, thwarted expectations and a vague, low-level sense of dissatisfaction with the modest pace of recovery.

Party elites around the world that have attempted to take refuge in denial from the priorities of the recession-racked middle class, which have failed to properly identify and defend their interests, are reaping particularly bitter harvests for this negligence.

The once unthinkable ascendancies of cartoonish demagogues and thuggish insurgency movements everywhere from Hungary to the United States demonstrates how easy it is for unscrupulous opportunists to feed off the resentments of the alienated while offering no feasible solutions to their ills.

Recent events in Bermuda have underscored how imperative it is for our political leadership to listen to, and attempt to redress, some of the recession-fuelled grievances that exist here.

Not all can be redressed in the short term. Increased government sensitivity and legislative fixes can accomplish only so much, after all. But a more aware and responsive government can help to ensure we have the type of conditions required for the prolonged economic upswing, which actually can alleviate the most pressing middle-class concerns.

Centred around making life better for working households and restoring that sense of equilibrium, which largely vanished from Bermuda a decade ago, it is hardly coincidental these anxieties speak to the lack of money really being at the root of most, if not all, of our present evils.