Are you better off than you were four years ago?
Displaying poll results.30267 total votes.
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But it had nothing to do with Obama (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Graduated College (Score:5, Insightful)
I eat Ramen at least twice a week and I've been out of college for 20 years. Believe me, it doesn't get any better after getting out of college. I had more spending money in college than I do now.
Barely... but Obama had nothing to do with it. (Score:2, Insightful)
A little over 4 years ago, I lost my job. I now have one.... so that is slightly better. However, I am making significantly less than I did with my previous employer. Having a job is better than none... I have a steady income, decent health insurance, I have payed off my car, and am slowly reducing student debt. However the pay stinks compared to my previous job and it is not enough to really aid me in working towards some goals I had set.
The fact that I got this job had nothing to do with any claim of economic recovery. Instead, it has to do with the fact that this employer got rid of a couple people to save money and hired me to replace them. In my city, there has been a very small improvement in out economy... but it has been so slow that I can't say that it is due to any good decisions made by politicians.... If anything, a few reasonable claims could be made that a few politicians actually slowed the recovery.
Re:Graduated College (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm honestly not sure whether that counts as "better off" or not.
Re:Very little (Score:2, Insightful)
total cost of all wars from 2001 - 2008, 791 million. [infoplease.com]
I call shenanigans! 791 million might've been what the mil spent on toilet paper, maybe. Bloody well wasn't all that was spent for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Slashdot skew (Score:4, Insightful)
Results are going to be better than average here due to the reader base. The average slashdot reader is a young IT professional who is burning some time while at work. A large proportion of us have begun to claw ourselves out of the "poor college kid" phase. Many of us are either just starting to get their first real income, or have combined a college degree and a couple years experience to leverage a significant income boost.
Still, it is nice to read that a bunch of us are doing well. Way to go us, keep up the good work!
Re:Graduated College (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm only better off because I'm not eating Top Ramen in my college dorm anymore. My Stock portfolio is at the same level...
I still eat Top Ramen, buy it for 17 or 18 cents, use it for lunch.
Use the money I save from that to go to fancy places.
Re:But it had nothing to do with Obama (Score:2, Insightful)
I an better off, but not because of Obama. I would have done that stuff anyways.
When I succeed, I succeed on my own. When there is failure, it's because the government has kept me down.
Seriously, though: politicians - president or congress - don't have much influence over the economy. They can't agree on a coherent policy without poking it so full of loopholes as makes it useless. Anymore, they can't even pass lasting legislation, and short term policies aren't going to impact the long term business cycle. To admit that would put a whole legion of pundits out of business, though, and give up one of the most powerful fear-bludgeons held by the party propagandists.
Wishing that Obamacare had been aound 4 years ago (Score:5, Insightful)
Four years ago I was in chemotherapy after my second bout with cancer (first was seven years ago). Things were looking grim. I couldn't work, I felt like crap because of all the drugs, and I was paying my medical bills out of savings.
Today I'm in good health, I married in February and we have twins due in December, I have an interesting job that pays well, and we just paid cash for a new minivan. Short of winning the lottery, I don't think life could be better.
I just wish that Obamacare had been around when I needed it. I would have $400k more than I have now. USA badly needs medical insurance reform and the Republicans certainly don't want to help.
Re:Graduated College (Score:5, Insightful)
I still eat Top Ramen, buy it for 17 or 18 cents, use it for lunch.
Use the money I save from that to go to fancy places.
Except that's not a good meal on it's own. I sometimes use instant noodles, but I almost always throw out the "flavour" packet and add something less-processed -- frozen chopped vegetables are the easiest, but some chopped broccoli, fresh spinach, canned beans or chickpeas ... anything's better!
Re:Slashdot skew (Score:5, Insightful)
Results are going to be better than average here due to the reader base. The average slashdot reader is a young IT professional who is burning some time while at work. A large proportion of us have begun to claw ourselves out of the "poor college kid" phase. Many of us are either just starting to get their first real income, or have combined a college degree and a couple years experience to leverage a significant income boost.
Still, it is nice to read that a bunch of us are doing well. Way to go us, keep up the good work!
I'm not so sure about that. IT workers, yes, but Slashdot dates from the dotCom Boom and much of the readership has been working for that long or longer.
That's an easy one. (Score:4, Insightful)
Way better off... (Score:3, Insightful)
... just not financially. In fact, my cash cushion is gone, so now we live from paycheck to paycheck; good thing I have a stable (read salary, not hourly pay) income.
I picked way better off because in the last four years I fathered two kids and there is nothing in this world worth more than that.
On a side note, living in Canada, it took me a while to understand the subtle hint about politics regarding this poll since not everything in the news revolves around politics here at the moment.
