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101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Oct 14, 2012 3:09:32 PM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse Are you better off now than you were four years ago? Is your family better off now than they were four years ago? Is the country better off now than it was four years ago? Who do you plan to vote for in the next presidential election? Do you believe that this is the Obama economy? Or the Bush Jr. economy? Which presidential candidate do you believe will be more bipartisan if elected? Which candidate will actually be more likely to get something good done for this country? Will the economy be better four years from now? Will you be better off four years from now?

101Speedster

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Ventura

Posts:30,445
Points:2,718,620
Joined:May 2005

Message Posted: Oct 14, 2012 3:09:32 PM

Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse

Are you better off now than you were four years ago?

Is your family better off now than they were four years ago?

Is the country better off now than it was four years ago?

Who do you plan to vote for in the next presidential election?

Do you believe that this is the Obama economy? Or the Bush Jr. economy?

Which presidential candidate do you believe will be more bipartisan if elected? Which candidate will actually be more likely to get something good done for this country?

Will the economy be better four years from now? Will you be better off four years from now?

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MarkJames Champion Author Albany Posts:1,335 Points:24,380 Joined:Feb 2008	Message Posted: Apr 16, 2013 9:31:48 AM Ignore MarkJames Report Abuse I'm physically stronger than I was 4 years ago. Many people have gained fat, lost muscle and have poor endurance as they've been unemployed, under-employed, depressed etc.
07skydriver Champion Author Ohio Posts:3,270 Points:985,160 Joined:Feb 2009	Message Posted: Apr 15, 2013 10:39:02 PM Ignore 07skydriver Report Abuse Getting stronger every day.
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Apr 15, 2013 10:06:57 AM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse What?
plastic Champion Author Virginia Posts:46,842 Points:2,841,070 Joined:May 2004	Message Posted: Apr 4, 2013 1:48:57 AM Ignore plastic Report Abuse What the hell, 101?
worryfree Champion Author Twin Cities Posts:23,878 Points:1,870,975 Joined:Oct 2005	Message Posted: Apr 4, 2013 12:26:32 AM Ignore worryfree Report Abuse Getting desperate to keep you topics alive 101?
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Apr 4, 2013 12:12:53 AM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse Less money coming in and the cost of everything is more.
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Feb 8, 2013 11:50:02 AM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse Yeah, like they run the post office and the IRS. [Edited by: 101Speedster at 2/8/2013 11:50:31 AM EST]
flyboyUT Champion Author Utah Posts:22,873 Points:1,012,710 Joined:Aug 2008	Message Posted: Feb 8, 2013 11:49:19 AM Ignore flyboyUT Report Abuse Hey Speedy and Mjames - not to worry. The feds want to take over the management of your retirement savings to save you from yourself. They will 'help' you do a good job of protecting your savings. Just like they managed the budget adn SS accounts.
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Feb 8, 2013 11:41:05 AM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse >>The income doesnt spread as far these days. Food, fuel, utilities and everything else costs more.<< Wait until you see what happens when the Fed Chairman Bernanke stops keeping interest rates low.
MarkJames Champion Author Albany Posts:1,335 Points:24,380 Joined:Feb 2008	Message Posted: Feb 8, 2013 9:52:15 AM Ignore MarkJames Report Abuse Many locals are making more money, however the small or modest increases in pay haven't kept up with real inflation - gas, diesel, heating oil, kerosene, propane, rent, property taxes, cable, internet, entertainment, professional services, insurance, water/sewer etc. You should see the looks on customers faces when they get bills, or quotes for professional services... We have more and more walk-a-ways and red tagged furnaces, boilers, water heaters etc as many people can't afford maintenance, repairs or replacement. Many of my tenants are paying $300 plus more for rent than a few years ago - not including stealth increases such as no longer including heat, hot water, laundry hook-ups etc in the rent.Many of my property taxes are thousands more per year than they were several years ago. I'm amazed at how much simple things like paper towels, paper plates, shop towels, industrial towels, chemicals, cleaning agents, nitrile gloves etc have scaled in price. We're constantly shopping new suppliers for better prices. Many replacement parts are so expensive that we can't mark them up much, if at all.
