Are we better off than we were 4 years ago?

[HomerJS]

It’s the Regan question for Presidential cycles. Republicans are already starting to ask. Let’s post evidence to answer the question. I’ll start

The GOP’s Claim That We Were Better Off in 2020 Is So Weird

It takes a special kind of amnesia or insensitivity to look back fondly at the year COVID-19 struck and the economy imploded.

nymag.com

 

[BoomerD]

"Better off now than 4 years ago" That's really a difficult question. The COVID restrictions are gone, but prices for almost everything have exploded. Personally, I attribute most of that to the COVID lockdowns, to people not wanting to go back to their shitty-paying jobs for shit pay, to the supply chain getting FUBAR'D by the lockdowns, back to people not wanting to go back to the jobs they had before...maybe they took the (R)'s advice that if they wanted more money, they'd learn skills that would pay them more...but prices are up...way up all across the board...so in that respect, living on a fixed income that has NOT kept up with inflation/price increases, NO, I'm NOT better off than I was 4 years ago...but I DO NOT attribute any of it to Biden and the Dems...they inherited a shitty situation following COVID.

 

[trenchfoot]

My investments have exploded as much as the COL. For me it's a draw.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I know I am. In a few ways.

I don't get the griping about food prices. Many here are the same or lower than they used to be. Eggs are oddly high, but that's because of the bird flu wreaking havoc on flocks.

Some things are stupid high. PVC conduit for example. I used to buy 10' sticks of 1 1/2" for under $10, sometimes $5. Not any more and there really isn't a reason for it.

But I do OK. I budget and plan expenses. Those that gripe probably don't.

 

[Pens1566]

Ask Herman Cain

 

[APU_Fusion]

That is the wrong question. Are we better off under 4 years of Biden or the last four years being under Trump?

Inflation is worldwide and directly relate to Covid. Blaming Biden for international inflation for events out of his control is typical. Compare US inflation response versus many other nations and ask that question. The lack of any understanding of context outside the bubble of social media is saddening

 

[fskimospy]

Four years ago there was no toilet paper and all I could hear was ambulance sirens all day.

Today seems a lot better!

 

[Stokely]

I don't blame or give credit necessarily to one person, even a President, for how I am personally doing.

My biggest voting issue is climate change and I'll never even see the worst of it, if there is a "worst of it" as looks likely. My kids and their kids will. Some of the worst fallout from decisions take a lot longer than four years to manifest. When will the debt from the jackass "tax reform" (aka, raise for the ultra-rich) from a few years ago come due and truly affect things, if it hasn't already?

I look at what the GOP stands for and I refute basically all of it. I don't agree with the Democrats on everything or think they are especially great, but there's no issue that I prefer the GOP stance over them so my voting has been an easy decision since the early 90s. And looking back at what Reagan actually was vs how he seemed, it would have been easy then too if I'd paid more attention.

 

[APU_Fusion]

Four years ago there was no toilet paper and all I could hear was ambulance sirens all day.

Today seems a lot better!

What do you mean? Remember Trumpolini throwing toilet papers to the Puerto Ricans after devastating hurricane. nothing racist about that and his policies afterward toward them at all. 🙄

 

[Indus]

Better off than 4 years ago? Yes
Better off than 8 years ago? No

Trump fucked us over in so many ways and people got spoiled on the Obama gravy train.

 

[eelw]

Better off than 4 years ago? Yes
Better off than 8 years ago? No

Trump fucked us over in so many ways and people got spoiled on the Obama gravy train.

Yup the orange monkey screwed up so much it’s made it difficult for Biden to do anything

 

[HomerJS]

I don't blame or give credit necessarily to one person, even a President, for how I am personally doing.

My biggest voting issue is climate change and I'll never even see the worst of it, if there is a "worst of it" as looks likely. My kids and their kids will. Some of the worst fallout from decisions take a lot longer than four years to manifest. When will the debt from the jackass "tax reform" (aka, raise for the ultra-rich) from a few years ago come due and truly affect things, if it hasn't already?

I look at what the GOP stands for and I refute basically all of it. I don't agree with the Democrats on everything or think they are especially great, but there's no issue that I prefer the GOP stance over them so my voting has been an easy decision since the early 90s. And looking back at what Reagan actually was vs how he seemed, it would have been easy then too if I'd paid more attention.

Oddly enough based on his environmental record Nixon would have likely been onboard with efforts to fight climate change.