Finally, my wife started working again, and with careful management, we'll be able to rebuild our cash cushion. The secret is not to live above your means. I still use an ancient CRT television and don't plan on updating since it works great. I haven't purchased new clothes in a long while since the ones I have still fit. Really, the only expenses we have are in order: mortgage, food, utility & entertainment bills (electricity, water, garbage, internet, netflix), property tax, gas, insurance. But having a loving wife and two kids at home: priceless, literally.
JigJag
Re:Depends on your measure... (Score:5, Insightful)
There's definitely a large difference in what Europeans and Americans feel is the 'center' of the political spectrum. I'd say that the center of the European spectrum is firmly planted in the left of the American spectrum. People labeled conservative in Europe are, at best, moderates, or left-leaners in the US. People in the US labeled liberal are probably more centrist in European politics.
This is probably the case.
Obama, however, has definitely cemented himself as a liberal socialist. He's made it clear that he wants a large, strong federal government that controls the resources and allocates them from those with to those without, in a massive redistribution scheme. He can't achieve what he wants, because the Congress won't go along with it, but his preference would be to have a highly taxed upper class, punished for their hard work and accomplishments, and a dependent middle and lower class, suckling at the government teat. Of course, this flies in the face of EVERYTHING that the US was founded upon - self-reliance, small federal government, states rights, personal freedoms.
This sounds like a Glenn Beck monologue :-p
Taxing the upper income earners more than the middle and (especially) lower brackets is a pretty moderate political position considering our current system of government. Otherwise we would either be desperately short on revenue or end up with a system of regressive taxation, which is both untenable and reprehensible. Progressive taxation is not a punishment, it's just a sensible method of optimizing revenue. People who can afford to pay more do so, and those who can't, don't. There are of course bad ways to implement this (such as our current clusterfuck of a tax code) but I'm not sure why so many people have such an issue with this basic concept.
Also, "states rights" is a loaded term, not useful in this context...perhaps localized government would be more appropriate...though it was pretty much settled in the first half of the 19th century that our federal government has ultimate supremacy over state government. I will grant you self-reliance and small federal government, but the founding fathers were really only concerned with personal freedoms for the rich, white, men who made up the "ruling" class at the time. =]
All that said, I don't believe the political spectrum to be linear, but more circular. People like to label the Nazis as right-wing, but in reality, their government was very socialist, however, they pulled nationalism from the right-wing. Hence, they belong on both sides of the spectrum, at some weird vortex where shitty people meet shitty policies.
Well, I agree that the political spectrum is certainly not all-encompassing, but it can be a useful tool. Nazism [wikipedia.org] is hard to categorize and does lie in a "weird vortex" as you say. However, in practice it was essentially a form of fascism, and (though they started out with a real socialist agenda) Hitler used a different definition of "socialism" than everyone else in the world.
Re:Graduated College (Score:5, Insightful)
Well...THERE's your problem!!
Yeah...if you decide to get hitched and especially if you decide to have one or more kids...well, there goes your disposable income. But hey, life is full of trade offs, and you have to decide what is important in your value system.
Personally, I've never wanted kids...I like to have as much of my disposable income for me to enjoy and party with....I've not been much of one to want to be tied down to just one woman all my life...when there are so many out there.
But again...trade offs for everything. I guess it all boils down to what you want to do with your money and your life.
Whatever you choose....deal with the consequences, and try not to bitch too much about it...I don't guess there is much else any of us can do, eh?
But I do applaud you...if you DO choose to have kids...realize that you must (unless you are lucky and quite wealthy) make sacrifices...that's part of having kids and raising a family. You have to give up that spending money for yourself, AND, most importantly...your TIME.
While that's not a sacrifice I would be willing to make, hence, not wanting any kids....if you do choose to have them, then you have to be prepared to give up these things for them.
Sounds like you have your priorities straight....so, good for you!
Try Forty Instead of Four (Score:4, Insightful)
A better question: Are you better off than you (or your parents, or maybe grandparents) were FORTY years ago? Whatever the answer, why do you think that is?
Re:Watersip Down company? (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe. Or it may be a reference to Efrafa, a warren run by Gestapo-like rabbits where the only way to leave was by death. That also figures prominently into the plot. But I don't know for sure. Regardless, the book is an awesome read.
Re:Graduated College (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, you will have less time and money if you have kids, but it's not an entirely fair comparison. You don't know how much happier or more fulfilled having kids will make you feel until you do (and isn't that a big part of why we do our hobbies?). For many of us (most of us, hopefully) the deal works out in our favor because we're happier than we would be if we had all that time and money to spend on our old hobbies. It's a net gain, but it's easy to present as a net loss because it's the unknown.
Re:Graduated College (Score:4, Insightful)
But seriously, while young...PARTY and get LAID as much as you can...especially getting laid.
You really only for the most part...get to sleep with young chicks that have great bodies, and eveything is tight once in your life...when you are as young as they are.
This is slashdot. You must be lost.
Re:Better Off Is Subjective (Score:4, Insightful)
So thats how I post.
Side note.. got the wood stove installed just before a cold snap.. yay.