'Are You Better Off....'

[midcan5]

Or worse off - a Fox survey has over 80% claiming they are worse off? Personally, I cannot blame any president for how I feel each four years. Are Fox viewers eighty percent worse off, and if so, why? Whose fault is that?

Are you worse off because Obama was elected and he didn't help you out, are you too lazy for work and require the government to make things better for you? Are you worse off because the Bush tax cuts were left in place?

Or are you entitled to the government helping make it better for you, all the while whining that the particular government in power hasn't made it better for you?

Why does this question contradict the intent of the question? I thought the conservatives / republicans / libertarians did it all on their own, from nothing, did I miss a qualification or footnote?

If you are better off, should you thank Obama? Should you thank Government? Should you thank luck? Should you thank your dead relative who left you lots? Should you thank yourself?

"It is breathtaking impudence that Republicans should try to campaign on whether we are better off than were were in the last six months of the Bush administration. I can’t believe we are even arguing about this. Seriously? The country had fallen off a cliff in the last years of Bush, or rather had been pushed off one by GOP policies.

'Top Ten Ways we are Better off than in January 2009'

1. In January 2009 we lost 600,000 jobs. In 2008 over-all, we lost 2.6 million jobs, the most in 6 decades! We’re now adding over 100,000 jobs a month." Top Ten Ways we are Better off than in January 2009 | Informed Comment

The Contemporary Condition: The Real Entitlement Crisis

"Perhaps if a Democrat explained how all Americans have actually benefited from the standards (I do not say achievement) of racial and gender equity as these have been articulated since the 1950s, the Republican Party wouldn’t have such a lock on the votes of white males. Perhaps if a Democrat could honestly say to working-class women that they don’t need to depend on their families for child care—especially men with incomes, but also relatives with time to watch the kids—the Republican Party would finally become the exclusively white, all-male country club it wants to be." Revisiting False Consciousness | Politics and Letters
Revisiting False Consciousness | Politics and Letters

 

[Intense]

I'm worse off.

 

[Mr Natural]

Apart from being four years closer to the big dirt nap, I am better off.

 

[flacaltenn]

Let's get real MidCan... Specific actions that have made YOU and me worse off...

1) Stealing from the Social Security/Medicare premiums so that Barack "Robin Hood" Obama can claim he gave EVERYBODY a tax break. Brought SS to it's knees 6 to 8 years ahead of schedule. Is creating DEBT for future generations with DOUBLE INTEREST being paid on every underfunded SS check dollar.

2) Throwing away money on stock market gambles on Green Energy ventures he didn't understand and didn't care about understanding. That money SHOULD have gone to REAL energy research and development. NOT to jerky companies making gimmick variations of commodity items.

3) Not understanding the important central CAUSE of the employment shift. Replacing OLDER MIDDLE class jobs in Manufacturing with sub-par lower paying jobs in the service sector. Keep that up and there will BE no middle class left in 10 years. It's GLOBALIZATION stupid. And the only way for America to MAINTAIN its standard of living is to promote INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY, and VENTURE CAPITAL.
Not SHOVELS and GREEN Slime.

THis guy is clueless as to how the economy works. The car that the Reps ran into the ditch is still there because OBAMA is arguing with the Tow Truck driver about being non-union...

 

[FA_Q2]

^ this.

Can’t give any more rep flac, I’m all out atm. Gona have to remember

I would also add that the real question is not have we moved up at all in the last 4 years but whether or not that movement was adequate. It seems that at the bottom of all recessions, there is going to be an upswing. I have no idea where this concept that we simply could have spiraled down forever if it were not for Obama. That is ridiculous. It is not how recessions work. They hit a bottom then go back up. The reality here is that this recession is taking longer and moving slower. That is not an endorsement for the current solutions. It is clear that those solutions have failed miserably.

 

[waltky]

No siree we ain't better off...

... Uncle Ferd still ain't got his job back atta dry cleanery...

... wringin' farts outta shirt-tails...

... an' Granny still ain't got dat 2nd stimulus check...

... things is tough all over.

 

[editec]

I'm a tad better off, but that has nothing to do with this regime or, for that matter, the last one either.

The wealthy are, of course, much better off now, in some part thanks to this regime.

The rest of the socio economic classes really aren't doing well at all.

And I seriously doubt this is going to change much regardless of who attains the White House, either.

