Am I better off?

Ah, the ultimate political question, are you better off than you were four years ago?

Let’s see.

We survived a pandemic.

My wife and I have both had expensive health issues in the last four years for which we received excellent care and that were paid in full by Medicare and our Medigap insurance.

Inflation has been up and now going down – at its highest a lot less troubling than in the 70s and 80s. Social Security was adjusted accordingly.

Gasoline prices were high, but have come down, and we had access to all the gas we wanted unlike in the 1970s

Our investments have done very well. Our net worth is higher than four years ago.

We certainly aren’t worse off.

We live in a big complex world. No country is immune from global events both good and bad.

There is a limited amount that can be done to minimize the impact of world events like it or not.

18 comments

  1. Inflation. The whole world faced inflation after the pandemic and the U.S. handled it much better than almost any other economy. But if you want to debate that, let’s look forward. All of Trump’s currently proposed policies would cause much higher inflation than the policies proposed by Harris.

    Like

  2. my net worth is better than in 2020, but only if I don’t get saddled having to pay a disproportionate amount of the national debt – either directly or indirectly by inflating away the debt reducing the value of my savings.

    mall you who think Biden Harris are ok, please shoulder their debts – I got none of that, and paid more in taxes, after trump changes. So, YOU pay.

    Like

  3. my net worth is better than in 2020, but only if I don’t get saddled having to pay a disproportionate amount of the national debt – either directly or indirectly by inflating away the debt reducing the value of my savings.

    mall you who think Biden Harris are ok, please shoulder their debts – I got none of that, and paid more in taxes, after trump changes. So, YOU pay.

    Like

  4. wasn’t the first question at the debate basically the question asked here–remember what the answer was by one of the architects of Bidenomics? NOTHING!!! Go back and listen–asked again in PA by a local radio station host and the same word salad answer but NOTHING about being better off. If the co-pilot is befuddled by any progress why do you think most Americans are giving the answer a resounding NO?

    looks like the average person feels they are not better off–inflation is still a major issue and caused by the folks spent for all types of programs not needed at the time and financed it by printing money–too much $ chasing too few goods–now we have prices still increasing albeit at a lower level, but still increasing. Like the market having a plus 20% one year and subsequently rising by various % points each year thereafter–still going up, but at a lower rate. Your $ is still losing purchasing power as we speak, the cancer is spreading but not as rapidly as a few years ago.

    At a local Stop & Shop a few days ago my dozen of eggs sold for $4.00+ (uncaged dirty chickens)–cereal prices higher than 4-years ago–mortgage rates much higher–home prices higher and because of mortgage rates many folks are not selling–they love that 3% 30-year–gas prices are higher and supply since the 80’s has not been an issue–auto insurance–home owner’s insurance are HIGHER or LOWER what do you think? What the heck has fallen in price?? Has to some items out there.

    So the rich got richer when money, like water, reached a certain level. Like water it finds a home–stocks–real estate–gold–art. So an inflated money supply helped those who own assets prosper–they got richer while others got poorer trying to afford $4.00 eggs and $3.59 gas. But, hey it’s better than the 70’s when they really juiced the money supply.

    The everyday items that folks purchase is costing quite a bit more but let’s not forget crime which is a major issue–folks cleaning out some CVS and Walgreens knowing full well there is no punishment–shootings in the cities has dropped but is still far too high and most of you wouldn’t walk through Newark or Patterson.

    Migrants, thanks to DeSantis and Abbott, have been spread throughout country and are causing havoc in many locales–not enough shelter–schools overcrowded with teachers struggling with languages and classroom control–but of course we don’t hear our lefty friends calling folks on the border racists and bigots any longer–how long did 40+ last on Martha’s Vineyard before they carted them off to the mainland? Anyway, one candidate is now MAGA-lite as, believe it or not, she sees a WALL in the future. You can’t make this sh– up!

    Life is better with a corpse as our president? A bloodless coup, the 1st in U.S. history, occurred and someone was told you are too demented to run for re-election, now you have 14,000 delegates and you want so badly to run, but the party of Democracy said OUT, not because we care about your health but because you will LOSE–oh, but you are not too demented to finish out the term–anyone heard of Edith Wilson?

    If life is so much better then why do I see young Jewish students beaten–spit upon–told to go back to the ovens, and some barred from their campuses by thugs. Let’s not speak too harshly about these folks at they are constituents and by the way get in line for forgiving a loan–let the plumber and HVAC person pick up the bill.

    Medicare has been so good to brother Quinn–why not– it’s basically broke–the eventual cost will be paid by his kids and grandkids–live it up as the cost is not his–like a credit card I will never pay off but the taxpayers will sometime way down the Garden State Pkwy.

    Like

    1. Same question: Four years ago Covid 19 happened. A Black Swan by definition. Are you implying that Trump might have handled the loss and recovery better than Biden did?

      If so, how?

      True, like most people, I don’t like increased grocery prices (although Trump’s exaggerated claims in this area are hyperbolic) or gas prices, over which Trump will have no more control than Biden (Harris).

      Do you believe we would have been better of with Trump?

      Like

      1. well sure we would have been better off–what are the two biggest issues facing the country according to the polls (I think)–inflation and immigration–I suspect Trump would have had more sense than add a 3rd tranche to the recovery as the economy was well on its way to recovery–if you want to credit Biden/Harris for # 2 tranche go for it–but # 3 was a disaster and he was warned by prominent Obama folks that all that $ would unleash inflation. Now when I say Trump would not have that is pure speculation and we will never know.

