

Are you better off?

A simple question has flummoxed the normally disciplined Democratic message machine.



“The president can say a lot of things, and he will, but he can’t tell you that you’re better off,” Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said Monday during a pre-convention campaign visit to North Carolina. “Simply put, the Jimmy Carter years look like the good old days compared to where we are right now.”

So do top Democrats believe the country is better off now than four years ago?

“No, but that’s not the question of this election,” Democratic Governors’ Association chair Martin O’Malley of Maryland said Sunday on CBS.

“Yes, we are better off,” Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the chairman of the 2012 Democratic National Convention said Monday. “But we got to keep on working harder.”


Democrats feel they must change that perception during the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

“We are going to use this convention to answer those questions,” said Obama campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt. “We’re going to have an honest conversation about where we were in 2008 when we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 3.5 million jobs lost in the six months before the president took office, manufacturing was in decline, the auto industry was on the brink.

“We’ve made progress, businesses have created more than 4.5 million jobs, GM is reborn, we’ve created more than 500,000 manufacturing jobs after that sector had been in decline. But now we need to lay out the pillars of how we’re going to restore economic security for the middle-class.”

Republicans, sensing an opportunity to keep the president’s team on the defensive on the eve of his party’s national convention, launched an all-out barrage Monday, opening a make-shift Charlotte office with 50 staffers and touting Ryan’s comments at a rally several hundred miles away.

“This will be the most effective counter-programming effort ever conducted by the GOP,” boasts Republican National Committee communications director Sean Spicer.

Setting both sides’ spin aside, the economic numbers yield mixed results.

The economy has bounced back from the depths of the recession, which Obama inherited. The gross domestic product for the final quarter of 2008 dropped 6.2 percent and has slowly grown, up 1.7 percent for the second quarter of 2012.

Overall inflation, which was almost zero when Obama took office, is higher but remains low, 1.4 percent. However, gasoline prices have soared from $1.84 per gallon to $3.83.

The unemployment rate has grown from 7.8 percent to 8.3 percent,led by reductions in the government workforce, but first-time jobless claims have dropped by one-third. The private sector has added jobs and unemployment in the manufacturing sector have dropped by one-fourth. Overall family income is marginally higher than four years ago.

But the economic gains of recent years were purchased at a high cost. The federal budget has grown from $2.9 trillion in 2008 to $3.8 trillion, and the deficit has more than doubled, from to an estimate of $975 billion this fiscal year. The national debt has increased by 50 percent during Obama’s presidency to $15.9 trillion.

Rather than debate the economic gains — or losses — of the past four years, Democrats are hoping to shift the debate to Republican Mitt Romney’s economic agenda.

“We’re going to be far worse off if Mitt Romney is elected president and he gets a chance to enact the same economic policies that created the mess in the first place,” White House adviser David Plouffe told ABC News.

Summer Ballentine of the Washington bureau contributed to this report.

  1. Jim_C says:

    Anyone that thinks we are better off does not live in the real world!!! I know I’m not better off!!!

  2. Dirtnut says:

    With the lowering of the Social Security tax on paychecks that has helped us be better off in this house. Now if they would raise the limit to say the first $500,000 of earings is taxed and lower the payroll tax another 1% or 2% we would really be doing good. So I would say on the federal level we are the same or maybe a little better but on the NYS level because of Paterson and Dictator Andy this household is way worse off. When our paychecks are extorted for a pay to work scheme, health ins. goes way up, 0% raises our paychecks DECREASE then so does our standard of living and our money for vacations and social functions goes away, so we are worse off than 4 years ago because of Dictator Andy not the POTUS.

  3. iknowtruthismine says:

    The funny thing about the Romney touted talking point about our being better or worse off than we were four years ago, was that four years ago, following the same programs and motivations he proposes reintroducing if elected, that got us into having his side hand off to President Obama an economy in full blown sinking collapse, is that we actually are better off than we were four years ago. At the time of the 2001 governmental transfer, the corporate Right train wreck in progress, at the time of that transfer, had the entire nation on the edge of fear driven despair, as the Bush hemorrhaging of jobs ( at over 700,000 a month), continued for a short time until President Obama was able to stop the decline, and put us on the slow and careful road to recovery (with the corporate owned Republicans in full obstruction mode the entire time). The full effects of the looting of the housing market by the financial industry {syndicate}, stealing equity and forcing many out of homes they no longer could afford (after housing prices being artificially pumped up were stripped of their “on paper” worth), by those who stole the real value leaving behind mortgage holders with worthless debt in their hands (that curiously enough they were still legally obligated pay back to the very institutions that ripped them off). 27 months of continual growth, the recovery of the stock market to almost pre-Bush disaster levels, the saving of the automotive industry (that Romney said he would have allowed to fail) which also made the tax-payers a profit, clearly show that the nation IS better off than we were four years ago, when the last corporate owned government put the screws to us all, just to enrich the few at the top. And to cap it all, The president got and killed Bin Laden, something his predecessor stated wasn’t a big priority for him. We are all, in many ways, better off than we would have been under Palin/ McCain, and will be far better off if we avoid putting those who drove the bus into the ditch, back behind the wheel.

