A campaign question from the Reagan-Carter era has been popping up on the national political scene this year as the Obama-Romney campaign swings into high gear. That question: “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”
Provoked mainly by the Romney-Ryan camp, the question is being posed from every angle on every media. So, the question is, are we better off than we were four years ago?
Yes, to some degree we are. We are no longer facing 10 to 12 percent unemployment, it’s now at 8.1 percent. General Motors (GM) has been pulled out of the pit it had dug and thousands of GM workers are cranking out 2013 model vehicles. Wall Street has survived one of its worst downturns since the Great Depression. The nation’s housing market is seeing signs of recovery, with the surge in sales of existing homes and a slight uptick in new home starts. Banks are generally in good condition, but getting a loan is more difficult than it was four years ago.
In those areas, we are better off than we were four years ago when we were heading into one of the bleakest economic downturns in our nation’s history.
However, not everyone is going to agree that we are better off than we were four years ago, when President Obama was swept into office.
The U.S. went from No. 1 in global competitiveness in 2008-09 to No. 7 in 2011-12. The average cost of college tuition increased from $6,591 in 2009 to $8,244 in 2012. The price of gasoline skyrocketed from $1.85-per-gallon in 2009 to $3.86-per-gallon in 2012. The Obama administration has added 11,327 new pages of government regulations. In addition, the federal debt has ballooned from $10.6 trillion in 2009 to $16.06 trillion in 2012.
One disheartening bit of news was released on Thursday, Sept. 27: “The third reading on Q2 GDP just came out and the report was ugly,” according to Business Insider. “The headline growth number was revised down to 1.3 percent on an annualized basis. Economists expected the number to be unchanged at 1.7 percent.”
Worldwide, something that we Americans now have to consider as part of the new world order, the head of the International Monetary Fund called on government leaders in Europe and the United States to take urgent action in dealing with a faltering global economy. “This time we need a sustained rebound, not a bounce,” said IMF Chief Christine Legarde.
I guess it’s up to each of us to decide whether we’re better off now than we were four years ago.
Keith Hansen
Comments (13)
Add commentYou can only take so much
You can only take so much money out of the pockets of the working class who are the real job creators through their consumption of goods and services before the economy stalls out and begins to spiral downward.
Gas prices
Just for accuracy, four years ago, Q2 2008, gas prices were $4.50 per gallon. Your quote was for 2009.
the federal debt has
the federal debt has ballooned from $10.6 trillion in 2009 to $16.06 trillion in 2012. There is no hope of reducing that debt based on Barry's trillion dollar budgets.
Don't forget the sharp drop in middle class income. `Are we better off than 4 yrs ago?Certainly not, and it can only get worse under this marxist egomaniac.
"General Motors (GM) has been pulled out of the pit it had dug and thousands of GM workers are cranking out 2013 model vehicles" Barry was able to purchase some important union votes with our tax money. Just say no to Barry and to GM and Chrysler autos. Have you driven a Ford lately?
Food & Energy
All you need to do is look at the drastic increases in food costs and gasoline. With the attack on coal, electricity is next. This president and his administration are engaged in economic suicide. Add the moronic foreign policy, and we not only have economic failure, we have a dangerous world-wide situation develping rapidly. And, remember, anyone who is running for office under a DFL ticket, is someone who supports this statist, marxist ideology.
Gas prices... The funny thing
Gas prices...
The funny thing about gas prices. The $1.86 they are using happened between Sept and Nov of 2008....just before the election. The summer before that regularly saw fuel prices in Brainerd of $3.79-$3.99 per gallon. I suspected at that time that the drop in prices was the equivalent of a PR stunt to encourage people to vote Republican (look the Republican president made gas prices go down).
Now here we are again, approaching another election and the gas prices have been stuck at $3.79-$3.99 a gallon. I am suspecting another PR stunt to encourage people to vote Republican (look the Democratic president made gas prices go up).
Now....which party has major connections to oil companies? Hmmmm......
Therefore, I'm not basing my vote on fuel prices because I feel they are being manipulated for a reason.
Presidents have little to do with gas prices
Oil prices are the primary factor in gas prices. Oil prices are a globally traded commodity in a free market exchange. Presidents have no ability to control that market. Supply and Demand, Speculation, and fear of a Supply disruption are the primary factors that move the price of Oil. In 2008 the global economy was in the tank and the demand for oil was low, causing prices to crash and giving us cheap gas for a brief period. If you want to give Bush "credit" for crashing the economy you can them give him credit for the low gas prices. You can "blame" Obama for high gas prices in that he helped the economy recover to the level that it has increasing the global demand for oil & gas.
Contango strategies
Look it up, its interesting reading....
Better off? You have to be kidding!
ABSOLUTELY NOT. With the cost of everything skyrocketing I can't understand how anyone can honestly say they are better off now (unless they are among the very few who have actually received a raise in the last 4 years that keeps up with the rising cost of living). Food and energy cost seem to go up every month. Those who live on fixed incomes are are peddling backwards.
scary
use real numbers! check the price of oil per barrel the price of gas per gallon. When gas was high before Obama (teflon )oil was @ $150.00 a barrel now its what $96.00 ? ( not sure but less than $100.00 a barrel. Teflon policy has caused the increase.