Political, C'mon.....

I love and support my president. I don't think its quit fair to slam him for what's been screwed up for a long time. He can have all the ideas in the world but as we all know, he isn't the only decision maker. Yes, I would say we are better off, does it have anything to do with my president? Nah probably not but I voted for him 4 yrs ago and will again!

We're clearly better off than 4 years ago.

You can't blame EVERY job loss on the POTUS.
Isn't it mostly about " personal responsibility" as the republicans like to say?

We live responsibly. No debt, savings, modest vehicles, home, etc., so that worst case scenario, we'd be ok for awhile.

I know O. family with 2 years unemployment but his skill is very specific and he knows he now has to get "something" and keep looking.

Otherwise, most of the people I know are doing well. Two family members have started their own businesses in the last 4 years, and with prudence and hard work, are both doing well.

Personally, my family is better off today than 4 years ago.

It really has nothing to do with the president.

(But I love Obama ... just for the record.) :-)

We are better off. I plan to vote for Obama because I also see our nation heading in the right direction to be better off as well. JMO

To behonest we are actually in good shape. We were before him too though. My husband is fortunate enough to have a very secure job with one of the top companies in the world. We will NOT be in good shape anymore in Jan if the Bush tax cuts get pulled though. I don't think most people realize how important this is. Not just for us but for all economic levels. Cause guess what-if I am forced to watch I will most likely start with ways that I directly affect the lowest earners. I will fire the cleaning lady, landscaper, go out to eat less, do my own nails, tip at 15% rather than %25 etc etc etc. Pretty soon the unemployment rate will go higher than it already is. And we will most likely adjust our investments before a new capitol gains tax can take affect -along with many others I am sure. I hate to think what this exodus will do to the markets. And these are just a few examples.

As for this country? We are in worse shape. And if Obama is elected again you will not recognize us in four years. He basically said so himself in an overheard discussion with outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
March 26, 2012 where he assures he will have "more flexibility" to deal with issues like missile defense after the U.S. presidential election and that more concessions will be forthcoming. The Socialist States of America we will be where nobody is permitted to do any better than anyone else and if you do you better be ready to share it all.

I think the country and the world is on a downhill slide, that was not caused by Obama, or any one individual or one country in particular. The causes are many and diverse, and one of the big ones is world overpopulation. The world pop. has doubled in my lifetime, to 7 billion, and the planet's resources simply cannot support that many people. The economic rule of supply and demand always holds. Too few jobs in the world + too many people to fill them = low wages/not enough jobs. As long as our economy is global and most of our jobs go overseas, we are going to have economic problems.

The bigger problem in this country is the gridlock in Congress, and I'm not going to say which party is responsible, although I place the blame firmly at the feet of one party in particular.

My family is about the same as 4 years ago. I do think today's young people face fewer options, and I worry about them.

Reading below: As far as "spending money you don't have" goes, don't accuse the Dems. of being responsible for that. Living on credit and taking out massive loans (money you don't have) became a societal norm particularly during the Bush era (and not uniquely attributable to Bush), which artificially sustained the economy during that decade and allowed housing prices to skyrocket, etc. We are now paying the price for people of both parties, and people all over the planet actually, spending money that didn't really exist.

The wealthy should pay higher taxes. They don't work any "harder" than the rest of us, and they can afford to contribute more to the country that allowed them to become rich, and they won't miss a cent of those extra taxes. BTW - "wealthy" is not $250K. "Wealthy" is multi-millionaires.

We are better off.
Daughter got through college with very few loans.. we are not having any problem paying them monthly.

Before she graduated she was offered a temp job.. before that even started, this same work place offered her 2 different full time positions! She had not even finished school yet/

In the mean time we had worked at having no debt to prepare for the unknown when she started college. So we had paid off our house years ago.. We had only owned used old cars for all of the years since she was born. We only had 1 child, because we knew we could not afford more.

The year our daughter started college 4 years ago. He purchased a used scooter. He drives it to work,. depending on what he has to do.. he only uses 1 gallon of gas per week.. at the most. 3 years ago we purchased a brand new car. We had enough money to put down a nice down payment and in a few months, it will be paid off.

Then this year when my business partner died, I took full ownership of the business, but changed it into a brand new business.. it is all srvices and am having great business..

My clients are big companies.. and clients with money.

These companies are expanding.. It has already doubled their workforce since this spring and expect to dble again by the end of this year. They gave as bonus, an ipad to every employee along with a cash bonus..

The things they have planned for this fall, their employees will be very pleased.

I do not know any person that is not employed that wants to be employed in my family or circle of friends? Is it our location? I do not know.

I do know I have an old classmate, that says she and her family are not pleased with Obama.. Mind you, she has a good job she says she likes. Her husband PURCHASED his own 18 wheeler earlier this year.. , because he is a truck driver.. Of course they complain that the gas prices are killing them (they blame the President??) 2 years ago she purchased the "Harley of her dreams".. This is the 5th motorcycle in their family..

So I am not sure why they are not doing well and struggling.. of course if any of us point any of this off, she says" the country is going to hell with Obama's socialist agenda.. "..

So I do not know what people expected..

I am still waiting for an apology from the people that
reelected President G.W. Bush.. Lets remember what he did to our economy that had been balanced by the previous administration.

If someone came in a put your family into lets say, a million dollars in debt.. You would work and work.. way more than 4 years to clean it up..
Well guess what, you put the country in 16 trillion dollars into debt, for a made up war.. it will take anyone more than 4 years to get it back.. especially when you have people throwing blockades in your way the entire time.

