We often pick out an old slogan around here and kick it around, for instance: "It's the (fill in the blank), Stupid!" Of course, it came from Clinton's phrase, "It's the economy, Stupid!"

So I've decided to resurrect an old Ronald Reagan campaign question that was very effective for him: "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

Are you?

Four years ago, I was in China, and was perfectly happy with it.
Two years ago I moved to the United States, and was terrified. By being utterly unable to speak English, and by being discriminated against in Rednecky Delta, Colorado.
Then, I moved to Illinois. Which is tolerable. I have friends and stalkers here.
But am I better off?
Not really. It's not much different.

I do feel better off than 4 years ago. Ever since we finally declared war on terrorists around the world, i feel alot safer.

Though the economic front is not what it used to be, it is getting better

Four years ago, I just started my present job. The company was more successful and they were never contemplating increasing insurance premiums or other fringe benefits. That has certainly changed. While I have some empathy for my employer, I know that I'm extremely lucky to have health insurance. When my wife and I went to the doctor's together four months ago, two people ahead of our line, and two people behind us did not have health insurance. It is absolutely scary to contemplate that just one bad windfall will put you in their same league. So, if you work hard, possess a master's degree, and are a reliable employee-you still might have benefits no greater than an 18 year old flipping burgers at McDonald's. America has really come a long way.

After reading all that are YOU better off or not.

Personally I am far better off today than I was 4 years ago. Do I credit it to Bush? Nope. I give credit to myself for working hard and not giving up. But since he was in office while I did better myself, he will be getting my vote in 2004.

I am a little better off than I was four years ago. If social security goes under then I will not be able to retire at my standard of living. I have more stuff and I owe and make more $$. And I have two more mouths to feed.

I agree with Sleeper here.

I am definitely better off (relatively), but in no way do I credit (or blame) anyone in the government for that.

The last four years have seen the least improvement in my financial circumstances of any four-year period since I entered the workplace twenty years ago. There has been improvement, but it has been relatively modest by my own standards, and the financial improvement has been balanced by what I see as a significant deterioration in the non-financial aspects of my quality of life. US "civic discourse" has pretty much gone into the toilet. All ideologies share some blame, but it doesn't seem like coincidence that the deterioration has been exactly proportional to the rising stridency of right-wing and libertarian voices. I'd say that, in a general sense that includes things like personal freedom and access to "commons" that I love (e.g. unspoiled wilderness) in addition to finances, I am distinctly not better off than four years ago. I'd gladly give up those financial gains if I could use them to buy back my liberty etc.

It's really easy to say you're better off when you're an early-twenty-something whose finances would likely have improved under any administration. I made 10-50% improvements in my income every single year for a decade at the beginning of my own career, but I attribute that to my own increasing market value and not to anyone or anything else. Such comparisons are meaningless, and assigning your vote to someone because of such an improvement even when you consciously realize that they had nothing to do with it seems doubly absurd. I'm giving my vote to the person who shows the greatest ability to improve the next four years, not the previous four, and not just for myself.

My answer is yes and no.

Yes, I'm better off than I was four years ago, because I'm no longer married to psycho-woman. Can't attribute this to Bush or Republicans, just as I can't attribute marrying her to Clinton .

No, I'm not better off when it comes to my personal economics. Four years ago, I had lots of customers for my software consulting services; now I'm down to one and rebuilding is slow. Customers aren't jumping out of the woodwork like they used to. And lots of friends and former employees are still looking for work in this field. I attribute this partially to the general business cycle that peaked and bottomed and will eventually come back to something approaching okay.

Four years ago, I didn't worry about terrorists killing me; I really don't worry about them now, either. I'm reading a novel right now about the possibility of a small low-grade nuclear device being detonated on Wall Street... and the novel was written in 1984. That worries me a little.

Four years ago, I also didn't worry about my government possibly taking something I say the wrong way and throwing me in jail for months at a time without being able to see a lawyer. Now I do worry about that. THAT I blame on Bush, although I'm also holding Congress culpable in that.