flyboyUT Champion Author Utah Posts:22,873 Points:1,012,710 Joined:Aug 2008	Message Posted: Feb 7, 2013 1:35:03 PM Ignore flyboyUT Report Abuse Still living on less than our income. The income doesnt spread as far these days. Food, fuel, utilities and everything else costs more. We have reduced our spending on things not really necessary. We are making our 12 and 13 year old car/truck last longer - not even thinking of replacing them. Cancelling vacation trips. Enough people do what we are doing and it has serious effects on the economy as a whole.
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Feb 7, 2013 1:15:32 PM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse I don't think Bell30012 was flying so I don't think he was using a rental car.
greentre All-Star Author Pensacola Posts:803 Points:277,565 Joined:Oct 2011	Message Posted: Feb 4, 2013 5:16:35 PM Ignore greentre Report Abuse 101, "Air fares are part of what is hurting people's vacation budgets" Have you seen what car rental agencies are doing to their rates? They still advertise the $20/day rate but they add on another $50 or more in administration fees and taxes. Take a two day trip and your rental used to be $50 with taxes etc. Now it's closer to $100 for the same period. That hurt my vacation budget!
wbacon Champion Author Philadelphia Posts:13,430 Points:2,986,185 Joined:Jun 2004	Message Posted: Feb 4, 2013 5:13:10 PM Ignore wbacon Report Abuse prices up especially gasoline my pay has stayed static
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Feb 4, 2013 5:10:59 PM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse >>People are unable to afford to travel to vacation destinations, so I'm taking my daughter to Walt Disney World yet again<< Are you driving your car? Air fares are part of what is hurting people's vacation budgets. Jet fuel prices.
Bell30012 Champion Author Atlanta Posts:3,929 Points:616,785 Joined:Aug 2004	Message Posted: Feb 4, 2013 10:40:43 AM Ignore Bell30012 Report Abuse I'm far better off now than I was four years ago. However, the reasons that I'm better off are based upon the detriment of others due to this economy. Due to choices that I've made over my life, I have no debt. Someone else didn't pay for their house and I was able to snap it up in a foreclosure. People are unable to afford to travel to vacation destinations, so I'm taking my daughter to Walt Disney World yet again... The rates are too good to pass up. Never before has WDW offered Premium Annual Passes at $300 off! A few more years of this type of economy and I'll be in great shape.
MarkJames Champion Author Albany Posts:1,335 Points:24,380 Joined:Feb 2008	Message Posted: Feb 4, 2013 9:42:29 AM Ignore MarkJames Report Abuse I'm hanging in there. I see so much, or hear of so much bad stuff on a weekly (sometimes daily basis) that I've become somewhat immune to it. On the topic of doing better, just this morning I had a call from a competitor with around 1,200 regular customers that's calling it quits. They offered to give us much of their inventory and equipment, all of their service contract holdings, plus refer all current and future customers if we'd hire some of their existing employees and cover their service contracts.
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jan 24, 2013 3:05:22 PM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse That's kind of depressing, MarkJames. Hang in there.
MarkJames Champion Author Albany Posts:1,335 Points:24,380 Joined:Feb 2008	Message Posted: Jan 24, 2013 9:50:50 AM Ignore MarkJames Report Abuse Everyone in our immediate family is better off, however most of our non immediate family is much worse off. Many lost homes, lost jobs, had vehicles repossessed, were evicted from homes/apartments, lost driver's licenses and started drinking and doing drugs due to hopelessness and depression. One committed suicide, another attempted suicide and others are suicidal. Several of our customers committed suicide in the last few years as well due to the ripple effect of financial issues - joblessness, separation, divorce, depression, foreclosure, repossession, drinking, drug use etc.
flyboyUT Champion Author Utah Posts:22,873 Points:1,012,710 Joined:Aug 2008	Message Posted: Jan 23, 2013 6:18:55 PM Ignore flyboyUT Report Abuse Yep but its no thanks to Obama. We still have zero debt. We still live on less than our income. We still keep investing in solid investments that pay a fair return plus increase in value.