  4. One Man Gang says:

    Me neither

  5. Reality, What A Concept says:

    Ok Saturday Night Live take it from here. This will be a show stopping skit.

  6. Howitzer says:

    No, not even close. Mr. Obama squandered his opportunity to revive the economy during his first two years when he had a democrat majority in the house and senate.

  7. albanyjim says:

    Jim_C the president does not have magic underwear please look at the facts and if it weren’t for the GOP blocking everything in the house you would be better off. Right now Obama’s keeping it from getting worse. Mitt and Paul will make it worse.

  8. jakester says:

    Great question, nothing is better off now… gas is $4.00, unemployment is higher than ever even with people dropping out of the unemployment rolls because they are out of benefits. The economy stinks, middleclas people have to give back more of what they earn, pay higher taxes, higher medical, prescription costs, and they want no one to have a retirement plan… all in the name of redistribution of wealth and the master plan to end capitalism…

    the peole who ARE better off are the poiticians and THEIR families, who won’t be a part of Obamacare, who won’t be a part of higher taxes or are tax evaders, who will get a 100% retirement plan etc etc etc… it’s about time the people who work FOR us have to baide by the same rules, laws and playing field…

  9. Vinayaka says:

    @Jim_C: that’s because you probably don’t recall what this country went through during the Great Depression. You’re either too young to remember, or were never told about it. My parents and grand parents lived through it and they told me what they and the nation went through. President saved this nation from experiencing it again, and it was the safety-net, which Democrats and Republicans (before the latter were taken over by the Koch brothers financed Tea Party cult), which prevented things from becoming really catastrophic. Too many Americans don’t realize how close to the cliff Bush and company left us….

  10. Don says:

    Obama saved nothing, He is a loser who needs to be thrown out. Better off? Are you kidding??

  11. Chip D says:

    Actually I am a little better off! When I bought my house in 2008 I had a 5.25% interest rate with 20% down. Since Obama took office, I was able to refinance 2 years ago for a 20 year loan at 4.25% and last month I was able to close on a house that was 50% more in value with a 30 year 3.75% rate and only had to put 10% down!

    Since the economy has tanked so much and Obama has spent so much money, I am now about to get a $175K house for the same monthly payment I had a $120K house under Bush!

    Thank Obama!

  12. Jeff Lebowski says:

    I can’t take the Republicans seriously on the economy since they have publicly stated that there number goal has been to ensure that Obama is a one therm president and thus have refused to allow any real, economically speaking, helpful legislation to move forward. They have willingly allowed the recovery to flounder for the sake of political gain and now they have their standard magical plan that if we just cut taxes on the wealthy even more everything will be just peachy.

  13. Libs Are Evil says:

    We are NOT better off! And those of us who are out in the world working every day know it firsthand!

    Read this brand new poll from The Hill

    No one except the extremist left wing fringe and the grossly uninformed believe this President has done ANYTHING to help average working people. We have taken the debt from 10 TRILLION to 16 TRILLION and we still have 42 consecutive months of 8% or higher unemployment.

    Obama is a failure. And everybody knows it.

  14. optivity says:

    “In a new poll conducted for The Hill, only 40 percent of likely voters said they felt Obama deserves a second term. Fifty-two percent said he did not.”

  15. twopondsnorth says:

    When Obama took over the economy was still in free-fall from the disaster that was Bush. Like a large ship it cannot be turned around in an instant, something most Fox viewers fail to comprehend. First, he had to stop the hemorrhaging which was no mean feat since the Republicans did everything they could to make sure little if any of his proposals saw the light of passage. So are we better off, probably not really. But we are alive and that’s a lot better than looking down the barrel of the poverty gun under Bush. Maybe if Congress truly cared about the whole country and not just Karl Rove/ALEC and the rest of the billionaires we could restore prosperity. Isn’t it sad that the possibility of a one-term president is more worthy than a stable economy.

  16. Stephne says:

    My stock portfolio has recovered since the end of the Bush term. My youngest remains on my health insurance. Yeah, we’re better off.

    The country would have been better off without Bush’s two wars in the Middle East.

  17. Matt E says:

    It’s the 23 million unemployed Americans, stupid!

  18. optivity says:

    “The country would have been better off without Bush’s two wars in the Middle East.”

    Tell that to the victims’ of 9/11 and their families.

    I suppose as long as you’re stock portfolio & health insurance needs are met then it’s OK to re-elect one of the most divisive President’s in US history.

    Wake up Stephne, America is $16T in debt and Iran is about to go nuclear.

    There are clear & present dangers, which pose a threat to our national security; but keep sticking your head in the sand and maybe they’ll just go away.

    Perhaps you forgot or just don’t think much about how well off most people are who live in cities like Detroit & Camden NJ?

    This Country is going to hell in a hand basket and there is precious little time to turn things around.

  19. Albany Resident says:

    “It’s the 23 million unemployed Americans, stupid!” And It’s the 100 million on food stamps, and 50% of Americans that pay NO tax at all, and the reduced buying power, and America is once again the laughing stock of the despots and dictators of the world. Stupid!
    Better off? What are you smoking?

