Comments on: Are you better off now than 8 years ago?

By: nelson

nelson — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:39:18 +0000

Jack, just looked at all those 126 comments before mine
Ya know.. I just can't top those! The only people better off
must be from some other country that we are rebuilding!

By: Jeff - Tampa, FL

Jeff - Tampa, FL — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:39:15 +0000

Yes, I'm immensely better off – and eight years ago I was in college earning my degree. America remains the land of opportunity. But it also remains the land of excuses. If you're not better off now than you were eight years ago, take a hard look at yourself, not your federal government.

By: T

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:39:13 +0000

yes ... actually. Im making about $40,000 more than i was then. I have 2 cars a motorcycle and a bigger house than then also. I worked my butt off and saved money. I didn't wait for the government to help me i did it myself.

By: Shaker

Shaker — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:39:12 +0000

I guess if I didn't know how many homes I owned or that earning less than $5 million makes me middle class than ya I would have considered myself better off than 8 years ago like McCain, & his rich buddies Bush/Cheney.

By: Evelyn

Evelyn — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:39:04 +0000

You must be trying to make us cry. Absolutely not. With food and energy prices increases, our family now use credit cards for some monthly essentials, and I don't think we are alone. Racking up debt on credit cards for monthly expenditures could make credit card debt become a crisis like the housing crisis. I think Barack Obama and the democrats are perfectly capable of handling the current economical crisis. They understand that if you boost the middle-class, the upper-class will also benefit, because the middle-class will have more resources to buy goods and services. The minimum wage increase in the 1990's benefited everyone, because people had more money to spend.

By: Deb

Deb — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:39:02 +0000

Definitely, I am much better off now than I was 8 years ago. My house is paid off. I have a FULL TIME JOB that I really enjoy. I am putting money into a retirement fund. Pres Bush does not get my credit but neither does Congress. I take personal responsibility for my own ability to live within my means. That simple math is – spend less than you earn. Our government has flaws and problems that should be taken care of but that will never happen as long as there is so much division between parties. We need to remember that we are all Americans and we are all working to accomplish the same basic goals. We MUST overcome party differences and work as a team. Special interest groups need a flat "no" when they want money and those too lazy to work should be denied government assistance. Taxing the "haves" just to help the "have nots" only encourages people to live on the dole. To receive help, there needs to be some form of "repayment" on the part of the recipient even it if it is putting stamps on envelopes or sweeping sidewalks. I scrutinize the members of Congress more closely than I do the President because so many of those people try to stay below the radar when it comes to their political positions. But that is why we have a balance of power in our government. What a great country!

By: Tony/Hartford CT

Tony/Hartford CT — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:38:59 +0000

I am way better off now. I would much rather be paying $4.25 a gallon for gas than $1.85. Nothing says "better off" than having your home foreclosed on you, and is there really anything better than wasting money by the billions in two wars we can not win?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:38:52 +0000

Yes I am. But if I wasn't, Bush isn't the man the blame. I think the President's effects on the economy are minimal and the impact that is made isn't seen until well after their term in office. Just like with Clinton, you cannot attribute the economic success in the '90s to him, but to the IT and DotCom boom and fall of the USSR because of Reagan's policies. The current poor state of the economy is mainly due to the housing bust and financial industry downturn that was riding the wave; which can be more attributed to the cyclical market as a whole as well as lending practices encouraged by the Fed/Greenspan.

By: Ken Austin

Ken Austin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:38:48 +0000

Better off ? if it weren't for you asking the question and your forum I'd curse. Don't take a rocket scientist to answer this one. If I didn't have friends affected by the mortage crisis, if I weren't paying astronomical gas prices to a president, his VP and their elction cronies, if my children's future weren't mortaged off on a personal war, if the recession was truly a recession, and if I could choose which of the seven houses I could kick my feet up in, then I could say yes, i'd be better off. But tell me Jack, which would I be lying about?

By: Kurt C.

Kurt C. — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:38:43 +0000

100 times better. And I was 100 times better off after 8 years of Clinton. You see, I work my rear off to better myself and neither party can keep anyone down, if they work hard enough.

If the worst is realized and Obama is elected, I'm sure I'll still be better off after his disastrous ideas are implemented, because I'll work hard and not expect a handout around every corner.

But, at some point, when I see the incremental returns far outweigh the cost, I'll stop working so hard. That's the America Democrats envision.