Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?

Here are the stats:

Unemployment: 7.8% then, 8.3% now
Median income: $54,983 then, $50,964 now
Gas prices: $1.85 per gallon then, $3.78 now
National debt: $10.6 trillion then, $15.9 trillion now

Are Americans better off? Obama aides won't say
By BEN FELLER and DAVID ESPO | Associated Press
news.yahoo.com...

Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?

Yes. I make more money, I save more money, my kid has health insurance that he otherwise wouldn't have, I have a new (to me) house, and I'm finishing up a degree. Not too terrible.

No I'm not better off. I lost my house, I had to move, I work for half of what I used to make. Obama didn't cause this. Greed and corruption caused this. If I recall correctly our economy went to # before the election. I am an independent, not republican, not democrat. Our whole system is broken and politics damn well won't fix it.

Originally posted by RELDDIR
Here are the stats:

Unemployment: 7.8% then, 8.3% now
Median income: $54,983 then, $50,964 now
Gas prices: $1.85 per gallon then, $3.78 now
National debt: $10.6 trillion then, $15.9 trillion now

Are Americans better off? Obama aides won't say
By BEN FELLER and DAVID ESPO | Associated Press
news.yahoo.com...

I think this is the definition of a "Loaded Question"

reply to post by RELDDIR


Even though I am no fan of the current administrations policies, I would have to say yes, I am better off now than I was four years ago.

Four years ago I was working a pretty stressful job. Now I am retired and only work part time, and that's to mainly just get out of the house.

I'm not as stressed out as I once was. But it was not this administrations doing, it was my own planning that accomplished where I am today.

reply to post by RELDDIR


Hell no!

4 years ago, I had a great job I loved, which went out of business, since then I have been bouncing crap mcdonalds jobs ( by mcdonalds, I don't mean mcdonalds, I mean jobs paying less than $30,000 a year and less) for temp agencies, and trying my damnedest to get sub contracting jobs as they become available, these are also becoming more and more hard to find.

I have a wide range of skills, some computer and electronic engineering college, every kind of construction you could imagine just about, overhead crane experience, injection molding experience, and mold technician experience, automotive painting, including electro static spraying, a little welding, mig, and tig specifically, pretty good mechanic, alright at most auto body work, and excellent math skills, I tested out of all the math save trigonometry in college, was thinking about going to get my class a CDL so I could just start driving a truck cross country, as it pays quite well.

Anybody know anyone hiring a hard working punctual 34 year old male in the indianapolis area? I am looking for employment at the moment! I got a job recently cooking at a local restaurant at night, but I don't care for it much, I hate touching other peoples food, it is a phobea of mine.

My answer is yes. My family and my parents are better off than four years ago. Ill be one to admit I was wrong about Obama.I didnt vote for him the first time, and I will be voting to keep him.

Yes

no, and I blame the rich

they are supposed to create jobs with thier wealth

what gives ?

I would have to say yes, my family is better off than four years ago. I had a decent paying job four years ago, which I left voluntarily to become a stay at home dad...even though I made decent money, my wife made double what I did. We bought a bigger, newer house in a better part of town, and other than what is left of our mortgage after selling our old house, we're debt free.

Almost all of our friends are also in higher-paying jobs than four years ago and most of them have bought new homes in the past four years as well. The rest of our friends are about the same as they were four years ago. Both of our parents are doing better than four years ago...both are saving more money for retirement and both have made renovations or additions or their homes.

Do I credit any politicians with this? Absolutely not. All of us have worked hard and made smart decisions with our money and careers to be better off than four years ago.

Yup

4 years ago I was unemployed, now I have a steady job with a steady income and my own place .

There are so many variables that can affect the economy. To try to blame Obama for this mess is simply another Obama bashing thread. I'm better off than I was because I still have my job, but it's being threatened by our republican governor who wants to continue to cut education, after drastic cuts these past two years.

-I would blame the biggest cause of job loss are corporations sending our manufacturing jobs overseas.

-De-regulations that have caused greedy bankers to make risky and failed investments.

-Corporations closing manufacturing plants up north for cheaper non-union plants down south.

-The idea that an educated work force isn't important for a strong economy.

-Allowing oil companies to create a strangle hold on implementing new sources of energy.

-The enormous military budget.

-Increase in federal, state and city taxes which cause less spending power for consumers.

...Feel free to add to this list.

I would hold congress responsible for the current economy than any president. They're the ones that pass our budgets and make the laws that affect our country. Maybe if they worked together and were more fiscal responsible with tax payers money, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in right now. It's easy to blame one person, and ignore the rest of the political machine which is the real cause.

Yes, I'm better off. And it has nothing to do with the Government or their policies. It has everything to do with me taking my skill sets and using them to my advantage.

I wasn't doing too well where I lived or what I was doing for a living so I moved and changed career paths. I'm not even going to go into the personal short term sacrifice I had to make and I'm at the age where people think it's almost impossible to do. And no, I don't flip burgers. Everyone else out there who can list 20 things they can do but also tell people they've been unemployed for 2 years, sorry, but you're getting no sympathy here. During my entire adult life, through all the different administrations, economic ups and downs and personal issues, I've only collected unemployment once ( made me sick to stomach BTW), never been on welfare and wouldn't know how to file for workman's comp if my life depended on it. If you have a physical condition beyond your control, that's one thing. God blessed me with good health and I use it to my advantage. And the people who know me know I walk the talk.