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jan 23, 2013 5:48:14 PM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse >>I hope they can get those pesky wars paid for before they have to retire.<< Why is that, skydriver? >>At least they won't have to worry about another republican president in the near future to start any more.<< Are you saying, skydriver, that we won't be able to pay our military personnel soon?
07skydriver Champion Author Ohio Posts:3,270 Points:985,160 Joined:Feb 2009	Message Posted: Jan 23, 2013 5:41:54 PM Ignore 07skydriver Report Abuse I hope they can get those pesky wars paid for before they have to retire. At least they won't have to worry about another republican president in the near future to start any more.
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jan 23, 2013 11:51:40 AM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse Good news, 07skydriver, because Obama needs to keep borrowing from your grandkids so that he can pay for Obamacare and all of his other handouts for the 47%ers.
07skydriver Champion Author Ohio Posts:3,270 Points:985,160 Joined:Feb 2009	Message Posted: Jan 23, 2013 9:54:52 AM Ignore 07skydriver Report Abuse since 2008? Yup I have three new grandkids and my kids all make more money than me, (and they don't spend it all on junk)
jdhelm Champion Author Iowa Posts:11,886 Points:1,200,840 Joined:Dec 2009	Message Posted: Jan 22, 2013 10:42:24 AM Ignore jdhelm Report Abuse it's much higher according to this source
jdhelm Champion Author Iowa Posts:11,886 Points:1,200,840 Joined:Dec 2009	Message Posted: Jan 22, 2013 10:41:13 AM Ignore jdhelm Report Abuse 101Speedster - The "official" unemployment rate today is 7.8%. Same as four years ago. ------------------------------------- ummmm-m-m-m Updated 1/04/2013 U-6 Unemployment Rate is 14.4% The unadjusted U-6 unemployment rate is up from November when it was 13.9% but down from December 2011 when it was 15.2%. The U-6 unemployment numbers agree with the “adjusted U-3? typically quoted unemployment rate that something is fishy with the calculations. The U-6 unemploymnet rate in January 2009 when Obama was sworn it was 15.4% with an average civilian non-institutional population in 2009 of 235.801 million and 136.288 million people employed. Today the U-6 unemployment rate is supposedly 14.4% but the population is higher ( 244.350 million) and only 134.822 million people employed. The numbers don’t add up! The number employed and the unemployment rate can’t both go down unless the population goes down as well (which it didn’t!). See the Current Unemployment Rate for more information.
mudtoe Champion Author Cincinnati Posts:9,528 Points:1,291,290 Joined:May 2008	Message Posted: Jan 22, 2013 10:28:46 AM Ignore mudtoe Report Abuse Panama: "Is the nation better off now than it was $7 trillion dollars ago?" Our 7 trillion dollars just bought us more takers and more democrat voters, which is exactly what it was designed to buy. mudtoe
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jan 22, 2013 10:25:33 AM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse It was a little over four years ago that candidate Obama said it would be unpatriotic to raise the debt ceiling.
Wanda127 Champion Author Florida Posts:2,499 Points:916,755 Joined:May 2010	Message Posted: Jan 21, 2013 11:18:32 AM Ignore Wanda127 Report Abuse The lay-offs from Christmas have not hit the unemployment rolls yet & they still don't include people like me that fell off the rolls. I was laid off at the end of 2009 & fell off the rolls so the answer is "NO I'm not better off now than I was 4 years ago!" The country has more people on Welfare & Food Stamps than ever before. I'm not one of them because I'm old enough to take early SS that I earned over my almost 40 yrs. of working & putting money into it so, I would not qualify.Only those who are too lazy to work & want to live off the government qualify now!
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jan 21, 2013 11:07:43 AM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse The "official" unemployment rate today is 7.8%. Same as four years ago.
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jan 14, 2013 12:02:31 PM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse Unemployment rate, state by state Not all states are feeling the jobs recovery equally.
greentre All-Star Author Pensacola Posts:803 Points:277,565 Joined:Oct 2011	Message Posted: Jan 10, 2013 10:28:36 AM Ignore greentre Report Abuse Yes 23% (Media babies/kool-aid consumers?) No 67% (Educated themselves about current events?) No opinion 9% (centrists/uneducated) LOL ;-)
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jan 10, 2013 10:25:00 AM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse >>With the US elections over, do you think that the US is heading in the right direction? (Discuss) Yes 23% (democrats?) No 67% (Republicans?) No opinion 9% (centrists/uneducated) Total votes: 21416<<
