[codr7]

You're right, I do think macros make a good tradeoff. And you're not alone in thinking otherwise, I remember attending a heated panel debate at the International Common Lisp Conference about the pros and cons of macros.

In my case it's based on 20-ish years of using Common Lisp for personal projects.

Admittedly mostly prototyping and figuring things out, but that's my main use case for CL since using it at work is mostly politically impossible.