This group of Republicans vowing they would do ANYTHING to make sure Pres. Obama would not be reelected including helping fix the broken economy.. This is not a game of win and lose. This is our Country! When we are not here, our children and grandchildren will inherit this mess.. Go back a remember where and when it really started.

Why would we hand this election over to the people that put us here in the first place? And to a man that says, just ask your parents for money....

That is just crazy talk..

It's sad.....some people are so angry and have to blame somebody, why not Obama, right? Did everyone really think he was going to fix 8 years of lies and deceit in 4 years??!!! Everyone voted for him with faith and hope for a better America. Why....because we had had enough of a lying, selfish manipulating, deceitful president, and ok...maybe everybody was desperate. That same desperation, is now hitting everybody because his time in office is up and everyone's tapping their foot and pointing to their watch. How is it possible that everyone expects change in a 4 year term after having 8 years of BS. What ever happened to "it'll get worse before it gets better?" Where's the faith and hope now? Because change didn't happen in 10 minutes, he sucks?! Do you really want to see Romni-Ryan take over and take us backward instead of forward?? The man who has no clue what it is to live as middle class, the man who said "borrow money from your parents", the man who has no clue on foreign policies and continuously makes a fool of himself by speaking? Only a people born with silver spoons can say " borrow from your parents"! My heart went out to Obama when he was elected because I knew 4yrs down the line, if he didn't fulfill what he had promised, in a timely fashion, there would be those who would be ready with the shaking fingers and tsk, tsk, tsk. Whether it had been Obama or any other democrat, his butt would still be in a sling because any President that took office after the hot mess that was his predecessor would have fallen short as well. I am no worse than I was before. As for taking out my life savings as most people have, this occurred in 2007, way before Obama! I'd much rather give Obama a 2nd opportunity, than feed myself to the sharks that are his opponents.

We are the same or better off.

We paid off our mortgage and DS started public school (out of private Montessori) so we have fewer expenses. My health care costs for myself and my employees have gone up less in the past four years than they had been going up previously. We are comfortable enough and self employed that we are not worried about the $$. I am way more concerned about the social issues - so I would be voting for Mr. Obama even if I were worse off financially.

ETA - There is no possible way I could bring myself to vote for someone who does not believe in science. Who really cares how many jobs there will be once the global temperatures rise another two degrees? I cannot leave that earth to my son without trying my best to fix it.

I TOTALLY get what you're asking/saying!! I feel sometimes I live in a little bubble because I cannot honestly say I'm any worse off than I was four years ago! Our trouble actually started back when Bush was president!!! My husband had been laid off three times during Bush's administration! But yet got a decent-paying job while Obama has been president. In my opinion, Obama inherited a big mess and is getting blamed for ALL of it which is not fair! Although, unfortunately, I think being black has swayed a lot of people's opinions, which is really sad!!! I was raised "color blind" so I don't care what color someones' skin is!!!

I'm also sick of hearing people say there are no jobs!!! There are plenty of jobs out there for the taking!!! Just look on any of the employment sites - they're there!!!

Also, what I am sick of is all the bashing going on between the parties and candidates!! Don't tell me what's wrong with the other guy; TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO FOR THIS COUNTRY!!!

The only thing I've noticed while out in the world - and this has been going on for a VERY long time - is fluctuating gas prices!!! And there again, not exclusive to Obama!!!!

Good question!!!

Yes. My wife and I are worse off today than 4 years ago. And not just a little worse off. A LOT worse off.

I really like Reagan and Kennedy. I hate Obama as much as I like Kennedy and Reagan.

Job Loss
A house I can't refinance
Obama gave all kinds of money to the banks so help loan holders upside down in their loans. The banks paid out huge bonuses to their executives. If they had applied that Multi-billion payoffs to home loan principal reductions Millions of home owners would not be upside down and millions of people wanting to move for a better job could because they could sell their homes. Unemployment would go down because people could move to the better job.
I could go on, but this makes me angry and I'd rather be happy.

OMG = Obama Must Go

An impressive list of Obama's accomplishments :
1. First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then
deny he was a foreigner.
2. First President to have a social security number from a state in which
he had never lived.
3. First President to go on 17 lavish vacations, including date nights and
Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends paid for by the
taxpayer.
4. First President to preside over a cut to the credit-rating of the
United States.
5. First President to have 22 personal servants (taxpayer funded) for his
wife.
6. First President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000 a year
at taxpayer expense .
7. First President to repeat the Holy Quran tells us the early morning
call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful sound on
earth.
8. First President to violate the War Powers Act. .
9. First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally
obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
10. First President to defy a Federal Judge's court order to cease
implementing the Health Care Reform Law.
11. First President to require all Americans to purchase a product from a
third party.
12. First President to spend a trillion dollars on 'shovel-ready' jobs when
there was no such thing as 'shovel-ready' jobs.
13. First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of
companies to his union supporters.
14. First President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act through executive order.
15. First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the
deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S. , including those with
criminal convictions.
16. First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of his political appointees.
And there is more . . .

Good luck to you and yours.
God Bless President Obama; Psalm 109.8

We are better off.

Three years ago we were able to sell my old (and very small starter) house because of the first-time home buyers tax break and buy a bigger house. And we sold my old house for a lot more money than I expected to get for it. (Granted, I had put in a lot of work on the house and it looked great. Some might say that the money I made was all due to my very hard work. However, I accept that I was also lucky that the tax break was available, so we had three offers on our house and sold it for more than we were asking.) And the interest rate on the new loan was lower than I would have expected. Win-win.