 

[jillian]

I'm worse off.

i'm sorry to hear that. and certainly, i'd hope that turns around. but i'd wager that has zero to do with this president doing anything wrong.

four years ago our economy melted down. we were losing 750,000 jobs a month, the housing market was in the pits and banks were failing.

our money has been largely repaid... we are producing jobs, albeit not enough. but that's what happens when we cut "government" so that job creation remains stagnant. for every job created in the private sector, we are losing one in government...teachers, firefighters, police...etc.

that leads to further reductions in our national cash flow... which in turn leads to money being cut to the states and to the federal government...

which in turn leads to job losses...

which in turn leads to people not having sufficient money to buy certain goods and services...

which further cuts our national income...

the fact that we're doing as well as we are given the obstacles put in front of this president ... is phenomenal.

 

[jillian]

Let's get real MidCan... Specific actions that have made YOU and me worse off...

1) Stealing from the Social Security/Medicare premiums so that Barack "Robin Hood" Obama can claim he gave EVERYBODY a tax break. Brought SS to it's knees 6 to 8 years ahead of schedule. Is creating DEBT for future generations with DOUBLE INTEREST being paid on every underfunded SS check dollar.

2) Throwing away money on stock market gambles on Green Energy ventures he didn't understand and didn't care about understanding. That money SHOULD have gone to REAL energy research and development. NOT to jerky companies making gimmick variations of commodity items.

3) Not understanding the important central CAUSE of the employment shift. Replacing OLDER MIDDLE class jobs in Manufacturing with sub-par lower paying jobs in the service sector. Keep that up and there will BE no middle class left in 10 years. It's GLOBALIZATION stupid. And the only way for America to MAINTAIN its standard of living is to promote INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY, and VENTURE CAPITAL.
Not SHOVELS and GREEN Slime.

THis guy is clueless as to how the economy works. The car that the Reps ran into the ditch is still there because OBAMA is arguing with the Tow Truck driver about being non-union...

do you make up this stuff?

you think those drops in the bucket have changed this for you personally?

really?

personally?

 

[Stephanie]

Poor Obama, he's had phenomenal Obstacles put in front of him

ObamaCare (MORE BIG GOVERNMENT that we get to PAY FOR) passed against the will of the people

800 billion of taxpayers monies he took did NOTHING

spent us into 5 trillion more dept

oh my the obstacles are daunting

So ask yourself, how the hell can you be better off today?

 

[midcan5]

5. In January 2009, US new auto sales fell 37%, the most in decades, and for the first time China sold more cars than America. The major automobile companies were heading for bankruptcy. Obama turned all that around, in the teeth of opposition from people like Mitt Romney. from above link

I find it interesting and rather paradoxical that Americans blame a president for their current state of affairs? Consider just number five above, had Americans purchased a few more US made cars, the issue would have been moot. I realize many foreign cars are cheaper, Japan for instance has keiretsu while Americans have freedom. Freedom to outsource and get tax breaks for instance. Some would claim we are better off because of cheaper imports? While true in a sense, if we build nothing we'll all have to work in medicine, farming, or road work as they are tough jobs to outsource to India or China.

One other piece that few admit is that many foreign cars are status symbols and manufacturers get 50% of their profits from high end cars. I know many people who have to have a Mercedes or Lexus, as seen in anything else places them among the working class American. But our new Buick, made here, matches any high end car period.

The other thing that strikes me is the fact, if a poor person on welfare were to ask the same question, the republican would tell them to work harder. Why doesn't that advice work both ways?

_

 

[flacaltenn]

Let's get real MidCan... Specific actions that have made YOU and me worse off...

1) Stealing from the Social Security/Medicare premiums so that Barack "Robin Hood" Obama can claim he gave EVERYBODY a tax break. Brought SS to it's knees 6 to 8 years ahead of schedule. Is creating DEBT for future generations with DOUBLE INTEREST being paid on every underfunded SS check dollar.

2) Throwing away money on stock market gambles on Green Energy ventures he didn't understand and didn't care about understanding. That money SHOULD have gone to REAL energy research and development. NOT to jerky companies making gimmick variations of commodity items.

3) Not understanding the important central CAUSE of the employment shift. Replacing OLDER MIDDLE class jobs in Manufacturing with sub-par lower paying jobs in the service sector. Keep that up and there will BE no middle class left in 10 years. It's GLOBALIZATION stupid. And the only way for America to MAINTAIN its standard of living is to promote INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY, and VENTURE CAPITAL.
Not SHOVELS and GREEN Slime.

THis guy is clueless as to how the economy works. The car that the Reps ran into the ditch is still there because OBAMA is arguing with the Tow Truck driver about being non-union...

do you make up this stuff?

you think those drops in the bucket have changed this for you personally?

really?

personally?

NONE of that is "made up".. Show me ANYTHING i said that is..

