Are we better off than we were a year ago ??

[daveman]

Maybe to you.

It ain't that deep. Government causes more problems than it solves.

 

[colfax_m]

Well, printing tons of money and keeping interest rates close to zero causes inflation. Money always seeks assets.

Didn’t cause inflation the last 20 years.

But point taken. The investor class will screw over working class any day of the week.

 

[jc456]

Saying something is a fact is not proof.

He says that frequently

 

[Kondor3]

Why are vaccinated dying!! More than unvaccinated ? Not by Wuhan?

More UN-vaccinated are dying than VAX'ed folks? Citation?

 

[colfax_m]

It ain't that deep. Government causes more problems than it solves.

You ain’t that deep. Life is.

 

[colfax_m]

Saying something is a fact is not proof.

I suppose that applies to you as well.

Very well.

Here’s the facts.

More education: Lower unemployment, higher earnings : Career Outlook : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

This chart shows just how much education matters.

www.bls.gov

 

[washamericom]

Does a eunuch miss his balls??

Are we having fun yet?

I stay the hell away from abortion ....

 

[washamericom]

I suppose that applies to you as well.

Very well.

Here’s the facts.

More education: Lower unemployment, higher earnings : Career Outlook : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

This chart shows just how much education matters.

www.bls.gov

View attachment 575065

Here are the facts... please.

 

[colfax_m]

Are we better off than we were ago?

With respect to...

* Illegal Aliens - definitely not
* Foreign Policy - mostly not, despite some restoration of confidence in us amongst friends - but mostly, not
* Defense - probably not, but we seem to be more in Maintenance Mode than anything else
* Energy Independence - not
* Cost of Living - definitely not
* Bipartisanship - enough to move the needle a bit in favor of positive results, but not much, really
* Pandemic - definitely YES - the vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths are amongst the Neanderthals who refuse to vax or observe safety protocols
* Emergency Relief - definitely not - the Pubs did a better job of assembling and sustaining relief for rents and mortgages, energy, etc.
* Law and Order - mixed results - some positive, some negative - basically, a Wash...
* Restoration of confidence in Constitutional Government - a mild YES

-----------

A mixed bag, to be sure... and, I'm quite certain, I've left off a handful of salient points or key categories... but that's a good first pass

Illegal aliens: Has no effect on me whatsoever
Foreign Policy: Couldn't have gotten any worse. If confidence isn't better, it's because the political right is completely unrepentant
Defense: Out of Afghanistan.
Energy Independence: Not really any such thing, not since it became legal to sell US oil abroad
Cost of living: Nope, not better at all. But disposable income is up so there's that.
Bipartisanship: Sigh. Somewhat better maybe? Infrastructure bill is a good example. 69-30 in the Senate.
Pandemic: Not better. Definitely not better. Oddly worse it would seem from my perspective. It doesn't matter if they're vaccinated or not. Deaths are deaths and it sucks.
Law and order: Not better. Rose abruptly in the pandemic, not going to come down soon. Something is broken.
Restoration of confidence: I'm still shook, especially at the state level.

What is better?
Not sure. Better than the alternative probably, but no easy fixes. The country is sick. We need someone stronger/better than Biden.

 

[linux07]

We're (mostly) still alive and still have a Republic. The question should not be are we ""better off" but rather do we still have what matters most. If you lose those things, then you lose everything forever. I'd be willing to trade a "bad year or two" where I'm financially worse off for that outcome instead.


We've made alot of mistakes to get to this point that aren't going to just magically fix themselves. We have to slow the rate of decline first before we can start to see positive improvement again.

 

[boedicca]

Didn’t cause inflation the last 20 years.

But point taken. The investor class will screw over working class any day of the week.

You are seriously misinformed if you think we haven't had inflation for the past 20 years due to inane monetary and fiscal policy. The government changed the way they calculate inflation in order to understate it.

Shadowstats calculates an alternate inflation measure based on the 1980 methodology. It's Very Interesting:

Alternate Inflation Charts

www.shadowstats.com

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Earnings and unemployment rates improve as level of education improves. That’s just a fact.

Lots of blue collar workers have been left behind by the economy. Their anger formed much of Trump’s base.

Talk about putting everything in one cookie jar.

There is skilled and unskilled blue collar work. Unskilled labor during the Trump years didn't pay much and hasn't for years. Skilled labor increased due to the economic activity and the need for skilled labor to build things like houses and transport goods across the country.

 

[Uriel]

A year ago the country was locked down from a pandemic and Democracy was under the greatest attack since the Civil War

Sarcasm, right?

 

[jc456]

More UN-vaccinated are dying than VAX'ed folks? Citation?

Watch the con job video that you believe. 9:24 time.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Slightly more? Wide swaths of the country will see mass business closure. We won’t pay higher prices, we just won’t have the product available. Restaurants don’t just charge more for a burger. They close. That means a lot of citizens also lose their jobs.

You dramatically underestimate the contribution to the economy and overestimate the cost to society.

Before covid my Big Mac combo was $6.25. Today I paid $9.60. Not one McDonald's in my area closed.

We don't need illegals, we need to get rid of illegals.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

If they can’t afford the house, where do they live?

Rent is too damn high too.

Then you move to an area where rent isn't so high. The highest rent I charge is $625.00 a month, and the only reason for that is the unit has five people in it and I have to pay the water and sewer. Yes, rents around me are higher than I'm charging because I want to keep my current crop of tenants. But not much more than a hundred or so dollars. And yes, you can move out to the higher priced suburbs and pay up to $1,700 a month like my nephew is, but it's only because he wants to live there and has a well paying enough job to afford it.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Just like we do now.

Correct, but the problem is when we conservatives have to suffer when the Communists win. In a two country system, a very conservative liberal would probably have little chance at winning in an all Republican country.

 

[daveman]

You ain’t that deep. Life is.

Sorry if I offended you by criticizing your religion.

 

[BluesLegend]

People come on, Democrats are parasites who mooch and leach off people who work for a living HELLO!

 

[daveman]

I suppose that applies to you as well.

Very well.

Here’s the facts.

More education: Lower unemployment, higher earnings : Career Outlook : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

This chart shows just how much education matters.

www.bls.gov

View attachment 575065

I don't see skilled trades training in there.