My job benefited from the stimulus because it gave money to lots of local jurisdictions for small transportation improvements (I'm a consultant who tends to work on these types of projects).

The stimulus also provided loans to new private companies building biomass to energy facilities (which was a large percentage of my work load last year). So, my job stayed the same instead of potentially having to take unpaid leave.

The only reason we are in a worse financial pickle than 4 years ago is because we had a second kid (and kiddos are expensive!). But, my husband and I take full blame for that one.

We run a small business with a customer base that returns to us over and over and over. When the recession hit initially we had a lot of our customers losing their jobs (all middle class). They were having trouble getting a new job and many of them were out of work for 1-2 years. That had a big effect on our business. Now it is much more unusual for one of our customers to be out of work. If they lose a job, they are finding a new one quickly. So, yes, from a business stand point we are better off. But here are still some very strange spending patterns out there so I am not convinced we are out of the woods yet. And as a small business, we are under a great deal of stress in terms of paying for health insurance for our employees, especially when we hire older, more experienced people. The premiums for older employees are 2-3 times the cost of premiums for a younger employee.

Overall, our family is doing similarly. Money is tight as food costs go up. Energy costs don't have much of an effect because we are very careful energy consumers (energy efficient house, extremely efficient cars). We are still waiting for our house value to improve so we can sell it, but we have never been underwater on our mortgage.

I am upset that property taxes continue to rise because of this perception that we should never make wealthy people pay more income tax even though their overall effective tax rate is significantly lower than middle and lower class folks. And I am extremely disturbed by the continued propoganda that the Canadian health system is evil compared to ours (my in laws live in Canada and they LOVE their system, they get amazing care). We have a MAJOR health care crisis in this country and we keep putting our heads in the sand.

I know you want to keep this on a more personal experience level, but to be honest I am very fearful of the Rep party right now (and I grew up as a Rep). Their platform and agenda items are fast approaching fascism. If you read the 14 signs of fascism http://rense.com/general37/char.htm a frightening number of them are a key part of Rep strategy. And by every analysis I have seen, the Rep party is going "right" at a pace that is double or triple the Dem party moving left. We need to be alert and involved people, before it is too late. Know who and what you are voting for, always vote, and vote for a third party if the main parties make you unhappy.

Sorry this got so long... :)

Don't we all have less disposable income than what we could have had? Even if your personal income is up, I could argue that you still have less "play money" because of the Obama administration.
-Gas prices are up (double what they were since Obama took office)
-the landscapers that take care of our lawn increased their price because of their increased expenses
-my daughter's piano teacher increased his price since it cost him more to commute
-I pay hundreds more in health insurance on a monthly basis and my co-pay went from $35 to $50.
-The cost of food is way up
-property taxes are up since our school district is getting less money from the federal government they made up the shortfall by not only cutting services in the school but raising property taxes.
-we have less equity in our house because housing values are still down

Call me conservative but I just don't believe in spending money you don't have and that is what this government has done to the tune of $16 trillion. How can you possibly think that this does not directly effect you or your children /grandchildren?

Technically, because of the crappy economy, we are "worse off" because my husbands business took a 50k+ loss each year for the 4+ years. My husbands income is based on sales to small businesses. He has been doing this for 13+ years. In that amount of time, he NEVER lost as many of his clients as he has the last 4 years. Many small businesses just couldn't make it thru the economy, they go out of biz, husband loses his client and his income.

I own an insurance agency. I too have taken a hit the last 4 years. People have had autos repo'd, homes foreclosed, have moved from AZ back "home" to live with relatives. So when they cancel their insurance, I get hit with a chargeback, so ya, I've lost money too.

However, all that being said, we are not struggling financially, we still manage to pay our bills each month, but nothing extra. We have a significant IRS bill we are trying to pay back (thanks to crappy CPA advice), but it will take YEARS. And we can't buy a home until then either and then need about 15-20k for the down/closing costs. We don't have that laying around. And I don't know how long it will take, but it is a burden to us.

So yes, the last 4 years have significantly affected us financially.

OMG = Obama MUST Go

Our lives are about the same. We made a bad decision and moved our family when we shouldn't have, so that has caused some stress...but I guarantee you The President did NOT call me and tell me to move.
L.

Great question!

We are worse off. My husband is a federal employee and has had his pay frozen for the last few years. Health care contributions have increased. Gas prices, water, electricity, and natural gas rates are up. And our property taxes have gone up.

But none of this is Obama's fault. We are fortunate to have my husbands job and income. All it took for us was a little belt tightening to get used to the smaller budget. No big deal.

We are worse off, not due to Obama (yet, because his tax increases on our household haven't yet hit), but due to his fellow Chicago/Illinois cronies who raised our income taxes this year. We're paying an extra $300 some a month in taxes, so our rate of saving has slowed, and I had to let go of my cleaning lady (an immigrant single mother of 4 kids, and now a grandmother). She has had a very tough time replacing lost income, because most of her clients were ones whose IL income taxes went up, and will go up further.

The Affordable Care Act is making it much more difficult for private practice doctors to stay afloat. We have had to scrap our plans of opening a private practice for my husband and 2 of his colleagues, as the ACA and the cuts to Medicare reimbursement will simply not allow small practices to survive. Even medium sized medical groups are having to consolidate to survive. My husband's group has 60 some physicians, but they had to merge with another group that has 300 some in order to be able to achieve economies of scale.

