Not to steal blogger Marc Perkel’s comment stream, but at least let’s base this debate on something measurable rather than speeches by Bush, Obama and the bloviation you hear on MSNBC, CNN and FOX. Look at these numbers!! And of course the real growth market is in the Department of Homeland Security and drone manufacturing.
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Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
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Am I better off than I was 4 yrs ago?
After considering all afternoon, the answer is yes I am. This time four years ago I owed more on my house at a higher rate of interest. My mortgage is still with the same credit union, but adjusted down as low as it can possibly go (around 3.75%). My 401K is worth a lot more now and I have some individual stocks I bought near the bottom that have appreciated nearly 100% not to mention the dividends one has paid.
My job is as secure now as it was then, though the company I drive a truck for was scared enough to not replace any of their company tractors from 2008 til the early part of 2010. They simply let the 150-200 tractors sit unused and unregistered for a year and a half. This was also the only time in my 20 yrs with them that I ever heard of them letting drivers go (100-200 between the two divisions).
I believe the cost of diesel was higher then, and from the owner-operators I talked to, it was rising much faster than the fuel surcharge. They were getting hurt because the surcharge would reflect the prior months cost, which was averaging 5 to 10 % less. This never had any personal impact because the company pays for all my fuel, even that which I burn idling in the truck stop. Now my company purchases heaters that sip a little diesel to keep the bunk warm without running the engine.
So, all in all, I feel I am at least a little better off than four years ago. How different this would be if John McCain had been elected (who I voted for)? I don’t know but was reminded of his shutting down his campaign for a week because of the fiscal crises. He even ditched “David Letterman” on no noticed and looked like a chicken running around with his head cut off while Obama kept his cool. To my mind, that performance may have cost the GOP the election (along with the Palin VP choice).
To my mind, that performance may have cost the GOP the election (along with the Palin VP choice).
Yep. You have got to wonder if the GOP is throwing elections on purpose.
The GOP is famous for misunderestimating the I.Q. of their constituency. In their race to the bottom, they forgot to include literate and educated people.
The GOP thinks everybody in Texas wears a Stetson hat, drinks beer for breakfast, chews snuff and dips tobacco, wears a Jesus Saves camouflage T-Shirt, goes to the shooting range on Saturday afternoon to shoot at Obama targets, attends the Hell For Certain Southern Baptist Church and dropped out of school at the age of 13.
They don’t realize that everybody is not like the governor.
>The mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God.
Thomas Jefferson commenting on the meaning of America
Barack Obama and today’s Democrats are going to put y’all back in chains.
Thomas Jefferson was commenting on the aristocracy.
Today’s aristocracy is corporations and political parties.
The Dimwits are the obverse of that coin, the Repukes are the reverse.
Nice try.
“high rates of income and profits taxes discourage energy, remove the incentive to new enterprise, encourage extravagant expenditures, and produce industrial stagnation with consequent unemployment and other attendant evils.”
Democratic President Woodrow Wilson.
Woodrow Wilson was a conservative Democrat in an era when corporations were not efficient at influencing politics.
Liberty has never come from Government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it.
Democratic President Woodrow Wilson
A little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the great government of the United States helpless and contemptible.
Democratic President Woodrow Wilson
The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests.
An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy.
Democratic President Woodrow Wilson
There can be no equality or opportunity if men and women and children be not shielded in their lives from the consequences of great industrial and social processes which they cannot alter, control, or singly cope with.
Democratic President Woodrow Wilson
I have long enjoyed the friendship and companionship of Republicans because I am by instinct a teacher, and I would like to teach them something.
Democratic President Woodrow Wilson
The awakening of the people of China to the possibilities under free government is the most significant, if not the most momentous, event of our generation.
Democratic President Woodrow Wilson
The American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation.
Democratic President Woodrow Wilson
I suppose it’s just a coincidence that unemployment tends to go up when the bankers are a bit peckish for war.
Coincidence? I think not!
If there are men in this country big enough to own the government of the United States, they are going to own it.
Democratic President Woodrow Wilson
Those were the good old days.
I’m better off because the iPhone and Facebook grew the number of everyday internet users by a lot – and my business is wholly dependent on that.
However my parents lost half of their retirement savings, so that sucks.
Oh yeah, I have to hear everyone bitch about politics non-stop. Mostly in the form of cutesy anti-the-opposing-party image memes. Definitely a minus.
I misunderstood the question a bit. Changes the response, but not by much.
My parents got most of their savings back since 2008 – course, they’re gonna lose it again in a year or two, regardless of this election’s result.
Everything else above still applies.
Looking at the intro paragraph – John, I thought you still had an interest in cars. Stats for the auto industry mean a great deal more to the American economy than the
Politician’s ever-fave military.
One of the striking differences between the immediate comprehension of what was needed heading into the Bush Crash – vs Romney’s editorializing in favor of bankruptcy. And it is paying off.
Number of Medicare recipients is set to double, as is the cost per recipient. 4 years ago, that was still true, but we had four more years to try and fix the problem.
Aaaaaaand like an idiot, the liberal blinders cant seem to see the whole picture.
If my house is worth less than I owe on it, no I’m not better off than I was 4 years ago. If my retirement has lost 40% of it’s value, no I’m not better off than I was 4 years ago. If my government is 6 trillion dollars more in debt, no I’m not better off than I was 4 years ago. If gas is 2 dollars more expensive, no I’m not better off than I was 4 years ago. If I am now being taxed for no other reason than existing, no I’m not better off than I was 4 years ago.
In a lib’s mind, it doesnt matter if we are slaves to the government, if the unemployment level is low, all is good…
Idiots…
Conservatives tax people too.
Can you cite me one republican tax on existence?
Of course we are better off – BUSH AND CHENEY ARE STILL GONE !!!
Look carefully at that red line chart. The unemployment level on that measure started dropping after Republicans were elected, and the Bush tax cuts were extended.