        On immigration that was a unmitigated disaster for Biden/Harris–you wonder why they would turn their backs on millions pouring across –and then listen to folks calling people racists and bigots who objected. There should have been a national address reminding us that this is a national issue not a few states issue. A natural disaster is handled far better with more compassion than this has been. I suspect they want to turn states purple and then blue–yes, politics permeate too many of our issues today.

        Sure, this year they finally compromised with legislation that would build a bit more of a wall–but more than a wall is needed. Of course he then issued an executive order and now claims illegal crossings are down–super!!–what took more than 3-years and overturning every Trump order? As we all know it is an election year so the lefties, per normal, try to convince us they are normal. “What–me defunding the police”??? How well did that work? That defund is a hoot–some cities are still trying to recover from that–today the city of Chicago has a council meeting on safety, crime, and policing. They all need more cops.

        Trump’s food claims hyperbolic? Well, the food budget doesn’t lie and politics unfortunately, is based on hyperbole . Who can tell the biggest lie.

        Of course Trump the fool all night long had opportunities to answer Muir’s question you refer to and others. But too bright this guy ain’t–so I am stuck with the lesser of two evils. But I will say Jan.6 is not a defining issue for most–immigration and the economy are– so Trump should have weaved illegal immigration into a word salad of walls and barricades. Learn from Harris when to say nothing while appearing to say something. My boy never learns anything–trust me on this.

        In this house we say that when the lefties implement their programs they pretty much turn to sh–, and we all suffer. Defund–immigration–felonies reduced to misdemeanors–DEI–Afghanistan–inflation–college loans transferred to the working class–a hit parade of maladies.

        Like

    2. Speaking of the debate, fortunately, I was seated while watching.

      DAVID MUIR: You were the president. You were watching it unfold on television. It’s a very simple question as we move forward toward another election. Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day? Yes or no.

      TRUMP: …I wasn’t responsible for security. Nancy Pelosi was responsible. She didn’t do her job.

      The most powerful man in the world. “I wasn’t responsible…”

      No wonder he was fired by 81 million people.

      Like

    3. You hit a lot of bases. One stood out…

      “Anyway, one candidate is now MAGA-lite as, believe it or not, she sees a WALL in the future. You can’t make this sh– up!”

      As Paul Harvey said, “The rest of the story…”

      Compromise, Harris agreed to sign the bipartisan border bill, which includes some wall funding.

      Axios : Harris flip-flops on building the border wall

      Aug 27, 2024

      “…the bipartisan border proposal didn’t include any new money to continue building the wall.

      It just extended the timeline to spend funds that had been appropriated during Trump’s last year as president, they say, although the legislation has new restrictions to ensure the money is spent on barriers.”

      “Lankford’s office estimated the legislation would spend $650 million on a wall, down from the $18 billion Trump requested in 2018.”

      You —really— can’t make this sh– up!

      Like

  5. Does this mean you are well pleased with things as they stand and are content to sign on for another term with no changes? If so, no problem with it, just asking.

    Like

      1. We will never know how the past 4 years would have turned out under Trump. We can only reply as to how we individually fared under Biden. That is if we were concerned who was in the White House. Since Brother Quinn phrased his situation in political terms, I could only assume that’s what he meant.

        Like

      2. Good point, perhaps. But if the question is political, the examples were primarily economic.

        We will never know how we might have fared. (But) “There is a limited amount that can be done to minimize the impact of world events like it or not.”

        And, IMHO, we, and the world, are much better off than we would have been if Trump, by hook or by crook, had prevailed.

        By hook or by crook.

        “Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain,”

        I hope I live long enough to see him, and others, in prison.

        Like

      3. just think he could have Hunter and the corpse as cell mates but the prosecutor said the corpse was too old, frail and demented to be placed on trial for security documents he stole as a senator and the ones in places from Delaware to DC. from his VP days.

        I still can’t figure how he got out of the skiff as a senator with those purloined papers. And allowing his biographer access for a cool $ 8 million. Those Biden’s–they do know a thing about making $.

        Like

      4. prosecutors considered “that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

        “Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt,” the report states. “It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”

        “We conclude the evidence is not sufficient to convict, and we decline to recommend prosecution of Mr. Biden for his retention of the classified Afghanistan documents,” the report states.

        Close

        Like

      5. so if the corpse had had a mental ” state of willfulness” he would have stood trial but by the time he stood trial he would have been even more demented? He has no mental state!

        so he “retained” documents that he should not have had–and the evidence, I suspect, was not sufficient to convict not because he hadn’t broken the law, but because a jury wouldn’t convict this demented old man who they would think as sympathetic and well meaning.

        The man the Democracy party told us that we were the crazy ones if we thought he had lost a step or 10. The same corpse that is supposedly “running” the country. Just think if debate # 1 had been September 10.

        What I didn’t hear was that no laws were broken–that the corpse was well within legal boundaries when he “stored” decades of classified documents in various locations–many of course were in the garage in boxes.

        The prosecutor Mr. Hua (sp) didn’t exonerate him just said that weighing the evidence and his mental state would not result in a successful prosecution.

        Have you figured out how he got out of the skiff? Sandy Berger (Burglar) got caught and penalized severely. How did the corpse do it?

        Like

  6. It’s a bogus question. The implication is that you –would– have been better off if Trump had been reelected in 2020.

    I don’t think so. As you say, no country is immune from world events.*

    We are better off financially, although that’s a fluke because we downsized two years ago and banked our equity. The new house is very comfortable, with lower monthly costs.

    and Trump is…

    Like

Leave a Reply