A non-partisan Question

[ICU 812]

Regardless of party affiliation or policy orientation:

Are you better off now than you were ten years ago?

What about eight years ago?

Two years ago?

Well . . . ARE you?

[winn dixie]

No one I know is better off than we were just 2 years ago.

[reddog1951]

For one, I definitely am better off compared to the given timeframes both financially and mentally. Retired, paid off all debt, and annuitized everything for guaranteed income for life signicantly more than made working regardless of market fluctuations. Less stress and more fun. Not the answer the troll wanted, but fact.

[ICU 812]

Reddog: Nicely done!

I had to retire early due to an unexpected disability, and couldn't work. We are ok now but just making it. House and both cars are paid for, but the truck is 20 years old now. I Can't imagine buying even a used EV (are there used EVs available?).

As I said, I am glade for you. Hope you have someone great to enjoy it all with.

[1blackman1]

I am. In fact I’m better every year almost. But I’ve been making great money for decades. Fluctuates irrespective of who’s president or who’s in congress. So does my wife and my siblings and my friends. The only things that are suffering in the short terms are some of my investments but since I’m years away from retirement I am having the advantage of currently buying cheaper to drive down the avg price of many stocks.

It’s all good my man.

[Jackie S]

As much as I hate to admit it, or highest profit margins were during the Clinton years.

Next was trumps turn, our volume of work, (due to his policies), we’re almost as good as those years with Clinton.

Obama was way down, mainly because of the perception that he was hell bent on regulating everything. Indecision was rampant in the industry we service.

Biden. We are down around 30% gross when adjusted for inflation than we were during Clinton.

The cost of just doing business is way up. Insurance, tooling cost, material, everything is going up at a much faster rate than the so called 8% inflation you hear on the news.

[ICU 812]

Being able to participate in the Hobby is an economic filter of sorts, I guess. The donation for an hour with a quality indy often can be as much as a meeting with an attorney, except the Indy doesn't bill you for phone calls and time spent thinking about you while you are not together!

As JackieS points out though, even those of us who are not pinched by today's economics in their everyday life (butter, gas, airfare etc), everything is higher except our 401(K). And not by the yearly creep we all can live with . . .by a lot. But that is economics.

The streets of Houston and many other major cities are no longer safe in any neighborhood or at any time of the day or night. Career criminals are being released from custody before the victims are released from the ER in some cases. The laws to prevent these things exist but are being ignored by those authorities whose job it is to enforce them.

Better off today? Economics is just one aspect of society. Money issues aside: I don't feel that I or anyone I know is better off today than at any time since the mid 1990s or early 2oos. . . .and, in my view, it is getting worse.

[SpeedRacerXXX]

Bad comparison. 2 years ago we were in the middle of a pandemic. Could not travel. We were almost confined to our homes. When we did go out, masks were mandatory. Government threw money at us which eventually led to the high inflation rates we have today. So other than the high inflation rate I am much happier today than 2 years ago.

[ICU 812]

^^

Good p[ooint, but the S didn't really HTF till March of 2020, though it wasalready brewing. . . .but that is quibbling on my part.

Ok, So make it 2 1/2 years ago, make it sometime in 2019 then.

Today, crime is widespread and everyday costs are escalating out of control. The pandemic is not the root cause of these dynamic changes in our society.

The question is: Are we better off today than before?

[Jacuzzme]

You can’t use this place as a microcosm of society, people here have money to burn. Put the same question in a military forum, for example, where men are just scraping by and would be bankrupt without BAH. See how well 40% higher energy, 30% higher food and rent, etc etc goes over with middle and lower income folks. Real Americans are suffering, and people living in a bubble convince themselves that they’re not because it hasn’t hit them personally.

[1blackman1]

So the question is - are you better off now in the aftermath of a world wide catastrophic pandemic with cascading economic issues worldwide than you were immediately before it.

The level of stupidity inherent in the hypothetical presented by the OP is pretty amazing. It’s like asking the people after they are hit by a hurricane and have no water or electricity are they better off than before the hurricane hit.

People used say there are no stupid questions but it’s pretty clear that’s not true.

[Jacuzzme]

Tap dancing fit for a Gregory Hines movie. Sorry, lousy policy ≠ natural disaster.

[ICU 812]

Originally Posted by Jacuzzme

You can’t use this place as a microcosm of society, people here have money to burn. Put the same question in a military forum, for example, where men are just scraping by and would be bankrupt without BAH. See how well 40% higher energy, 30% higher food and rent, etc etc goes over with middle and lower income folks. Real Americans are suffering, and people living in a bubble convince themselves that they’re not because it hasn’t hit them personally.

Thank you for that . . .and of course, you are right about the socio-economic level of many posters here. I acknowledged that in an earlier post here. Additionally, it is complicating to attempt to factor-in or factor-out the effects of the pandemic on any current situation.

In a way, the topic of this thread is a mirror image, or inverse, of the question I posted several earlier threads. At the risk of being warned for something, that question was to ask what and how exactly will implementing the progressive agenda do to make America a better place than it is now.

There were some responses to that approach, but nothing that was explanatory. And so I reframed the issue.

Still open to learning the answer to either question.

[ICU 812]

Oh yeah, I AM posting threads like this on other forums not associated with the Hobby. Military and photography collectors etc.

[WTF]

The Saudi's are cutting oil supply to raise gasoline prices so voters will elect Republicans more friendly to the Saudi's.

Not sure that is such a good thing.

First they wanted our PGA golf tour and now those bastards want to run our Government!