Are You Better Off Than You Were 7 Years Ago?

Investors Business Daily ^ | July 28, 2016 | Editorial

[expat_panama]

Economy: While patting himself on the back in his speech at the Democratic Convention, President Obama said that "by so many measures, our country is stronger and more prosperous than it was when we started." Clearly, Obama needs a new ruler.


... it's whether the country is better off than it was when the recovery started...


...run some of the numbers:
 

• More in poverty: During Obama's "recovery," 3.1 million people fell into poverty, and the poverty rate climbed from 14.3% in 2009 to 14.8% in 2014, according to Census.
• Lower household incomes: Census data show that only the top 40% of households made gains in income under Obama, while the remaining 60% saw their incomes shrink between 2009 and 2014. The bottom 20%, for example, saw their incomes decline by 8.4% over those years.
• More on food stamps: There were 8.7 million more people on food stamps this April (the last year for which data are available) than there were when recovery started, according to the Department of Agriculture.
• More labor dropouts: While the number of people who are unemployed fell by about 7 million between June 2009 and today, the number who are no longer in the labor force — either because they've quite looking for work or retired — climbed an astonishing 14 million.
• Less optimism: In June 2009, the IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index was 50.8 — anything above 50 represents optimistic, under 50 pessimism. This July, the Optimism Index was 45.5...

...Clinton is absolutely right. The shame of it is that neither party is fixing blame where it belongs: on Obama's anti-growth agenda of tax hikes and regulatory overreach. The last thing we need is four more years of that.
 

[expat_panama]

There's a risk w/ this thinking, and it's the fact that politics tells us what we want to see and we'll need to set that aside to see what's really there. Half of America right now sees this differently and we need to know if they may be talking about some things that are actually true.

[Biggirl]

Heck NO!

[Vaquero]

President Obama said that “by so many measures, our country is stronger and more prosperous than it was when we started.”

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Joseph Goebbles

[proxy_user]

The answer for me is yes, net worth increase of 82%. This is probably typical of affluent respondents, if you have money invested you should have done very well.

[BobL]

It was definitely effective, and true, when Reagan ran in 1980. Clinton use the same in 1992 (against Bush Sr.), but he had to do it by brainwashing people into thinking: “Well, I’m fine, but it’s those people ‘over there’ that are in trouble, and Bush doesn’t care about them” - and so they voted for those people ‘over there’. They didn’t know any of those people - everyone they knew was doing fine, but they saw them on the news every night, so they figured they must be fortunate and living in some kind of a bubble. I’ll never forget that.

As to now - I’m not really sure if it would work. A much better question to ask is whether people think the COUNTRY is better off now than, say, 10 years ago.

[expat_panama]

It's Friday!   Futures see stocks up mildly and metals jumping, this after yesterdays stocks up in lower volume and metals rise.

Lots of numbers coming:

8:30 AM GDP-Adv.
8:30 AM Chain Deflator-Adv.
8:30 AM Employment Cost Index
9:45 AM Chicago PMI
10:00 AM Michigan Sentiment - Final

--and lots of op-ed's:

Hillary's Tax Plan Can't Pay For All of Bernie's Stuff - Caroline Baum, MW
What Trump Means When He Talks Working Class - Ned Resnikoff, TNR
Dems Misguided Plan to Reform Fed System - Stephen Mihm, Bloomberg
To Be Clear, the Helicopter Is Not Stimulus - Jeff Snider, RealClearMarkets
IMF Admits to Disastrous Love Affair - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph
Brussels Has a Lot to Learn From Brexit Vote - Christian Busoi, Examiner
How a Currency Meant to Unite Europe Divided It - Peter Goodman, NYT

[rfreedom4u]

I actually am. BUT it is in no way due to the government.

[Biggirl]

In the real issue is NOT free stuff but VOTER FRAUD.

[Biggirl]

Rather, after 8 years.

[Gay State Conservative]

Let's just say that I'm one of the 75% of Americans who believe that the nation's headed in the wrong direction.

[Biggirl]

Second it.

[ilgipper]

I agree with others. The general consus on that question is yes because seven years ago, housing had crashed, the stock market was down and the job market collapsed. There has been recovery. It’s tepid, but it’s still recovery. This has little to do with leadership. The construction market has boomed based on demand, not presidential or congressional decisions.

The question needs to be to play off the 70% percent wrong direction and the litany of bad trends. Wages down. food stamps up. ISIS. racial division. etc. The question needs to be, we are going in the wrong direction...can’t we do so much better.

[DAC21]

My job and all of the manufacturing Division I USED to work for was split up and moved out between Mexico and KY. 52 year old non Spanish speaking white boys need not apply for what Manufacturing Supervisor jobs that are left in California.

I make less than half of what I did in 2010, staying afloat until a couple annuities come due and start paying out monthly income, small pension and god willing SS IN six years

[shelterguy]

I read news articles on the Huffington Post as well as the Facebook of the local tv channel so I can read the comments at the bottom.

The comments used to be mostly all positive about obammy and hildabeast. The last few weeks they are very strongly and overwhelmingly against them. To me it is a good sign that the general population is waking up.

[Tenacious 1]

Am I better off than.... how many years ago? Let’s see....

June of 2009 was about the pinnacle of my career and we were debt free. That’s when the wheels fell off this wagon. LOL.

2016 is going to be a good year for me and my family financially. The problem with that is we are still in recovery mode from the battle damage of 3 lost jobs between 8/2009 and 6/2014. It’s amazing how a few short years can have your starting over.

[Fred Hayek]

I’m doing better than seven years e, but in spite of Obama. When he took office, my business tanked. Crazy Mark Dayton was the final straw, where I moved back to Texas. Hillary would be the death blow to this economy.

[Fred Hayek]

If this country is going to have a real recovery, Government needs to get the hell out of the way.

[Mr Apple]

Correction:
"...at the Demorat Convention, President Obama said that "by so many measures, our country is worried about where the next shooting by muslims will occur?"

[Salgak]

I am better off than 2008. . . Finished my Master’s and got a couple of heavy-duty IT certifications, boosting my income.

But things have been sliding back down for 2-3 years now. . .was stasis, now definitely decline. . .