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jan 9, 2013 8:05:22 PM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse >>With the US elections over, do you think that the US is heading in the right direction? (Discuss) Yes 23% (democrats?) No 67% (Republicans?) No opinion 9% (centrists/uneducated) Total votes: 20795<<
Panama19 Champion Author Louisville Posts:25,345 Points:2,546,235 Joined:Sep 2005	Message Posted: Jan 9, 2013 12:37:07 PM Ignore Panama19 Report Abuse The real question is: "Is the nation better off now than it was $7 trillion dollars ago?" It does not appear to be by any measure that I have seen.
MarkJames Champion Author Albany Posts:1,335 Points:24,380 Joined:Feb 2008	Message Posted: Jan 9, 2013 12:19:27 PM Ignore MarkJames Report Abuse I'm hearing a lot of complaints from tenants since I've raised rents substantially and/or no longer include heat, how water, washer hookups with rent. That said, even with the direct and stealth price increases my rents are still below fair market value, plus I have a long waiting list. Many of my property taxes would make your jaw drop if you lived in a region with reasonable property taxes. My water/sewer charges and heating costs have skyrocketed, especially in areas not served by natural gas.
greentre All-Star Author Pensacola Posts:803 Points:277,565 Joined:Oct 2011	Message Posted: Jan 9, 2013 9:19:00 AM Ignore greentre Report Abuse Let's see... My pay, which hasn't increased, just decreased in take-home pay. Not better. My daughter & grandson is at home now since the medical office she worked at had to cut back. Not better. My rent is going to go up because my landlords pay decreased. Not better. My health insurance doesn't cover some things it used to, so now I have to pay that. Not better. My rights as a Citizen are under attack. Definately not better. Food prices are climbing. Not better Gas prices are still too high and climbing. Not better. But Obama, patron saint of the hand-outs says he'll spend more and fix it so everything is just great!
MarkJames Champion Author Albany Posts:1,335 Points:24,380 Joined:Feb 2008	Message Posted: Jan 9, 2013 8:59:31 AM Ignore MarkJames Report Abuse Lately I've been doing a lot of selling, profit taking and expense cutting, so I have more a lot more cash and less responsibility. We're getting much more productivity from much fewer workers, so profits are up although volume is down. Due to the bad economy, we're getting an unusually high amount of emergency service, fuel runouts and new/emergency installations. When the economy is poor, many people neglect homes, vehicles, plumbing/heating/hot water systems etc, so failure due to lack of maintenance is very high.
MarkJames Champion Author Albany Posts:1,335 Points:24,380 Joined:Feb 2008	Message Posted: Jan 9, 2013 8:42:25 AM Ignore MarkJames Report Abuse "Thanks to the liberal's policies of high unemployment,high taxes, and anti-business climate ruining the country, its a cinch to grab real estate from the downtrodden. Too bad people are losing their homes like this" It's sad that people lose their homes, but it's good news for investors, landlords, tenants, homebuyers, neighbors and the county, city, town or village when properties are sold and renovated. Due to our very high property taxes in some regions, our very old housing stock, plus the cost of lead abatement, asbestos abatement and tens of thousands of dollars in renovation costs, many of our tax auction properties don't even receive a minimum bid.
jdhelm Champion Author Iowa Posts:11,886 Points:1,200,840 Joined:Dec 2009	Message Posted: Jan 7, 2013 9:46:30 AM Ignore jdhelm Report Abuse Kiplinger readers answer survey on - are you better off now than you were 4 years ago .We recently looked at ten measures of economic growth to help answer the question “are we better off than we were four years ago?” (See our story here). But our initial coverage was missing one critical component: you. After all, facts and figures only tell one side of the story; our collective experiences fill in the rest. So, to help us paint a more complete picture of the past four years, we asked you about your personal finances now compared to four years ago. Is your employment situation better or worse? How are your investments performing? Are you spending more or less on groceries and gas? We received 5,570 responses, and, yes, we read every single one of them. Several predominant themes emerged: the long-term unemployed, people of all ages and income levels trying to keep up with the rising cost of living, investors who recouped their losses since the crash of 2008, and small business owners who are both struggling and thriving in the Obama economy. More than three-quarters of respondents were over the age of 50, including a quarter who were 65 years and older. They were also predominantly male (65%), had completed at least some college, and made more than $25,000 a year. click the link to see results and charts