  20. Reece Collins says:

    I am much better off.

    My question is: Is Mitt Romney better off than he was four years ago? I suspect he is, but we won’t know until he releases those tax returns!

  21. Dale Gribble says:

    What does the war in Iraq have to do with the victims of 9/11 and thier families.

    It was Bin Laden who was responsible for 9/11 and he was hiding in pakistan and then afghanastan and back Again.

    But just keep on justifying bush’s expensive wars!
    and keep being a war hawk and wishing to invade Iran.

    because more WAR will surely help up get out of Debt!!!!!!

  22. Chip D says:

    Stephne, Do you mean the two Bush war’s that the Dem’s voted to fund 100% of the time?

  23. Political Observer says:

    Bush’s war in Iraq plunged this country’s economy to the brink of collapse. Putting foot soldiers on the ground in search of yellow cake uranium that did not exist in Iraq was arguably an impeachable offense. Bush II financed the war in Iraq with borrowed money from China. Obama gave the green light to eliminate bin Laden. I’d say we are on the right track.

  24. JoeSchmoe says:

    Reece.. Romney alsready said he would show ALL of his tax returns as soon as Obama produces a real birth certificate( Obama’s lawyers last week in NJ to get him on the ballot said the last one anyone saw was a copy and not the original and he needs it to get on the ballot) his travel records for the last 20 years, his college transcripts and his social security info, but the white house says no. Is Romney better off, I am sure he is. The deal the DEMS want to jump in on is were the money is in offshore banks. You know just like the one Chuck Shumer, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry and Obama have.. They think Romney was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and can’t relate to the middle class because “he’s always been rich”. I assure you he wasn’t and made his money by earning it, and NO the government didn’t build it as Obama would have you believe, he did. But the average citizen is NOT better off. $5 trillion more in debt added by Obama, class warfare, stimulus money given by Obama to supporters and croonies, unemployment at 9%, and if we used the same standard we did during the Depression Years he would have it at 15% using the UV4 method. At the height of the Depression is was 18%. We are close all to Obama. It’s not George Bushes fault any longer, it’s Barry’s and as was said at the RNC, what makes you think the next four years will get any better?” If there was improvement, he might get 4 more years, but instead he’s made things worse. NO more years

  25. optivity says:


    “The head of Iran’s navy says the country aims to put its warships in international waters off the U.S. coast “in the next few years.”

    The comments Tuesday from Admiral Habibollah Sayyari on state TV”

    What is it about Islamic extremism that you don’t understand?

    Deal with it now or deal with it later… after another 9/11 type disaster.

    Maybe the “progressives” will wake up if Iran nukes Israel?

    I’d rather see my tax $ going for a strong military instead of being used to placate the generational welfare types.

    Teenage girls having kids they can’t afford to raise or educate.

    Like I said we’re going to hell in a hand basket and the LIBS are driving us there.

  26. iknowtruthismine says:

    It is expected that the Right-wing, their corporate masters, the hangers-on, the dupes and the very unintelligent, who always go for whatever candidate, party, or position they perceive as being more macho, will deny that we are better off than the train-wreck the corporate Right handed off to President Obama four years ago, because the currency of the Right is, and always has been, playing on the fears (justified, unjustified, or just ginned up by their propaganda wing) of the mass of society. The much denied (but obvious) racial undertones to the current effort to win at all costs, adds an additional flavor to their fetid stew, and I’m sure the level of false, plain made-up, hate focused rhetoric they add as the spice to please the above listed pawns (their loyal base), will make it a dish the still perplexedly undecided middle, once the Right places a hot steamy bowl of it in front of them, will have no choice but to push away, before it makes them sick.

  27. Jim_C says:

    To albanyjim, you need to look at the facts not me. If I recall he had a democratic controlled Senate and House when he took office did he not? So what did he get done? Pretty much nothing the people in his own party don’t even like his policies.

    For you, you are better off, for me NOT!!!!!

  28. Jim_C says:

    Wake up people we need a flat tax that way everyone pays their fair share! Like I said if you are better off you live in fairy tail world because we are not better off, but to each his/her own.

    The housing market which started this whole debacle still hasn’t been fixed, and I know someone that happens to work in four closure, and their business is booming so please people wake up!!!!

    I’m not a big Romney fan never have been but I think someone else deserves a chance.

  29. EriK says:

    I think the question stings OFA because while undoubtedly some Americans are doing better, many are not and most know people that are in tough straits. Assigning all credit/blame to the President is silly, but historically (and hysterically in some cases) many people do just that.

    I’m amused that Dems constantly decry Republican “obstructionism.” The best years of the 1990′s were when both the House and Senate were Republican and Clinton was President. How is it that things got done then and can’t get done now? Perhaps the weak link is the empty chair. He can’t get it done. Aloha Mr. President.

  30. iknowtruthismine says:

    Jim_C – The flat tax is a highly unfair regressive tax. Why do you think the rich are foaming at the mouth to have one enacted, it ain’t because it’s fair.

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