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Are you better off than you were four years ago? It can be a murky picture for many (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Yes, but 4 years ago was an interesting time in my life. I had just quit smoking, rented a house above my means to give my disabled sister somewhere safe to live while grieving over her deceased caregiver, and spent whatever money I had saved to move her across the country.

She's thankfully doing well now and engaged with someone she is absolutely head over heels for.

I'm still financially recovering, but things are moving in the correct directions.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I am better of in all categories but only part of that may be because of Biden. The federal agency I work for got a much needed budget increase which lead to my promotion. But if I was still working at Walmart I definitely wouldn't be feeling like this. I've been in financial hell solve Obama though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I think I'm better off than I would have been under the orange man administration. Honestly. Someone had to come and deal with the messes he made.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Fuck no. I can barely even make it through the day anymore.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

In some ways yes, in most ways no.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I've voted D every time. This question is ridiculous because most people are NOT better off and those that are, are all on the low end of the financial spectrum where the short term income gains have made a difference.

Even the best stats I see from the Democrats show 8% better income adjusted for inflation. That's awesome! But what inflation? The low fed number. Not the CPI.

This means for anyone who purchases things, or where purchasing things is a larger proportion of their income which is everyone below the top 0.5% or 1% in the USA, your effective wage has gone down 10% to 40% depending on what your personal income raise was. Those that job hopped, are only down a bit. Those that didn't are screwed.

Everytime this question gets asked, I look around and not a single person I know is better off now from income. Not a damn one. You know what is doing better? Stock portfolios. I have them, I'm up. My friends have them, they're up. We have traded realized daily losses in living for stock market unrealized gains. The average person doesn't have stocks. They just get shafted completely.

It's incomprehensible to me how low Democrats have gone to just blatantly lie and gas light. That's a Republican move. And every one of the people smart enough to actually think, gets a little more pissed off when they're gas lit into trying to believe that 20% year over year multiple years in a row of inflation is good. That's batshit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Everyone who works a white collar job for a medium or large company should have access to a 401k or some other investment vehicle but I understand that many can't afford to fully utilize those benefits even if those benefits are available. The exec class gets richer as their portfolios gain value, as they tend to get compensatory stock. Everyone else takes an "L" to make that happen.

A rank-and-file accountant or developer can still set themselves up for retirement but they have to start early and be extremely aggressive.

I agree that with inflation, there are perverse incentives created. Most peoples jobs do not have any guarantee of annual raises, performance based or cost of living based. Effectively you are taking a pay cut each year due to inflation. This passively makes every company environment worse, because the only way to gain compensation is to jump ship to another job. Those who are capable and motivated will try to parlay every job into a better job within 6 months, and that makes it impossible to build up capabilities and culture. It effectively makes everyones job suck more, whether you stay or leave.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Mentally, yes. Financially, hell no. I was "essential" through the whole thing which certainly didn't help my mental state. To be fair, I was in a bad place even without COVID.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 months ago

Majority of people are better off

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Yeah, I am, but I don't want to put too much weight on my own experience. I got my PhD last year, so I went from living paycheck to paycheck on a grad student stipend to having a real job making decent money. Many other people are not doing as well as they were, so I don't want my own anecdotal evidence to cloud my perception

[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

We’re still getting disproportionately screwed under Trump’s tax plan that expires next year. POTUS can’t control grocery prices unless we want a failed Executive Order like Nixon’s. Biden has done everything a President can do about gas prices by opending a record number of reserve barrels during record high production, proving that POTUS can’t control the price at the pump.

~~The only remaining financial controllable that Biden could change is the high interest rates through the Fed.~~

Edit: As I learned below, that’s not really an option.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Biden doesn't control the fed. It's an independent entity.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You’re right. I wrote “through the Fed” meaning indirectly. POTUS appoints most of the voting officials and can replace the chair, but there’s no direct control of interest rates.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Can he replace the Fed chair arbitrarily though?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

That’s a good question. I just looked it up. It’s possible, but it’s never been done before. So it’s not a realistic option.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I asked my brother this four years ago. He said he was. It was a bad question to ask him because there are many factors that can determine this besides who the president is. Still... he was unemployed from 2017 to 2021 and he felt in 2020 he was doing better than he was when he had a job and could support himself. I bet he'd answer no today despite being employed for most of the last 4 years. He was fired briefly for saying "something they interpreted as racist" but he got a new job real quick. He bought a house under biden. I think it was a mistake and he could wind up upside down real soon, but he went from unemployed to rushing into home ownership. People who are committed will believe the reality they want to.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Still… he was unemployed from 2017 to 2021 and he felt in 2020 he was doing better than he was when he had a job and could support himself.

That's quite a stretch. Did he have health issues that prevented employment?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Not really. Our mother is very lenient and he was in training for the tail end of it. One of the reasons I knew it wasn't exactly a fair question to him. He was in a situation where he would be doing better, but his financial situation, while having a better outlook for the future, did not materialize until biden. In general "how were you four years ago" is a complicated question.

He'd spent about two years thinking "woe is me" and waiting for a family situation to resolve itself. If it had resolved itself for the better I think he believed he'd never have to work again. I don't think I'm allowed to say "exactly" how it resolved, but I can say things twisted in a stupid way and I'm pissed about it. After that he went into training for about two years. Regardless of his prospects he also had more how going into 2017 than going into 2021, for reasons that have nothing to do with the president.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

In some ways, definitely. That's actually interesting to think about. Guess I should remember that next time I wanna end it all.

Edit: I'm not American, replied to the title alone, and only now realize the implications of the question

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I hope you don't feel that way again any time soon.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Thank you, at least I have a proper creative outlet to channel those thoughts into, four years ago I didn't.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Not even fucking close

[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 months ago (3 children)

June, 2020 - We still didn't know where our next roll of toilet paper was coming from.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

I got really lucky, in that I had made a Costco run shortly before the shit hit the fan and didn't have to worry about toilet paper while it was in short supply (not hoarding, I had just stocked up like I usually do). Actually ended up handing out a few rolls to friends and neighbors who were having a harder time than I was.

It probably helped that I got a bidet a few months in, and that cut my TP usage dramatically while making my butt also feel cleaner and less irritated.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago

That idiotic panic is what finally pushed me over into getting a bidet attachment. Best decision of my adult life (I don’t make very good decisions).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

In December 2020, I found a giant case of toilet paper in an old school building that we used for storage at work. I hid it in a closet so I would have a secret stash. Every now and then I would go by to make sure it was still there. 2 months ago they cleaned out the building and changed the locks.