Posted on 01/13/2016 2:43:17 AM PST by expat_panama
State Of The Union: After seven years in the White House, how does one measure Barack Obama's success as president? How about by the standards he set for himself in his first State of the Union address?
Obama gave his eighth and final SOTU address after we went to press. But we're on safe ground predicting that he spent a good chunk of it praising himself.
I saved the country from a second Great Depression! Saved the American auto industry! Extended health insurance to 19 million people! Took on climate change. Made the world a safer place!
Those are all dubious claims that we've repeatedly debunked. But beyond that, our 44th president has a funny way of resetting the bar — always lower — so he can claim to have leapt over it.
Yes, there are 9.3 million more jobs today than in January 2009, but there are 17.2 million more people than when Obama took office, which means that the economy has created only about half the jobs needed just to keep up with population growth.
Real median household income is lower than it was in January 2009. The number of people in poverty...
[snip]
Racial divisions...
[snip]
Obama said he would end the day when the country "managed to spend more money and pile up more debt" without solving problems. Since then, he added more than $8 trillion in debt and leaves a mountain of problems unsolved.
He said he'd vastly improve education in the country, but math and test scores have been falling over the past two years. Graduation rates are up, but they were climbing under Bush as well.
One thing that Obama has unquestionably achieved in office is to lower expectations of what a successful presidency means.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
Does my ability to save and invest well make me a vulture? Not a very conservative sounding statement, if you ask me.
This question should be rephrased to:
After seven years in the White House, how does one measure Barack Obama’s TIME IN OFFICE as president?
He was a stuffed shirt Sophist in 2008 and he remains the same utterly useless zero that has called unrepairable damage to the United States from within and in foreign relations. He has cultivated chaos and sent US race relations back to 1964.
No.
and my answer is NO
Some of the predators did pretty well too, but overall the big winners were the scavengers.
Hell, all I heard from the speech was “DURKA, DURKA - JIHAD! DURKA, DURKA!!!”
Hmmmmm.... I thought this was a Conservative Forum.
State Of The Union: Are You Better Off Than You Were 7 Years Ago?
No, Divorced, Laid off due to contracts being cancelled twice, had to take low paying jobs to survive and work my way back up, in debt when I should be retired. I don’t lay all the blame on Obama, I blame the whole Democratic Party of Destruction.
This is a joke story, right?
HOW many people are not working? HOW many children live in poverty?
For chez Boots, we’re fortunate to have JOBS-until SHTF, I hope.
I thought only liberals deny human nature, or think they can simply re-write it with the stroke of a pen.
You should see some of the weird crap I've been dealt on FR. My opinion has definitely changed about this place. You can't come here looking for validation any more, that's for sure. You've got to come expecting a fight and stick to what you know is right.
> ANYONE who claims they are better off today than seven years ago is either insane or works for the government (the two are not mutually exclusive).
I am better off. No thanks to the Obama Regime and the government.
I worked my butt off to get ahead during these 7 years. I watched my friends lose their jobs (some still don’t have jobs). I watched the interest on my savings go to near zero. I watched my 401K go into the toilet. I watched friends and relatives go into heavy debt.
But making my own luck and changing jobs (still private industry), I now make 4 times what I did 7 years ago, and the government taxes me double what it did 7 years ago (I really hate progressive tax rates that punish you for being a good earner).
I am only better off because I work hard every day, don’t spend of stupid stuff, and was one of the lucky ones that did not get laid off. I paid off some debt but am not safe by any means.
So am I. But that's tempered by the knowledge that much of what I have gained is going to come at the eventual expense of my children and grandchildren.
Maybe I'm just getting cynical in my old age, but I can't shake the feeling that whatever prosperity we're experiencing right now is just a short term illusion that's going to have some miserable long-term consequences.
Obama and a complicit Congress tapped a vein to drain the life-blood from our progeny. I don't feel like celebrating because I played my own hand well enough to get some of it.
“State Of The Union: Are You Better Off Than You Were 7 Years Ago?
No, Divorced, Laid off due to contracts being cancelled twice, had to take low paying jobs to survive and work my way back up, in debt when I should be retired. I don’t lay all the blame on Obama, I blame the whole Democratic Party of Destruction.”
Same here basically. You’re not alone. I earn half of what I used to before Barry and the divorce and supplement by pulling from what’s left of my retirement. Hate doing that but it’s all I can do.
“I now make 4 times what I did 7 years ago, and the government taxes me double what it did 7 years ago (I really hate progressive tax rates that punish you for being a good earner).”
There we have it - taxes have gone UP.
Prices have gone UP. Food, clothing, everything has gone up.
This is not good for a nation where so many wages and jobs have gone down the toilet.
Lord no. My life has fallen to pieces. My wife was laid off from her medical position of 18 years. In her two years of unemployment she had an affair to fill her days. My law firm lost do many clients because of the economy that my office closed. With that chaos came divorce, loss of my home (sold) and a living standard far below what I had enjoyed the prior 25 years.
I know plenty of others in similar positions.
S&P500 has more than doubled since January 2009. If your portfolio is only up 19% you must be invested very conservatively.
NO, we live on a fixed income and with the increase in food cost, higher property taxes, NO COLA raise for SS or Ret. Military this year. We are Both. Increased Co-pays for meds, increase in Medicare, leaves a whole lot less spending money. Have had to cut back on what I spend on food, and very little ‘free’ money for spending. No way to put money back either. Splurging is a BD or Anniversary dinner out. Buy gift cards at double the gas points from Kroger’s or wait until they put them on 4 x the points to buy, use Discover to pay, 1% back. Pay Discover in full each month..no fees. Hubby filled up the car for 68 cents a gallon, 22 gallons end of Dec. And will do the same in Jan. Up to 35 gallons a fill up.
I am so sorry, Buckeye. I will say a prayer.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.