 

[Indus]

Yup the orange monkey screwed up so much it’s made it difficult for Biden to do anything

Obama: Audacious Man
Trump: Demolition Man
Biden: Build back better Man

 

[fskimospy]

What's interesting about this line though is that it's part of the Republican attempt to pretend 2020 never happened. For example they complain about crime and say it's a reason to vote for Trump. Of course the problem with that is crime went through the roof under Trump and has declined every year under Biden.

As far as I can tell the idea is to pretend that the pandemic was an act of god and therefore not Trump's fault but everything after was Biden's fault. Even lower crime!

 

[SteveGrabowski]

LOL if the GOP runs on this. Your friends and family were dying off from Trump ignoring the pandemic and treating it like a PR issue but mUH MeX1C@nz at ThE b0ArDEr

 

[Stokely]

Oddly enough based on his environmental record Nixon would have likely been onboard with efforts to fight climate change.

Maybe so. And if Nixon was running today (and he's tame compared to Trump), and the Democrat he was running against was somehow a fossil fuel humping zealot like most of the modern GOP, it might introduce some voting hesitation. However--a modern Nixon with that kind of stance probably would get labeled as a liberal hippie by the modern GOP voter, and I can't see a Democrat embracing "climate change is a hoax" the way those assholes are doing.

And of course few people including myself are truly a single-issue voter, though that happens to be my top one. Fear-mongering in general but particularly over refugees; revoking other environmental protections; going after trans/gays; trying to whitewash history like Desantis is doing; protecting the poor downtrodden rich economically etc etc.

I think I agreed with Trump on one issue, and that was about H1 visas being a shit arrangement. His reason of course was that it was brown people, mine was about the fact that it's abused for the benefit of cheapskate corporations.

 

[HomerJS]

I took time to compile US crime rates 2017-2023. Looks like a positive for Biden to me.

2017
Violent Crime Rate: 382.9 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants
Property Crime Rate: 2,362.2 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants

2018
Violent Crime Rate: 368.9 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants
Property Crime Rate: 2,199.5 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants

2019
Violent Crime Rate: 366.7 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants
Property Crime Rate: 2,109.9 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants

2020
Violent Crime Rate: 387.8 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants
1,946 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants

2021
Violent Crime Rate: 387.8 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants. 1% decrease
1,832.3 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants

2022
Violent Crime Rate: 387.8 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants 1.7% decrease
1,954.4 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants


2023
Overall Violent Crime: All violent crime declined by 6%
According to FBI data, property crime fell by 6.3%,

 

[Thump553]

My investments have exploded as much as the COL. For me it's a draw.

If your investments only equalled cost of living you are definitely doing something wrong. My retirement money is largely in plain vanilla no-load S&P index funds or the like and the actual results way exceeded COL.

No one's mentioned yet that Trump's Administration not only didn't cooperate in the hand over of power for the most part, but that they did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on critical issues like actually getting the vaccines rolled out.

Imagine what Ukraine and Eastern Europe would look like if Trump remained in office when Putin invaded. Biden effectively stymied Russia's aggression without risking a single US or NATO personnel. And NATO is certainly stronger today.

I'm pleasantly how well Biden has performed. Especially given that he had two unreliable flakes in the Senate who greatly handicapped his abilities there and the GOP controls the House.

We could be a lot better off than we are now in an ideal world, but it is absolutely certain we are far better off than we would have been with four more years of Trump pushing the USA towards collapse.

 

[K1052]

Let's just say the only anniversary from 2020 that I might feel like celebrating is the day that Trump got COVID.

 

[eelw]

Nah Putin wouldn’t have invaded. He’d butter up the orange monkey until Ukraine gets given back to Russia.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

There is no denying that inflation and the general increase in COL hurts.

It also feels like the world as a whole has become a more unstable place.

One branch of our government is paralyzed by inaction due to a cohort of ulterior motives.

Another is making some very regressive decisions removing rights we once thought were entrenched and unmovable.

So on balance I would say *no* we are not better off than we were 4 years ago. However, I would ask Republicans to look into a mirror for the root cause of most of why I think so.

 

[gothuevos]

No.

Prices are still high. Tensions/divisions are even higher. Neither side is poised to accept the outcome of November's results. It is quickly becoming an ungovernable nation.

This is not a knock on Biden's performance, but rather our health as a nation as a whole.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Let's just say the only anniversary from 2020 that I might feel like celebrating is the day that Trump got COVID.

Meh was bittersweet since he didn't die from it.

 

[IronWing]

Four years ago? Heck, thanks to the Fed, I’m better off now than I was four hours ago.