I answered yes but it really depends on how you define better off. I am worse off financially but happier. Four years ago I had a regular run of the mill job. Now I have a part time job and pursuing my dream. I feel inspired today whereas four years ago I felt like I was in rut. I am scared that I will loose my part time freelance job and that any unforseen expenses will pop up. I cancelled my health insurance (but will pick up another soon) just so I can save some money and buy Christmas presents. So I worry that something catastrophic will happen that will devastate me financially. But my being poor is a conscious decision. While getting laid off a 1 1/2 years ago was due to the economy my decision not to work for anyone else (unless it offers me some sort of benefit like a darkroom or free classes) was mine. Being laid of was the best thing that ever happened to me. I would never have gone on the path that I currently am on if I wasn't. I would have been to scared to take the chance. I don't attribute my financial situation to Bush. I could have found a job fairly easy if I had chosen to do so.

If I had been able to push pills faster working as a nurse in a nursing home, I would be making pretty good money. But I was a little too obsessive/compulsive about my job, and though I had the heart and the mind for nursing, I was too slow and became very stressed about having to stay late every shift to chart and backtrack. I left the job and let the license lapse.

So I went to work for a major retailer for three years. The pay was never good ($8.00 an hour was about the most I got, and that was with the third shift differential), but there was the store discount and some benefits.

Our hours were iffy from week to week, depending upon store sales and edicts from the home office. It's interesting how few hours actually constitute "full time" when working for this major retailer, and the new hires (because of a recent Michigan law that did not factor in hires previous to the law's inception) were required to get more hours than those of us who had been there.

My daughter clearly needed me to spend time with her at home, so I decided to be a stay-at-home mom. I quit my job last March. Her troubles cleared up, and I am not sorry for my decision from that standpoint.

But I have no paycheck or the health insurance now, and we still need to see the doctor and the dentist from time to time. It's called debt.

So no, I am not better off now than I was four years ago.

As with any generalization, it depends.

I'm making more money now than during the first half of the year but a lot less than four years ago. So for income, nope, not better off.

But I do most of my work from the house and in a comfy area, so that sure beats a cubicle or bull pen corporate stink job. Yep, much better off.

No pager!!! Very much better off. No staff meetings!!! Better off. No pointy-haired managers!!! I'm not sure. They were entertaining.

No benefits. Worse off.

Working seven days a week. Worse off? I like what I'm doing--make that better off, but I also liked what I did before. Um, maybe a wash.

The potential exists to make millions of bucks if a best seller hits. So that's better off, potentially. You can't make that kind of money taking care of big corporate computing iron. You can if you start your own computer company, so I guess potential might be a wash too. Eh, this is just too complex to say. What's more likely? Both? Neither? Who knows.

Zero debt burden (save house) due to Chap 7 bankruptcy. Worse off for credit and better off for peace of mind. Creditors are worse off, lost their little slave. I'm over the feelings of failure, so better off.

Four years older. Worse for the wear, better for the experience.

Think my score sheet is about equalized at this point. I want it to go way over to the better off side in 2004.

BTW, I think most folks would attribute their successes to themselves and failures to others. In reality, it's a mixture for both. The movie "Seabiscuit" captures this principle. Think it's an appropriate story for our times.

Slave? Hmmm, let's see. Who provided goods and services, and was not repaid? You, or your creditors? Who's the slave in this picture?

Declaring bankruptcy isn't exactly a disaster. My mother did it a while ago, and she got more credit-card offers and such because creditors knew she couldn't declare bankruptcy again for ten years (or whatever the limit is). Her credit got better. The thing is, bankruptcy merely shifts the burden of one person's bad decisions onto their creditors. Those creditors might be struggling themselves, or they might shift the burden further onto someone who is. Ultimately, for every median-income worth of debt erased through bankruptcy, someone somewhere else loses their job. Making bankruptcy - either personal or corporate - so easy only encourages such bad decisions and strains a social safety net that was only intended to serve those whose situation was the result of factors beyond their own control.

I'm sorry, AM. I don't mean to get on your case personally, but when you use a word like "slave" for the consequences of your own decisions it kind of bothers me. You should be thankful that you live in a system where your debts didn't push you into true indentured servitude, not resentful at people who had every right to expect recompense and got none. If a publisher owed you advance or royalty money, would you consider yourself a slaveholder for demanding that the debt be paid?

I found out very quickly that the cubicle environment was not for me. I remember once, while in the midst of a very serious rubber band fight, jumping up on my desk to get a better view of my opponents. What I saw was a rat's maze. Needless to say I didn't last very long in the cube setting. I immediately went back to working for creative companies.

