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So, where are you? Well off and don’t need to care about the economy? Employed but raises not keeping up with inflation? Laid off and looking? Given up on finding anything because all your buddies got the flipping burgers jobs before you?
If you feel “It’s the economy, stupid” is as important in this election as it was in ’92, which of the two candidates do you feel gets that fact and will actual do something positive about it? Not just rhetoric, but actually make you and the country better off four years from now?
Discuss amongst yourselves.
The statistics are grim: Inflation is at a 17-year high. Unemployment is rising. Foreclosures are spreading.
For many Americans, however, these figures are simply numbers. They are still gainfully employed and paying their mortgages. […] For others, of course, the picture looks much different. They are the statistics. […] There’s no question they are worse off than they were seven years ago.
Are Americans better off? It is one of the signal questions of the presidential election, and both Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama are asking voters to ponder it.
Could your family eat on $100 per week?
I genuinely am better off. But I’m not American.
Yes I am better off. But it’s due to hard work not the government.
Tough question. Considering that Obama supports higher gas prices, I’d say McCain is better. But then I think the economy will get worse, and Obama’s penchant for flip-flopping vs McCain’s semi-stubbornness suggests maybe Obama is the better to get out of it.
4 years, better off. 8 years, way better off.
I don’t sit around waiting for the government to make my life better. I work hard to improve my own life.
Don
I am in deep trouble money wise. My mental mood is great as I gaze like a hip youth of the sixties. The towers in our area are falling as mfg. plants are closing shop and moving to cheaper wages. The best I can do is scrub floors at WalMart which I will not do. I retired in fine shape from a good government job. The cut in pay and these last 8 years have been hard on my standard of living.
And just when we were placing our orders for party hats…
The Bush administration seized control Sunday of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, aiming to stabilize the housing market turmoil that is threatening financial markets and the overall economy.
—Yahoo! Finance
Worst. The government for no reason whatever decided I wasn’t eligible for welfare and food stamps anymore.
Its not my fault I can’t find a job. My sister ratted me out for selling pot. I don’t do that anymore but I still can’t find a job.
Bring back Clinton so are kids can eat!
#27 So who you voting for skippy? I’m voting Conservative – we have a great MP in my riding. Didn’t vote for him last time but he won me over.
I am less better off than the last Clinton years but not terrible bad.
The main issue is that I have less disposable income to move for investments and retirement.
Because of these past eight years I will now have to work well towards 65 and possibly 70. If the Clintonian years had kept on for another eight, I would have more packed away for then.
Until there is a major turn around My retirement is far, far away.
Cursor_
Well, we were’nt *supposed* to be better off today, because, after all, we’ve been on a wartime economy since we went into Iraq, right? But as I’ve said since we were dragged in, there couldn’t be a post-war payoff because we didn’t have a *plan* going in. WW2 booted us out of an economic rut, but there was a plan involved there, albeit not necessarily an economic one, and even the rich tucked in and did their part (running the companies that actually made things and fueling the war effort and the post-war economy). We don’t see that effort being made today, and the American middle-class is deliberately being snuffed out, not touted-up as in the past. Result is a sagging economy that won’t go anywhere without significant change that must come down from not only the government, but from private industry. But PI is touting China, calling it the wave of the future. Well fine, let the big investors build their luxury homes in Beijing. I’ll do what I can to prop up my local economy, such as it is. I may not win out but I’ll die with a clear conscience.
BTW, anybody REALLY reading this far into the thread? Nah, didn’t think so.
Yes. Seven years ago, I went for my Masters partially because the job market was so bad at the time. Four years I graduated with 6 job offers. Now I have a house and I am engaged, and making a lot more then when I started.
Do I give the president credit for any of this? No. Would I give him any blame if it were worse? No. I don’t really understand why anyone would. I am pretty sure that Bill Gates had more to do with the boom in the late 90’s that Bill Clinton. But if you want to give him credit for that, don’t forget about that horrid state of the economy at the end of his second term.
#38 – I’m not voting conservative, because a) they’re Bush’s lapdog, and b) they’re trying to introduce the draconian Bill C-61. Haven’t decided yet whether Liberals or NDP are the lesser of 2 evils.
#43 Tough call – Lib vs NDP. I voted Green last time and surprisingly they got 11% in our Calgary riding.