Other things that I worry about: the proposition to do away with mortgage interest deductions on taxes, which, aside from our charitable giving, is the only sizable deduction we have for our taxes. When we're already paying 35% of our income to Uncle Sam, it is very frustrating. My husband is more stressed than he has ever been, and is trying to generate as much income as possible this year to try to get in before the tax hikes REALLY take effect.

ETA: Oh yes, and of course the higher gas and food prices, which have been driven up by continued idiotic subsidies of corn for ethanol and transportation costs. President Obama's own cabinet member (I can't recall his name off the top of my head) specifically said that their priority is not to lower gas prices. They want us to reduce our consumption--I'd like to too, but when we can't sell our home to move closer to my husband's job, we really can't.

ETA2: The ACA was spearheaded by the American Medical Association, which SOUNDS like it would be quite representative of US doctors' opinions and interests. Not so. 85% of US doctors do NOT belong to the AMA, and their membership roles have been declining drastically over the years because the are also a bunch of Chicago cronies.

We are so much better off now. Our debts are close to being completely paid off & we got a house a year ago. We are finally in a position to have a baby!

My life is 100 times better than 4 years ago. Easily.

Don't care who's in office, how my life is is due directly to me. :)

Yes and No. I received a promotion in 2010 along with a pay raise. In addition, I have received a couple of raises while my husband has not. He is in the banking industry so his industry has taken a beating.

I am in manufacuting. It is taking a beating right now. I have laid off several employees over the last few weeks. Makes my stomach turn to do that. It is very slow right now. I believe the reason for this is businesses don't know what their tax burden will be, the election and the price of gas.

My house has lost value. I'm not sure if I would break even if we sold it. I don't think so. Our investments are still below what they should be but we are being a little aggressive with some of our investments.

My BIL has a auto mechanic shop. Cash for Clunkers just about put him out of business.

So yes, I believe the policies of the administration has not helped AT all. In my opinion, they have hendered the recovery not helped.

Well, we don't have as much spending money but that is because in the past 4 years we have moved into a larger, more expensive house, we have had a second child, I was laid off due to my employer's illness and then death, we've added a few more pets and my husband is attending college.

None of these things have anything to do with President Obama.

We chose to have another child and therefore purchase a larger home. It certainly wasn't Obama's fault that my former employer became ill. No one twisted my arm to get more pets. My husband decided to attend college after discussing it with me, not the President. Although I will point out that Pell grant funding has increased, there has been a tuition tax credit and student loan payments have been capped under Obama which certainly makes college more affordable for people like my husband.

Overall, I would say we are in the same position now as 4 years ago or possibly slightly better.

Yes. We, as a family, are better off. WE (especially, my husband) worked hard. No way in freaking hell, would I give that credit to the president. His job is for a private company. We are doing well in spite of the current president. We pay double in groceries per month, and for just about everything else. However, WE have managed to do better for our selves.

I truly think people who are doing better, should give a big ol' middle finger to the president, and say " Did it in spite of your "stimulus" package, buddy."

We are a bit better off - I am at least working full time with benefits and hubby has also gotten back to work. It's not ideal, but it's better than it was four years ago. Oh, and because of government programs, we were able to refinance our home even though we are a little upside down so that has relieved a TON of stress!

Is it worse? Kind of. My husband lost his job, and then when he got another one he got a raise. When the contract was over, he got a new one with a pay cut, so financially, we are strained because of Obama's policies.

Also race is a problem now. My husband is black and I am white. His brother called me a racist for not supporting Obama. My husband does not agree with him and chided his brother for it, but there is still much higher race tensions than there were before...that's undeniable.

Our home value has gone down to where we can't sell.

Did I forget to mention no raise for me because contracts are taking pay cuts too since the Gov't can't get their act together?

Our family as a unit is not technically worse off than we were four years ago, but my country that I love so dearly is absolutely far worse off.

Well, let me see if I can answer your question without using numbers and fact stuff. I think you are saying generally that things are no worse or better than four years ago - not personally for you, but generally, if I understood what you wrote. Gotta say I totally disagree with you there - things were pretty terrible for thousands upon thousands who lost their jobs enmass when companies downsized all at one fell swoop. Watching banks lose billions of dollars, which actually did cause so many of those companies to downsize, as they couldn't get liquidity from the banks, much less their customers and clients, was one of the most scary things I've witnessed in my lifetime, totally dwarfing the several mini crashes with the stock market. The thing is, this kind of debacle doesn't just happen in a vacuum, and it affects everything down the line.

Luckily, we weren't one of the ones who lost jobs, though thousands upon thousands in our company did. We did have to relocate. Are we doing well? Yes - only because we have a job.

We have a job because the bank bailout that President Bush approved and started and President Obama continued, pulled business back from the brink of disaster. Do I agree with the concept of banks being too big to fail? No. Glass-Steagall should never have been dismantled in my opinion. But given what happened, a systemic failure would have been worse than the Great Depression of the the 1920's-30's, and I believe that President Bush did what he had to do to save the worldwide economy by bailing out the banks.

So... I DO believe that government has a hand in making things better (or worse) by their political/economic/fiscal policies. My decision making can only be based on what I have to work with. If the banks are in a credit crisis and effectively put companies out of business because of their poor business practices, that is part of the government's fault because they allowed banks to have too much free reign.

There you go for your "game" (the thanks for playing part!)

Dawn

We are MUCH worse off. We live in South Florida - our house is worth about 50% of what it was worth in 2008. While I can live with that, it bothers me a lot that there have been so many foreclosures and short sales and that does have a lot to do with the many programs put in place that encouraged people to stop paying their mortgages while pocketing the money for a year or even two before the banks foreclosed all the while lowering the value of MY house! I don't qualify for any of the wonderful programs from our govt because I always pay my mortgage on time. Really, makes me feel like I am the chump.