I work in a cube, and I'd gladly compare my job to anyone's in terms of creativity. Does any truly creative person suddenly turn into a soulless blob just because the decor changed? I don't think so. What's stifling about cubes is not the physical structure; it's the corporate mindset that usually - but not always - accompanies them. Policies that limit the free flow of ideas, or that put short-term logistical costs ahead of long-term productivity benefits, are the real culprits. Consider the following alternatives:

• You work in a cube, but you have flexible hours, good lines of communication, and the power/freedom to make meaningful decisions on your own.
• You work in a really nice office with fixed hours, poor communication, and no personal autonomy whatsoever.

Which would you prefer? I've seen both, and I'll pick the former every time.

Platypus- I did not mean to imply, but looking back at what I wrote I suppose that is how it came across, that working in a cube meant you weren't creative. I did not mean that all. So let me clarify. First yes, you can have a creative job or a creative environment that is set in a cube. You can also work for a company that tries to foster an individuals creativity and it still be set in a cube setting. By no means does a cube environment have to inhibit creativity. In my area, more often then not, the creative environments are less often found in the "typical" cubical environment. The only cube environment I ever worked in was the one I mentioned above. It did not foster good lines of communication or free exchange of ideas (you had to talk to your peers through a wall and could only see the person on the other side of the isle). I felt more restricted and isolated. Not working in a cube does not necessarily mean working in an office. I have worked in open spaces where more than person has their desk.

Well, I am moving slower to my goal for early retirement, which I definately do blame GW for, because my plan mostly relies on re-investment and "gentrification" of formely bad nieghborhoods, which was a Clinton "It's the economy stupid" plan to stay in office LOL.

I can not in good faith, say, "I am not better off than 4 years ago"- I have been trying to "crisis-proof" my investments and portfolio so that I have total financial security by 45, and never work again after 55 (I am 38). My overall family is definately less safe, and since I am a frequent world travel, I am obviously less safe as well, due to GWs policies there. (How in the world anyone can say they are safer with GW in power boggles my mind)

So, though GW policies, both foreign and domestic, have made my life more difficult, I am better off in spite of him.

Platypus, lighten up dude. That was sardonic humor.

Hehehe, I need to read the posts before writing!

Edited to get rid of a bunch of redundancy.

And to add: Check out the thread on bankruptcy!

On Lou Dobbs on CNN tonight there was a poll:

Are you better off today than 3 years ago:

yes 6% 437 votes

no 94% 6,790 votes

the results can be viewed at:

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/

As far as I am concerned that sounds accurate to me

On this certain poll, you can vote as many times as you want. I think we need a professional polling group like Gallup or Zogbey

Heck no we aren't better off. Our alliances are falling apart, world opinion of the US is going down the drain and the Middle East is even more unstable and more violent.


Domestically, we have had a poor economy, poor job market and NOW, now our boarders being opened to Mexican illegals who will flood the job market even worse.

I am much worse off now. Financially at least. Pure disaster. My career has been non existent since june of 2001 when the economy started going south.
Mentally much better. Quit smoking diet is better exercise actually happens now.
My 1st Child is now 1 year and 1 month and he is completely awesome.
Makes the rest of life's worries seem silly. Until I check the world I brought him into.
STRESS!
I don't blame Clinton or Bush for the economy.
Both political parties are full of puppets.
BUT
I am confident. I can make things and my place in life better. Stopped feeling sorry for myself in 2002 and spent 2003 getting prepared. Now I am trying to take advantage of this economy.

The only alliances that are falling apart are our ones with France and Germany!

Also...Yes, the Middle East is very unstable:

Saudi Arabia is planning on holding elections for the first time
Kuwait is allowing women to vote now
Iran has finally opened it's nuke program to the world
Libya is coming clean with it's WMD as well
Israel wants to talk peace with Syria

Very unstable the Middle East is indeed

I agree with you. I would be willing to step out on a limb and say that the majority of people answering this poll would have a negative answer. Hopefully Zogby will have a poll on that sometime in the near future.

I am much better off than 4 years ago. Each year, in fact, I become more financially stable. More money in the bank, more bills paid off, dance class for my oldest girl....
Of course, I have stable employment (as long as I don't get stupid and get a DUI or kill someone). I can retire in about 2 years, but I'll probably stay on longer, it's fun and my retirement check will increase.
But, mine is not the kind of job that I can get bonuses or merit raises, and it's not the highest paying work around for sure. For me it's all in the financial discipline, and the tax cuts were fine by me.