I don’t disagree with anyhting in that post. But if that’s “the shambes”, then we just define that term differently.
In a simplistic answer, this is a big difference between macroeconomics as you describe affecting the entire US economy, and microeonomics whis is the personal economic situation of any one individual.
At the end of the day, individuals will rate whether they are better off from four years ago by comparing their personal life, the lives of family and friends around them, the jobs and industries represented, before, if ever, looking at national economic data. The macroeconomics may show a healthy economy, or one becoming more healthy, but it means squat if an individual is out of a job, is underemplyed, has little to no job security in their chosen field, etc.
So who was President in early 2000?
Worse off, easily.
Dunno about income statisticvs, but I know that from 2000 to 2004, my salary increased by 2.6%. Needless to say, the cost of living has gone up significantly more than that in the same interval.
Yeah, Space Ghost should have killed him when he had the chance. 
I’ve moved laterally, sort of. I lost my previous position as the Marketing and Contracting Director of a small Aerospace firm. The business folded due to a complicated series of events, but the body blow was 9/11. I was pretty much unaffected by the tax cuts, but this had more to do with my ex than anything else.
I’ve started my own business by burning through my savings, but have recovered to near my previous level salary wise but no savings yet; I expect to exceed it shortly. Technically I guess you could say I’ve created jobs, but it’s come with a heavy toil in longer hours, increased stress and a current hunt to find affordable medical insurance.
Yes, for a few months not long back I was in fact subsisting on single meals (as fate would have it I needed to lose weight anyway), some of those meals consisting of Cup O’ Noodles. Additionally since a lot of my business time is psent online, forays to the Straight Dope is sometimes the only stress releiver I have. I took a break from working to post this message.
Personally? The last 4 years has been a rollercoaster from hell. I don’t exactly blame Bush for it, though.
Are we better or worse? Well, as someone pointed out on another thread, the extrent that most people have been affected is longer lines at airports. I was talking with my grandmother, who runs my deceased grandfather’s welding shop, and she said that the tax cuts have been important. That is the deciding factor for her.
But short term aside, I think we are heading into large debt and raping our ability to fund programs in the mid-term future. We live in a more dangerous world, we are committed to two wars, and struggling in both. We’ve lost whatever international clout we had, and make a mockery of the progress we have made in international co-operation and setting legal precedent (via flipping off the UN and ICC).
Economically, the .com crash has stabilized and the market is steadying itself. As mentioned above, the tax cuts have helped businesses. Bush will take/get credit for that, whether he engineered it or not.
Way the hell worse off here. I made more doing odd jobs while going through school than I can now make with a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering. The fuckwits at the top of American companies assume that since Bush is driving the country into bankruptcy to subsidize them, everyone can afford jacked up prices. The dollar has gone down so far that foreign goods now cost an arm and a leg. Ashcroft is trying to one up the KGB because Osama killed as many Americans in a ten year effort as Americans kill in a three month period. And if Bush rigs himself another election, Bob Jones will be running the ministry of culture.
Oh yeah, it’s a friggin golden age.
The question is not whether you are better off than someone else who has less than you do. (Which, after all, would be a pretty silly question.) Nor is the question whether you are worse off now than you ever were. The question is whether you (meaning any person answering the question) are better off than you were four years ago.
Sure, I’m a helluva lot better off than many people. But compared to four years ago I am worse off financially than I was.
Except that now, three years on, we are less safe because we have more people pissed off at us.
An analogy: Let’s say I move to a bad neighbourhood. I live there for years, and my house is never burgled. Then one day it is. The danger had always been there; but since I hadn’t been burgled before I felt “safe”. “It was out of ignorance,” as you put it. Now, let’s say I’m very angry that my house was burgled and I know that a certain local gang member was involved. I find the guy and beat the crap out of him. The rest of the gang didn’t really care about me. But since I’ve made a retaliatory attack on one of their own, they’ve taken notice. Am I more safe, less safe, or equally safe than I was? Obviously, I’m less safe.
Since BushCo has led the country into a war, not just against the terrorist-murderers, but against a sovereign nation, that sovereign nations “homies” are giving us the stink-eye. Attacking Afghanistan, which had terrorist training bases and provided aid and comfort to ObL was justified in much of the world. Attacking Iraq, which had nothing to do with AQ, is seen as unjustified by most of our allies. Therefore, we are less safe – and thus, less well off – than we were four years ago.
