# Why is “Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?” supposed to be such a gotcha question?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-are-you-better-off-than-you-were-4-years-ago-supposed-to-be-such-a-gotcha-question/1009282>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [October 26, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-are-you-better-off-than-you-were-4-years-ago-supposed-to-be-such-a-gotcha-question/1009282 "2024-10-26T22:37:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-are-you-better-off-than-you-were-4-years-ago-supposed-to-be-such-a-gotcha-question/1009282/41 "2024-11-02T21:00:55Z")

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> [@Mijin](#):
>
> One approach to try to make it profitable again was to make vending machines that occasionally dropped an empty bottle out. Unsurprisingly, these machines were not popular.

Weird, because iirc the return value of the empty bottle was more than that.

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**Author:** ![TeroSunbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terosunbear/32/14748_2.png) [@TeroSunbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeroSunbear)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-are-you-better-off-than-you-were-4-years-ago-supposed-to-be-such-a-gotcha-question/1009282/42 "2024-11-09T13:20:49Z")

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The republicans will be out in 2028. If we still get to vote. " Are you better off than four…" will turn on them this time.

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