Bottom line, if you're going to blame an inept Government, whom you claim can't run anything, for your failures, what the hell does that make you?

Think about it. Man up

youtu.be...

Everyone has a different situation. What is good for you , may not be for your counterpart. Such is life.

What everyone needs to do is look inward, and ask yourself if you are happy. If not, then you do what so many other able Americans have done (assuming you are talking about Americans, but any other country still works with this.) and you make a plan that works for you and you stick to it until it happens.

NOTHING happens if you just sit back and bitch about what goes on in the world that you have little control of, unless you win the lottery, or inherit something from other people who have done the same thing that I have described above.

Sounds simple, yet it is not, and life is not easy for those who have to work for a living, so you just do it. Suck up your ego and get moving. History will show that the greatest innovators and leaders came from humble beginnings, and it was their drive and fortitude that was responsible for their success.

If you are able, but instead decide to sap the system, you may last a while, but the day will come when this overused support comes crashing down on you, and your family. You have wasted time and made things worse for all, and are back at square 1 again.

Since the beginning of human civilization, this has been true, so why is the process such a mystery to most?
The future of your country relies on the majority of it's citizens having this kind of outlook on reality.

Of course I am better off. That's because I am older, and wiser, and have been working towards improving my situation.

Of course, if the govt wasn't so corrupt, we would all be MUCH better off. So, there's that.

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. - Mark Twain,

I would have to say YES!

I make more money now than I ever have....

Left Wing Huffington Post - Obama Advisors Dont' Say 'Yes' When Asked if People are Better Off Now Than 4 Years Ago

On "Fox News Sunday," host Chris Wallace asked David Axelrod, "Can you honestly say the average American is better off today than four years ago?" "Here's what I can say, Chris," answered Axelrod, who advises Obama's reelection campaign. ....

... and he went on with a lot of blah blah blah .. not ever answering 'yes' or 'no'.

On ABC's "This Week," host George Stephanopoulos had similar difficulty prying a yes-or-no answer to the "better off" question from Obama senior adviser David Plouffe.

"I think the American people understand that we got into a terrible economic situation, a recession -- the Great Depression is the only one the country has ever seen like it," Plouffe said, before pivoting to a broad criticism of Romney's policies.

Stephanopoulos tried once more, but Plouffe dodged, saying Romney would make things worse. "You still can't say yes," Stephanopoulos said.

Marylands Democratic Govenor Acknowledges American Not Better Off than Four Years Ago

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said Sunday that Americans are not better off than they were four years ago, answering the question that other Obama surrogates tried to avoid as it repeatedly came up on the weekend talk shows.

O’Malley, a Democrat who will be speaking at the party’s convention this week in Charlotte, addressed the issue on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “No,” he said when asked if Americans were better off. He added: “But that's not the question of this election ....

And then he went on to 'blame Bush43' ....

Star Tribune ... Better off now than 4 years ago?

Team Obama can't say the country is better off after four years," Republican National Committee communications director Sean Spicer said. "This will be the most effective counter-programming effort ever conducted by the GOP."

POLL - Are You Better Off Now than 4 years ago
Swing states - 40% 'better off' .... 56% 'not better off'
Nationwide - 42% 'better off' .... 55% 'not better off'

Nearly every single meaningful measure that has been enacted by our legislative branch, signed off on by the executive branch and reinforced by the supreme court comes with the intent of further enriching the rich (let us count the ways), improving the bottom line of the corporation (which includes a whole host of economic maladies embedded within that modus operandi) and further suppressing the middle class on down to the poverty levels. Look at the numbers, charts and stats. All of them confirm this assertion. I can't just look at the past 4 years or the past 12. I have to look at the overall trend over the long term because that reveals a helluva lot more than just a presidential term. The verdict is in, this is a country for the rich, by the rich. The rest of us can f*** off.

Originally posted by IrVulture
I would have to say YES!

I make more money now than I ever have....

Shouldn't you be making more money? I mean, usually that's the trajectory. You get more experience in your profession and you experience upward movement in your pay scale. Yet, I bet that upward movement has (EDIT) NOT been keeping pace with inflationary realities.

EDIT: Wild fluctuation in oil prices due to speculation create such instability in the economy that businesses have no choice but to arbitrarily raise prices of their goods and services due to this instability and uncertainty. Fuel prices fluctuate totally incoherently to the rise and fall of the price of a barrel of oil. Everything across the board experiences a rise in prices and as of the last 25-30 years, the wages of the average middle class American has been completely stagnant when you consider inflation. We are much WORSE off and no end in sight.

Are you better off than you were four years ago?

My answer ... NO.
Our income has not kept up with inflation.
The value of our home has dropped a whole lot. LOTS
The cost of college has gone through the roof ... a big chunck of $$ gone, and big loans as well.