Four years ago I had a good job, but the company was sinking (rightfully so). I was laid off two weeks before 9/11 and was out of work for six months. Things were very bad. I got a new job in the same field (sort of) that payed about the same, but allowed me to work from home. So, things were a little better. A year later, a better opportunity came along and I took it, and now I make what I consider to be “big money” and still work from home.
I am way better off than I was four years ago. Most people I know are the same way. The people I know who are in bad shape are the ones who refuse to believe that their old jobs aren’t coming back. Mostly guys with associates degrees who were making $60K answering telephones. Some of the people that got laid off with me are like that, I know of two others who have new nursing degrees and have thier pick of jobs for lots of money.
I still think Bush sucks, though.
Much better off here. I lost my job when Clinton was still in office when the tech bubble first started going tits up. No one was hiring then at all, IT companies were in fact starting the lay off process, so I decided to bite the bullet and build my own IT company, despite everyone telling me it was a bad time. They were probably right, but I’ve managed to hold on and things are definitely better now than they were from my perspective. Contracts are starting to really roll in, and we are hiring…probably double our staff by the end of the year in fact.
In addition, a lot of my friends who had been really hit hard by the IT industry going tits up are starting to go back to work as well. I’ve also noticed recently that my email account and voice mail are starting to fill up again with job offers from my resume thats still floating around out there from 2000. Its not like it was in the 90’s, where I’d get literally 2-3 offers for interviews a DAY, but its starting to really pick up (I’d say I’m getting 3-4 unsolicited requests for interviews a week at this point)…whereas for the last 4 years I was lucky to get an offer for an interview every other month.
As far as the ‘we’ goes, I’d say that its a mixed bag, with the perception of how the economy is dependant on your personal circumstances. I don’t think anyone can claim the economy isn’t picking up, not with a straight face. It IS picking up. However, jobs are still not really coming back as strong as would be expected, though there again, they ARE coming back…and not McJobs either, at least not from my own perspective. There are a lot of factors that go into the economy, but in the end it boils down to the perception of people as to whether its good or bad. My perception is its ok (i.e. not great, but not bad either) and rising steadily at this point. YRMV.
Now, how much of this Bush had a hand in, and how much of it is just the natural recovery of the economy after a huge down turn in 2000…thats a debate point, no doubt.
-XT
**Are you/we better off than 4 years ago? **
Way, way better. Still have a job and, particularly, since most I work with had their 401k in stocks 4 years ago. I was 100% GIC, still am. I figure I’m at least 30% ahead 
I’m personally better off at the moment, but that’s a matter of luck. I have much less security economically because that could change much more easily than was once likely. Most people like me that I know are worse off.
I was laid off shortly after 9/11 after 18 years at Brand Y, which however was using that as a cover story for previous plans to downscale my location and centralize operations elsewhere. After several months on the street, expecting to at least have to move and at most to change careers midlife, I was fortunate to land at Brand X with a higher level and much more money, more interesting work available and a more congenial environment. But I have a jawdropping commute now, the industry is still shaky, and if we get some more bad news I’m at the bottom of the totem pole.
But, as I said, I’m one of the lucky ones. Most of the mass of others who got nailed with me are less well off, some are still on the street, some got their old jobs back as contractors with no security or bennies and at less pay. My old employer, in fact, just arbitrarily cut all the contractors’ fees 10% just because they could.
The trends in corporate management created in the go-go Nineties are at the heart of it, though, and the CEO my old employer had was a leader in creating those fads. The overall attitude that employees are expense items, not assets, would have made the same things happen no matter who was in office. My new employer made bigger mistakes sooner, and my new job is the result of their realizing it and trying to recover from it.
I mentioned loss of job security. What I have is mainly due to switching from commercial to military work, which is not my preference but that’s the situation now and for the foreseeable future. I do get a kick out of hearing some co-workers (a lot of engineers are reflexively conservative) bashing welfare for being simply stealing from the productive members of society. When hearing the suggestion that they themselves are on welfare, few have a ready answer.
But another part of my own wellbeing and security is the strength of the economy. Certainly some retrenchment was due, but I believe Bush worsened the dip and has crippled any recovery by his massive use of the national credit card. Just as we were beginning to crawl out of that hole, he’s dug us deeper. Further, he has made us put more resources into the military instead of wealth-creating activities by so foolishly causing more of the world to hate us. That’s good for my own job security, but not for most of us.
In short, I’m better off. For now. *We * are worse off.