My husband works in building construction - we have taken two pay cuts in the last four years. While we are happy that he still has a job, he is making much less and the company stopped contributing to retirement. So, that is essentially another pay cut. I have not taken a pay cut but haven't seen a raise since 2007!!!

Our medical insurance has gone up about 30% over the last 4 years. I know that Obamacare was supposed to take care of that but all we have seen is that my insurance now covers mammograms but not the breast sonograms that my OB recommends to complement the mammogram due to the very high incidence of breast cancer in my family. I wish I was still paying two co-pays rather than paying for that breast sonogram out of pocket!

Our insurance on our house has more than doubled. I'm told to blame this on the hurricanes but we live inland - have never had any hurricane damage and there hasn't been a hurricane here in many years....I think it is a failure of the federal government to pass federal legislation on disaster insurance - covering flood, fire, hurricane, tornado, earthquake etc.

My husband and I both have to commute to our jobs. Gas in S. FL was about $2.10/gallon 4 years ago. We commute in different directions, about 50 miles RT daily. Gas this morning was $3.96/gallon. Our weekly gas cost has gone from about $52/week to $99/week. If we weren't so far underwater we might move closer to a job (mine) but that isn't possible because we can't sell our house without following the foreclosure path.

I blame Obama for failing to get a federal budget passed since he took office. I blame Obama for failing to do anything to shore up Social Security and Medicare. I blame Obama for failing to do anything to provide us with some guide as to what to expect tax-wise - I can't do any financial planning for myself or my clients because I don't know what the tax laws will be for next year! Why do I blame Obama? Because he is supposed to be the Chief Executive! Instead of leading he sits around blaming Bush...well, he has had plenty of time to do that and now I would vote for anyone running against him. I also blame Congress and will be taking action on my votes there also!

Oh - and the cost of childcare has gone up a lot! I'm told it is because gas and insurance has gone up and the child care providers need to be compensated. Nice!

Thanks for listening! C.

We are NOT better off...we had to use all of our savings while my husband was unemployed for 10 months. It sucks not having a savings any more...thank God we had savings and investments that we could use...

Our investments? the ones we still have? Lower earning rate than they were 4 years ago...these are lower - but who knows - they rise and fall every day...they just haven't RAISED much since Obama has been in office...we are Conservative investors...so we don't throw $10K out there to see what happens...

As a country? I feel we are worse off - but better off in that people are WAKING up and realizing their voice can have an impact. People are realizing that the elected officials ARE their employees...now?? will they hold them accountable? That's the question!! :)

I don't approve of Obama....I don't support him or his Socialist ways...that's MY take. Will we be better off under Romney? I don't know. he's a RINO...I know he's got experience...

We are better off. Not by much, but we still have our house and we still make about the same amount of money and for those two things, I am grateful.

I think people really forget where we were as a nation 4 years ago. I remember being in my car on my way to work during those 10 awful days of market hell in October and every radio station, even the pop-comedy light-hearted morning shows, was consumed with "OMG is this the next depression?" and "where's the bottom of the market?" and "how much are we going to lose?" Wondering what was going to happen to the auto industry. Wondering whether or not housing prices were really going to free fall and would we really have an epidemic of foreclosures?

Personally? We were staring down a foreclosure 4 years ago. Then in early 2009 my company did a massive layoff (which I survived) which was a direct result of the market tanking in October 2008. Companies were so uncertain of whether or not they would survive that they started slashing retirement matching and profit sharing contributions and laying people off in large numbers. And yet within a year...some of those jobs came back. The market came back. The auto industry lived to see another day. Company match and profit sharing and other employee benefits were restored. People and companies came out of crisis mode. We are still in the process of working out a permanent mortgage solution but we still have a roof over our heads. A roof where we pay a lot more than what it's worth, but it's a house nonetheless. I still have a job, and still get bonuses and good benefits. My husband's industry is dying, so he's training for something new by taking classes at a community college in a new industry. But he is still working. We still have excellent health insurance, a healthy retirement account, and are working on paying down all of our credit cards. Thanks to the CARD act, we are no longer subject to highway robbery by our credit card companies.

So for us, things are better. And the few people I personally know who are saying that they're not better off (like my parents) - from what I see, they're not being truthful with themselves. My mom conveniently forgot all of the anxiety she went through wondering whether or not they were going to lose their retirement savings and would have to put off my dad's retirement even longer. Well thanks to the market's return and relative stability since then, my dad DID retire on time and they are living quite nicely. But they forget that.

we are worse off. two educated (with master's degrees) are unemployed, and savings are thinning because of inability to save due to taxes. so yes, over the last four years we have been paying taxes through the roof so that you (general, not you specific) could get welfare, healthcare etc., so now that we have lost our jobs, we are having a hard time.
i don't blame obama specifically (i am not a republican or democrat), i realize thanks to bush, and the guy before him, the country is where it is, but i do specifically concentrate on obama because he is not fixing this mess. yes he has added a far and in between government jobs, but not jobs in private sector. and it is obama that caused us to pay so much in taxes last 4 years.
i have not and will not vote for obama. wish the other choice was better.

Things are tougher because of decisions we made, and decisions other people in our lives whose actions influenced our lives made. That is how things are in my personal world. And they are getting better because of decisions we - personally - are making now.

I heard an economist talking on a talk show a few days ago who said that the country is in better shape (out of some wars, not in a depression, some things recovering), but that individuals have it tougher because of the economy - which is an issue all over the world. So no, I don't blame Obama for things.

