Better off than 4 years ago? Um, YES!

By Ed Kaine
nationofchange.org

Romney and Ryan asked "Are you better off than 4 years ago?" in August 2012... during the narrow slice of time when August 2008 seemed pretty good. By the end of September2008 we were watching the wheels come off. There is nobody around who remembers that month who would not say "we are better off now than 4 years ago." Counting on us to have short short memories was more successful before YouTube.

If you need a refresher, take a look at George W. Bush on September 24th, 2008. As he announces the collapse of everything we know you can see what he knew we were headed towards. The next President would have a heck of a time getting us out of the problems Bush had created. For a man working on a legacy, he had found his in being the man who disproved the Neo-conservative agenda militarily, economically and socially.

September 24th, 2008
Weeks after these words the private sector was shedding jobs at an incredible rate. In Bush's last month over 800,000 private sector jobs were lost. Immediately under Obama it started to turn around, a little bit of "wait and see" and the few companies who kept their work forces and delayed layoffs did better. The "bikini graph" was one of those powerful data renderings that proved the turnaround. If the opposite graph was available before the 2010 election it would have been everywhere... I mean "STOP THE PRESSES" front page stuff... but it was almost nowhere.

In these final weeks before the 2012 election we have a clear choice between Obama, who steered us out of this crisis in a matter of months, and Romney who would steer us right back into a new crisis. By doubling down on "trickle-down" and striving to be right of George W Bush, Romney has backed himself into a corner.

Are you better off than 4 years ago? Almost certainly! Will you be better off in 4 years with Obama? Or would you like to take your chances with Romney?