I would say I am better off. I currently work three part-time jobs, payed off my car, and am scoping out a position as Director when the demand has started climbing (Company is expanding, building new tutoring centers, they need managers, I will qualify this December)
Even the high gas prices don’t deter me. So gas is $2.25 a gallon? Fine, I’ll ride my bicycle to work. Budget cuts crippling schools? This fall will be my last semester before Graduation. All the mistakes made in the past 2 years haven’t been a major hurdle in my bid for financial independence.
Personally I’m better off than I was in 2000 and expect to be much, MUCH better off in 4 years, regardless of who wins in November.
I’m much better off. I was working for myself four years ago and I’m working for myself today. The industry I’m in is not doing so well. I think one of the reasons that I’m better off is that I accept the responsibility for my prosperity, or lack thereof. I’ve NEVER whined about how many jobs the president created or didn’t create - I just created my own. I did work for a large organization once and there was a one day layoff. I spent the day checking out leads for clients I could provide services to on my own.
BTW, I was not born rich, had to work my way through college, got almost no financial help from family.
The drop in interest rates has helped me also. My mortgage payments have dropped and I sold an albatross of a weekend home for a big profit.
Even though I support GWB I don’t know if he gets much credit for the above. The tax cut certainly has helped, but I don’t know how much. I don’t know enough about how the fed works to say whether or not I credit the POTUS for a drop in credit costs.
In the Carter years we were still paying for Viet Nam and the Cold War. "How will things be ten years down the road?’ seems like a better question to me. The inevitable rise in interest rates that will go with a huge increase in the national debt is scaring the shit out of me, because I don’t think I’ll be able to put enough into my 401(k) to retire on if we have much inflation without a corresponding rise in the stock market, and what if I get seriously ill or something? My company is moving much of its oprations to China, and I have no idea whether my job will be going too. I’m 48 years old and have over twenty years experience as an electronic technician, and I’m wondering if I should go back to school and learn to do something else, and how hard will it be when I’m showing serious signs os CRS* these days
*Can’t Remember Shit.
In the Carter years we were still paying for Viet Nam and the Cold War. "How will things be ten years down the road?’ seems like a better question to me. The inevitable rise in interest rates that will go with a huge increase in the national debt is scaring the shit out of me, because I don’t think I’ll be able to put enough into my 401(k) to retire on if we have much inflation without a corresponding rise in the stock market, and what if I get seriously ill or something? My company is moving much of its oprations to China, and I have no idea whether my job will be going too. I’m 48 years old and have over twenty years experience as an electronic technician, and I’m wondering if I should go back to school and learn to do something else, and how hard will it be when I’m showing serious signs os CRS* these days
*Can’t Remember Shit.
Aaah, no not better off. 2 years of wage increase freeze just ended. Hospitality/ hotel biz got screwed with 911. Due for an increase in August, hoping for 5% would not be surprised if I get 3%. Working longer, harder hours for crappy new bosses that replaced the good ones that were let go to save money. Savings down, cc cards balance up. Relocating to reduce rent.
However I am not complaining (much), the way things look to me I am happy to have a job.
Yes, I do have a computer, car and eat when I want. But as for saving for a 20% down payment for a 1st home seems next to impossible.
Education, jobs and healthcare are the real issues to me. Bush’s’ kooky world domination plan does not do it for me.
Financially better off - the credit I can give the Bush administration is some heavy tax breaks, but most of it has to do with Brainac4 and I both switching jobs in 2000. (I actually took a pay cut, but it worked out well as I had been an IT consultant, and we know what’s happened to that market). At the same point, our school district is really suffering, and our kids start school next year - its possible that all the gains we have made for four years will end up paying private school tuition if things continue to slide. We pay more and more for things like health insurance - and our copays on doctor’s visits and perscriptions have gone through the roof. We pay more for things the government used to subsidize - museums, public parks, etc. And, of course, things like gas and food seem to cost a lot more now. Our 401k’s have yet to climb back to the 2000 level (I don’t blame Bush for that, that was a bubble market) - but are almost there. I also have bigger concerns over the long term future than I did four years ago - perhaps because I now have children, so I worry what sorts of jobs and lifestyle will be available to them 20 years from now. So I worry more.
In my close circle of friends, its half and half on who is better off. There have been lots of people out of work (and some still out of work) - or making less than they were. And there are disappointed hopes - a lot of people (and I can’t blame Bush for this either) thought the stock market would never burst and 30% gains were here to stay. They may not be any worse off in their day to day lives, but many people feel their future is worse now. They won’t retire at 55.
(Still won’t vote for Bush, I just think a president has less to do with an economy than some people).