We are worse off financially.....but it doesn't have much to do with the president...has more to do with my the company that my husband works for and their failures. But I feel more hopeful now!

All I know is anyone who thought things could magically be fixed in one term...no matter who said what were deceiving themselves. Big problems cannot be fixed that fast, especially when there are people trying to stop you every step of the way no matter what the change is.

I feel there have been good changes over the last 4 years....but I never want to be back to where we were 'before' because we were all living the high life based on lies and deceits. The bubble burst for a reason.....

I'd say we're equal, maybe a little "less" than we were 4 years ago. We make less money, but we're stable. I don't blame it on Obama. I blame it on the economy. I blame it on the greedy corporate higher ups that suck up all the resources into their paychecks & leave nothing in the financial pool to create more jobs. My company recently almost went public, and the salaries of the top dogs were disclosed, and I really just wanted to punch someone. If these guys gave up even 10% of their income, they could open up jobs for MANY people, and help to stimulate the job market.

I still think it's funny that the public expects ONE person to wave a magic want & create millions of jobs. Until the executives make some concessions, it won't happen.

I'll put it this way: 7 years ago we purchased our home for 230k..Today, we are selling it for 130k. I don't think we are better off now.

59 days till the election's over and pollsters and political robo calls stop plaguing my phones.
We're slightly better off.
We refinanced our mortgage last year to a lower interest rate (went from 6.5 to 4.25) and are paying $1000 less per month than we were.
A lot of the things you don't want to discuss DO affect us.
I don't want anyone in office who'll involve us in any conflict before the last few are paid off.
If there's a hint of a saber rattling anywhere, they've lost my vote.
Going to war without a plan for paying for it is just bad and it's what's got us in this deficit mess.
We're out of Iraq and we're getting out of Afghanistan slowly (too slowly) but surely.
Bin Laden's swimming with the fishes - that's an improvement over 4 yrs ago - I had nothing to do with that but I'm glad it got done.
Neither party will lift a finger to do a thing about it but off-shoring jobs is hurting us a lot more than people give it credit for.

I know you said that you're not referring to 'unemployment', but for me and my family, my husband lost his job in 2011. He was out of a job for 11 1/2 months. We struggled financially. We both tried looking for jobs, and we have two children to support. Thank goodness he got one 11 1/2 months later. We were hanging on by mere threads. And no, I don't blame the president for the job loss, and I don't credit the president for my husband finding a job. So yes, my family and I are in a better place than a couple years ago. :-D And I agree with you...it's because of us, our faith, and decisions we made that brought us back above the water line....'not' our govt. :-D Glad you and your family are better off today too! :-)

About the same. We are long term planners and while the 401Ks might not be where we want them to be, we still have a plan, food on the table, are not upside down in a house we shouldn't have bought in the first place, etc. Things ebb and flow and one administration or the other might help/hurt, but the economy never stays on top forever. My old company laid off a bunch of people, but that had a lot to do with other things and not just the economy. When you are a contractor, nothing is a guarantee.

I am working PT now and that was OUR change that affected us and we planned accordingly. We don't overspend. Our trip to the UK was more than a year in the making. We don't have a child (knock on wood) that has a pre-existing health condition that we had to worry about. SS can now get health insurance til he's 26 so he isn't starting out without the ability to see the doctor. SS graduated with no loans due to an academic scholarship he worked his butt off for and got himself a job.

I think people who blame the government for everything wrong in their lives are looking for a scapegoat. People who want a quick fix are not taking responsibility for their own lives. The President is not to blame for someone making a poor loan choice, maxing out the credit cards, or not being able to afford the gas (which is not as bad as some other countries) for their huge SUVs. There's a lot that goes into gas prices that has nothing to do with the White House.

And everything takes time. You don't change things overnight. Frosh in Congress don't chair the big committees. Even once things are enacted, it takes time to filter down. People are too quick to point fingers at everybody else instead of themselves. They want the lipo vs making a diet change.

I do worry about other laws and policies, but that drifts off into personal opinions and away from your question. So, no, we are not worse off, and we'll adjust again down the road if we need to.

Overall, better off, but with a few inconveniences. We refinanced and have paid the mortgage 5 years ahead. We were able to buy a new car (with help from the TX version of cash for clunkers). I finally got a job interview after a few years of applying for one specific type of job.
But- because of the high price of gas, we aren't travelling as much. I'm happy that I'm not being dragged off to amusement parks every weekend, but we are spending more time doing home repairs instead of hiring someone else to do them. I am putting off regular doctor checkups, specialists, dentist appointments, and buying new glasses because of the cost. We discontinued therapy for my son, because it took such a lengthy fight with the insurance company to pay for each appointment.

I have heard that the Texas economy and jobs are in better shape than the US overall.

We are a LOT better off today than we were four years ago. However, like you, I do NOT attribute that in any way to the president (I don't really understand that line of logic anyway). We are better off because my husband grew in his career, earned his certificate, gained lots of excellent experience, etc. I worked my way into a mangement position, etc. In other words, WE worked hard until WE got where we are.

I am a teacher and voted for Obama hoping for someone to help us with the horribly destructive policies of No Child Left Behind and the ridiculous testing that has ruined our public schools and I have been very disappointed. Neither political party is doing anything to support public schools, teachers or our children. I have no one to vote for.