cbuck80 Champion Author Massachusetts Posts:1,597 Points:403,505 Joined:Jan 2012	Message Posted: Jan 7, 2013 8:38:07 AM Ignore cbuck80 Report Abuse No and anything I have exceled at hasn't becuase of the gov't. My savings account but the gov't has nothing to do with that. Now this year we are making less and they are taking more.
jdhelm Champion Author Iowa Posts:11,886 Points:1,200,840 Joined:Dec 2009	Message Posted: Jan 7, 2013 8:14:28 AM Ignore jdhelm Report Abuse hem, thanks for the smiles, hahahaha, good post
Hemond Champion Author Providence Posts:8,204 Points:133,745 Joined:Oct 2006	Message Posted: Jan 7, 2013 6:39:15 AM Ignore Hemond Report Abuse Much better off now. Throwing caution to the winds, I bought a complete disaster apartment building at tax sale. Paid $2000 for a 4 unit building. Blue plastic tarp for a roof, stripped kitchens and baths. Got 2 of the 4 units restored for $13,000 using immigrant labor from El Salvador. Its currently generating $1500/month in rental income. ( I could get more with section 8 of course but I prefer not to rent to those lazy Welfare bust outs. - Asking for trouble with welfare tenants) Thanks to the liberal's policies of high unemployment,high taxes, and anti-business climate ruining the country, its a cinch to grab real estate from the downtrodden. Too bad people are losing their homes like this.
RAB2010 All-Star Author Kalamazoo Posts:506 Points:66,210 Joined:Mar 2010	Message Posted: Jan 4, 2013 11:25:03 AM Ignore RAB2010 Report Abuse No. No. No. Yes. Soros NA, NA. No, No.
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jan 4, 2013 10:56:27 AM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse Forget discouraged, 3 million workers hopelessly unemployed >>Losing hope: The Labor Department calls people who haven't looked for work in the last four weeks "discouraged workers," but millions more hopelessly unemployed gave up long before then. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Employers may be hiring, but there's another big problem with the job market that isn't being tracked as closely: the hopelessly unemployed. An often overlooked number calculated by the Labor Department shows millions of Americans want a job but haven't searched for one in at least a year. They've simply given up hope. They're not counted as part of the labor force, the official unemployment rate, or the category the Labor Department refers to as "discouraged workers" -- those who haven't bothered to look for work in the last four weeks. These hopelessly unemployed workers have just been jobless so long, they've fallen off the main government measures altogether . . .<< Is that one of the reasons Obama's unemployment numbers haven't gone higher than they are? [Edited by: 101Speedster at 1/4/2013 11:00:09 AM EST]
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jan 2, 2013 7:00:15 PM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse The takers are better off.
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jan 1, 2013 11:07:13 PM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse Do you agree with Obama that taxes must go much higher?
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Dec 27, 2012 2:03:40 PM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse Aloha! Obama Fiscal Cliff Countdown: 4 days. There's no need to fear, Obama is here. He has delayed his Hawaiian vacation. He came back from the Islands to save the day. Everything is going to be okay now. I HOPE that he saves us so that we can move FORWARD!
101Speedster Champion Author Ventura Posts:30,445 Points:2,718,620 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Dec 26, 2012 10:23:08 AM Ignore 101Speedster Report Abuse Is San Bernardino County and City better, RNorm, than they were four years ago?
Hemond Champion Author Providence Posts:8,204 Points:133,745 Joined:Oct 2006	Message Posted: Dec 15, 2012 12:29:56 AM Ignore Hemond Report Abuse Well, I'm now a slumlord. Making money off the backs of the poor and desperate. Since my stocks, especially my GM holdings are worthless, and my money market holdings have zero growth potential, I had to do something. Seeing as liberals can't easily give real estate away to the unions as they did with GM, I've chosen to quietly build up holdings in the ghetto. So I'm actually better off. There will always welfare bustouts who have section8 checks in hand looking for 4 bedroom tenement apts. I'm happy to oblige... Thanks libs for keeping the entitlement folk coming.