As I say, if it wasn’t for the great MP we have I wouldn’t be voting Conservative.
#43 BTW, I think the liberal’s carbon tax is a nightmare.
45, you’re right about the carbon tax. What a bloody sham. Not an easy decision for me this time around, that’s for sure.
Better off? Well, what is the comparator? The fact that I am in a house for the last 7 years? One that I purchased using a GI Bill waiver? Do I have equity? Sure, now I do. However, that equity has diminished due to the market. I can’t sell. Has my portfolio gotten better? No, as right now it is all in Savings. This being due to the 401k being way to heavy in banking. Got out just in time in my opinion. Took a hit there, but guess what…did not loose as much as I would have leaving it alone for the last two years.
I own my vehicles, so better. Can’t afford the gas for them, so worse. No one will buy, so I would take a hit if they were sold. I have a furnished home with a new furnace and AC, but cannot afford to turn them on due to the cost of energy. Personally, I feel I am better off than I was, but conditions are going to make it difficult to stay that way for long. Job is not what I want to do anymore, but cannot afford to quit, as a replacement would pay less and require more. Hard to build up when you have to start all over. Conditions aren’t looking positive.
I just read these comments. I find it funny that those that are doing better say it’s not because of the President, it’s in spite of the President. However, everyone that’s doing badly say it’s because of the President.
#48–Calin==whats funny about that? If the President was a fucktard wouldn’t that analysis be correct? Or are you of the opinion that the President and the Society and its rules and spending programs are totally irrelevant and all anyone needs to do is work hard?
Is that what you find funny Bunky? Is it?
I really like you AH, that THINK the USA is a 2 party system…
CAN you explain why 1/2 the NATION does NOT VOTE, under those ideals??
I find it akin to what a very wise man once said about sports stars. They thank God when they do well on the field…but never blame him when things go wrong, “Jesus made me miss that touchdown throw”.
I find this as the exact opposite a sentiment. If it goes wrong, it’s the Devil’s fault (read GWB), but if it goes well…it was because I did well.
Surely it’s worse then ever, and it does not look like getting better soon, and I don’t think nor Obama neither McCain will be able to change it – economy is in decline all over the world, so it will be in America – we believe that – http://www.votetheday.com/polls/us-economy-in–29/
However, it is not very catastrophic, as I am sute it is the typical fluctuation of economics – hard times come after good ones, and vice versa. Hopefully, time periods between them are not too long for us all to start starving 😉 Or eating less McDonald’s 😉
Those doing better are in high end service sectors, law, medicine, banking, etc.
Those doing poorly were in manufacturing. They watched their jobs go to China or have suffered stagnant pay or even pay loss because of this fear. Meanwhile, costs have increased.
#51 Calin, maybe blaming Bush is a sort of payback for the times when Bush was taking credit for the prosperity bubble, by virtue of his tax cuts:
“Americans are buying homes, and that’s good news for this country. We hit an all-time high in October, in terms of home buying. More Americans now own their homes than any time in our nation’s history. Minority ownership — home ownership is at an all-time high in the United States of America. Real disposable income is up; our consumers are confident. New orders for durable goods, like machinery, have risen sharply, and shipments of manufactured goods are up, as well. Business activity in our manufacturing sector reported its 30th straight month of growth. In the past five years, productivity has grown at some of the fastest rates since the 1960s. Our small businesses are thriving. Fortunately, I didn’t listen to the pessimists about tax cuts. The tax cuts are working.“
–George W. Bush on Dec 5, 2005
That speech was full of applause lines, but the applause appears to have dissipated into fear, and most recently, a government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two of the latest victims of Bush’s poorly regulated “ownership society.”
#53 “They watched their jobs go to China or have suffered stagnant pay or even pay loss because of this fear. ”
Would be interesting to pull out of WTO and impose import taxes on stuff from countries with slave wages…
My daily economic life has been tending downwards for the past 2-3 years because energy (and related) costs have increased much faster than my income.
Otherwise I find I’m getting more cynical than I want to be; the lying, secrecy and corruption at the top have really gotten to me this time.
Better off in both scenarios. I was in college 7 years ago, does that count?
And shouldn’t we all be better off? Do people not learn?
7 years ago I was a student looking for a job.
4 years ago I was a Graduate looking for a job.
I got a job selling computers.
Now I’m a salary employee receiving good raises and in the running for a promotion.