We are better off, much better. In a round about way it has to do with government, not necessarily Obama though. 4 years ago, my husband was working for the city, and because of budget constraints they closed his department. Well, he was making a pitiful amount at the city, and him losing his job was a horrible thing. There were months we had to borrow from family to pay our electricity. So, when they closed his department, a huge corporation signed a contract with our city and hired the employees, enabling them to retain seniority. So now my husband works for a national very large company and makes a good living wage. To us, it is God opening a window when he closed a door, certainly not anything great that our government did. Had it not been for that company being gracious and hiring the city employees, we very well may have lost our house. BTW, the company eventually ended up letting all the other city employees go, except my husband, who has received 2 promotions.

There are only 2 area's where we are 'worse'. Food and gas, we live rural so jobs are something we have to travel to. My husband and son carpool to the same place and it is 30+ miles away (one way). My dd drives 50+ miles away, the gas tanks feel it, which means our pocket books feel it.

Food, oye, we are a family of 10 and a little raise here and a little raise there really add's up when you get to the register. the is also the raise in utilities, but that is local and not federal.

We aren't really worse, we aren't really better. We make it work, but I am a little tired of making it work. However, I don't see this as a presidential problem only, it's the government in general. Starting local and working it's way out.

We are better off than we were 4 years ago. It is entirely due to personal decisions. Our health care costs have gone up considerably, however, but we are able to pay the premiums. I am not an Obama supporter.

ETA: We were in fine shape 4 years ago, too. We're just in better shape, now.

Better. My husband started a business during the recession and it took off right away. He's earning more now than he did four years ago.

When the recession started mid-decade, my income dropped as a freelancer because my primary client wasn't doing as well. Now, they're expanding like crazy and I'm busy again.

Personally, we're doing better. Also, knowing that we can never be turned down for health insurance again is a huge relief, given that we're both running our own businesses. Weight lifted off our shoulders because the risk was always looming with that one (we've been turned down in the past).

Am I worse, no, but am I better, no, not really at least nothing that can be attributed to the president. I am pretty sure Troy would have told me by now that Obama told him to sit next to me at a bar so I could pick him up, ya know?

Here is the thing, I graduated in 2010 with my masters in accounting. In 2008 I could have had a flexible CPA job, in 2010 no way in hell, still no way in hell, I am underemployed, big time but willing to suck it up for the flexibility my job gives me.

Am I better off, a bit, but by virtue of my degree, my experience, my GPA, my mind, I should be a heck of a lot better off with what I put into the four years he has been in office. So taking out what I and Troy have put in, I am a very much worse off!

Everything he has done was to "stimulate" and "invest" in the public economy. By the nature of shifting money into the public economy from the private economy you hurt the private economy. Those of us who work, and the nature of our jobs force us to, in the private economy have been screwed twenty ways from Tuesday by this president's polices.

Here is another thing that people don't realize when calculating am I better off, when your income hasn't gone up, by greater than inflation, you are worse off than you were in the beginning because your real wage has taken a beating! You may not have lost hours or got a pay cut but you have, you just haven't done the math.

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And the best attitude award goes to Dad!

MY family today = better off than we were 4 years ago. But that's b/c my husband got laid off and was able to put 100% of his time into HIS OWN business. I know Obama would say that my husband didn't build his company himself. My husband is successful not on his own doing ... blah blah (eyeroll)... But yes, we are better off now financially. But I can't say the same about my friends/family who have filed Bankruptcy and had their house foreclosed. I can't say the same for my child, who will endure the debt that is accumulating more and more every day.

We are personally better off now than four years ago. We have made some tough decisions and they weren't easy, but now we're in a better place. My husband is in construction sales and he just had the highest grossing profit month(August) that he's had in 4.5 years. We are optimistic about the future but have been able to position ourselves to withstand any future financial storms. We also have more money in savings now than we've had in 5 years.

No better income-wise. Any increase in pay has been completely offset and then some, by the increase in the costs of everything else, including insurance premiums for less coverage. For example, our dental coverage costs more now than it did, AND we lost $500 in benefits EACH for our kids' orthodontic work.
The two other biggies? Groceries and gas. My husband has a 110 mile commute (roundtrip) each day. Our kids' school is almost 30 miles away. We aren't military (so no commissary to shop at) and there is no Costco or Sam's Club within 70 miles of us. Checked the price of a jar of peanut butter lately?
We probably are "break even" otherwise, as we have cut and cut and cut, and that is our doing to stay in the black, not because we are "better off" now. We took out a loan from ourselves (retirement stuff, I know, I know) to pay off credit cards and the balance on a car, and we are 3 years from having that all paid back to ourselves, in the meantime we have no other debt except our mortgage. But, we also have 2 vehicles (which we love and plan to keep as long as we can) that have over 250k miles on them, that were purchased new in 2003 and 2005. They WILL need replacing at some point, probably soon. If gas goes up any more (and doesn't come back down at all) we will get deeper and deeper---food costs are steadily rising and will rise even more after this year's drought.

I have considered taking a part time job to help with expenses, but there aren't any for me. 5, 6 years ago, I could've found something easily, but back then, we could afford to have our kids in private school. Not anymore.

I do not necessarily think that Obama (himself) is to blame for much of it, but his policies of big government and government solutions to everything (which both parties have fallen into this spending nightmare) are directly related, in my opinion. We need less government. Government does pretty much everything less efficiently, except fight wars. And then the efficiency is in the dispatching of force/violence, not financially.

So are we better off? Based on what calculation? Our net worth is lower.

I live in a very small community (1400 ppl). My house is worth $30K less than it was. We've had salary freezes at my job and no longer get reimbursed for things like cell phones. Insurance premiums are ridiculously high for minimal coverage. So, I'm making less money than I was four years ago. Gas prices are higher - which means home utilities are also higher. These things are all connected to the economy.