And you can't be serious about stealing from the SS revenue doesn't affect EVERY WORKER in this country? Is that what you believe? The FICA tax break has forced SS to go negative. Checks being written today are backed by NEW DEBT. So we are FINANCING current payments rather than collecting premiums..

In the long view -- there's very little a Prez can do to "manage" the economy. But we should expect that they UNDERSTAND the economy and diff between "shovel" jobs and jobs that preserve America's meager lead in technology and innovation in a GLOBAL economy.

This guy has PERSONALLY retarded the growth of NEW INNOVATIVE companies and ventures that would PRESERVE America's Middle Class. And thru his misguided energy priorities is leading us towards a dysfunctional energy structure where rolling blackouts will make it hard to locate Semiconductor fab plants in Silicon Valley.

The BIGGEST tool a Prez has is to "get the hell out of the way" of new innovation and growth. And this guy considers that a non-starter.. Because he subscribes to the leftist agenda of HOBBLING growth as unsustainable and demeaning personal drive and achievement...

 

[midcan5]

Maybe this question needs to be asked in another way. Would you be better off if a republican were elected? What does history show?

Harding Coolidge Hoover - Great Depression
Nixon Ford - Stagflation
Reagan Bush - S&L Bailout. It's the economy...
Bush II - Great recession. Many more bailouts.

So then view for a second the Romney Ryan idea for the future. Answer seems simple.

'Dear Mitt Romney:'

"Your so-called Medicare reform is just a way of shifting health expenses from millionaires (whose taxes you want to lower) to middle class and working people (with whom you want to stick the bill). A 48-year-old today, who starts getting Medicare in 2030, would have to pay an extra $124,600 under your plan! Meanwhile, your running mate’s tax plan would reduce your own income taxes, as a multimillionaire, to less than one percent a year. You don’t get to say that!" Dear Mittl: *You* Don't Get to Say That | Informed Comment

 

[Toro]

I'm better off.

But I'm still voting for Romney.

 

[beretta304]

"our money has been largely repaid... "

What money?

 

[beretta304]

Maybe this question needs to be asked in another way. Would you be better off if a republican were elected? What does history show?

Harding Coolidge Hoover - Great Depression
Nixon Ford - Stagflation
Reagan Bush - S&L Bailout. It's the economy...
Bush II - Great recession. Many more bailouts.

So then view for a second the Romney Ryan idea for the future. Answer seems simple.

'Dear Mitt Romney:'

"Your so-called Medicare reform is just a way of shifting health expenses from millionaires (whose taxes you want to lower) to middle class and working people (with whom you want to stick the bill). A 48-year-old today, who starts getting Medicare in 2030, would have to pay an extra $124,600 under your plan! Meanwhile, your running mate’s tax plan would reduce your own income taxes, as a multimillionaire, to less than one percent a year. You don’t get to say that!" Dear Mittl: *You* Don't Get to Say That | Informed Comment

I guess you forget the debacle named Jimmy Carter!

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Progs are better off because more of them are unemployed and on food stamps than ever before

 

[Stephanie]

Progs are better off because more of them are unemployed and on food stamps than ever before

good gawd no kidding
people vote out this administration

 

[midcan5]

I'm better off.

But I'm still voting for Romney.

Why?

I guess you forget the debacle named Jimmy Carter!

Hardly, but we are discussing the question are you better off now than with republicans. Anyone who claims America is worse off forgets the almost total collapse of our economy under George W. Bush. Carter suffered from the usual liberal assumptions of reason and frankness, bad traits in American politics, but how many presidents inherited an economy in shambles and an oil embargo on top of it?

Progs are better off because more of them are unemployed and on food stamps than ever before

Come on Frank you can do better than dog whistling politics. The Cadillac mom was a fiction. When Americans apply for food stamps they must provide reasons, and those reasons often include the needs of children or the elderly. Seems the Christian and American thing to do.

"Although the reliance of about 1/6 Americans on food stamps is not ideal, the slowed growth in number of Americans using food stamps should not be ignored. During Obama’s term, the increase in food stamp use lowered from 23 percent to 3 percent growth. This shows that, despite the increases due to social acceptability and higher rates of eligibility, the use of food stamps is not a trend based solely on ease of access and misuse of SNAP. In fact, the average person on food stamps leaves the program after about nine months. And although Newt Gingrich has dubbed Obama the “best food stamp president” in U.S. history, if you look back to before the recession, you will find that during Bush’s administration, food stamp usage began its rise with the 2002 farm bill." Thinking About Food Stamps: SNAP Judgments About American Poverty | Neon Tommy

 

[Stephanie]

This country is not better off under Obama...Make him a ONE TERM PRESIDENT...let him join Jimma Carter in being known as ONE of the worst