The other side: I was still married four years ago. My ex lost his job (his own fault) and we had great insurance through the school. He wasn't able to get another job for nearly two years, which had a huge impact on the kids and I financially. Sure, I could have gotten a new order for child support, but you can't get blood from a turnip...I digress. We were living very comfortably with our home, kids, dog, toys, trips and such. Now that I'm back to being a two income home with my fiance. He pays child support to his ex (not complaining, just a fact) and commutes 80 miles each way to work every day. With the price of gas...yeah, the economy has a very large impact on our lives.

Lets see 5 years ago I purchased a house for a great deal, automatic equity and it was on an arm and today I cannot refinance due to the plummeting house prices. Thanks to such a low fed rate im paying less on my mortgage but am still on an arm which I cant see the outcome in a few years. So that is good due to the bad. During the 4 years my husband was laid off due to the banks not lending, but then we put him through the police academy (still paying a ton on those loans, didn't see any relief there) so after a very trying hiring process he got hired on to one of the best departments around here so there we are better but that is due to our response to the bad. With the bad comes the good so am I better off? Yes but not due to the fact of whats going on really just that I grew up a lot. A lot happens between your mid twenties and early thirties.

For us, it's kind of like this: if you live in a bad neighborhood, you know you need to work extra hard to keep your home safe. That's what it's been like for us. We worked extra hard to be ok in spite of Obama, not because of him. I feel a huge amount of anxiety about what is going on right now, really scary. So I know all I can do is make sure to take care of my family and keep us in the best position we can be in. But I worry about my parents and in-laws. I've always been more independent and moderate, but Obama scares the hell out of me and for these years anyway, shoved me over to the right. Never thought I'd say that!!

WAYYYYYYY WORSE. Our business is selling a software product that my husband created 8 years ago. It started off sellling 2 copies the first year, 4 the next, 7 the next, 9 the next, 12 in the 5th year. We sold 5 the first year Obama was in office, 3 the next year and only 1 last year. Most companies told us they just didn't know what Obama was going to do next and their inability to plan because of that made them NOT want to let loose of ANY money. LOVED our product, but just couldn't outlay the cash to buy it. So now we're to the point that we are closing our business in December because we just can't pay the bills any longer and will be selling our home because we can't afford the taxes - especially seeing as he has made it so you can't deduct your interest or the taxes paid on mortgages on your home on your income tax starting next year. Which will add about $4,000 to our tax burden AND starting next year, you'll have to pay FICA on ALL your earnings (7.3%) instead of just the first $100,000 - not that we'll go over that by ANY means now.......

We are WAY better off today then four years ago.....
3.5 years ago we felt confident in my husbands job. VERY confident. All of a sudden there were rumors of over 400 layoffs. We still felt okay. To our shock, we were not. He was laid off for 6 months. He has a bachelor's degree in engineering, We thought he'd get a job no problem....Nope.
Finally his company hired him back. Three promotions later we are are obviously a lot more secure. But as you said, we have made wise choices. We JUST purchased a home after the real estate nose dive and our finance rate is outstanding, seriously oustanding!
Back when he got laid off, we heard the all the bull...Thanks Obama....right! His being in office 6 mos. caused my hubby's lay off!
We are always talking about how humorous we all are as American's blaming the current president, soley. Silly!
So to answer your question again, we are soooo much better today then four years ago. But we are still playing it smart. We financed a much smaller mortgage then what the bank said we could afford. I still like to eat and reserve emergency funds!

Way better off in every way, health finances education you name it , it is better. Of course there is always room for improvement.

This is a very thought provoking question. I am much better off, but I attribute that to a power that is higher than the President. I will tell you that I get so tired of everyone blaming one individual for the woes of an entire country. There are people in office who have contributed over a long period of time to the state of affairs our country is in. I believe that people who BTP (Blame the President) are very juvenile for doing so. There are systemic problems that are not the problem of any political party - the greatest of which is that they (elected officials) place party above people - just doing the best job regardless of who is at the helm. If they put as much energy into cooperating and finding solutions as they did to trying to make sure they are in "power" we'd have a decidedly different government. Let's not forget that when the country was supposedly doing just great financially, we still felt the need of a change - so there will always be some reason why people feel we need to get somebody else to lead.

I like President Obama and will be voting for him again. I'm not against Romney - just "for" Obama. But solutions to our problems are found daily by each one of us taking responsibility for our actions and recognizing that we have a part to play in making the world better off.

My world IS better off than we were 4 years ago. The president has nothing to do with it directly. He has not control over the commodities market and that is where a lot of our family income comes from. World events are more responsible for our well being than the national events. The sooner we realize as Americans that its not just about what is happening in America, that we are now a global economy and society, the better off we will be.

I am better off, however it has nothing to do with Obama. I remember Ihim saying when he was running the first time that it would take eight years to fix the problems in America's economy. There is no magic fix and one needs to be realistic and realize he inherited a quagmire of problems. I wouldn't have taken them on myself.

Updated

I am better off, however it has nothing to do with Obama. I remember Ihim saying when he was running the first time that it would take eight years to fix the problems in America's economy. There is no magic fix and one needs to be realistic and realize he inherited a quagmire of problems. I wouldn't have taken them on myself.

This is the first time that I had to get unemployment. I was laid off because we need more bilingual teachers to teach the children of illegals. I will not vote for him now due to his amnesty plan. I am black and wanted to see a black president. Not this time...