#areyoubetteroff

I ran across this article this morning and it made me laugh. I'm sure everyone has, at this point, seen or heard about the Romney ads that ask the question, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" As part of that campaign, Romney bought the hashtag #areyoubetteroff assuming everyone was going to respond, that no they weren't. This is where things get funny. According to the article responses have been a resounding 5 to 1 in favor of yes. Ah, that's just good political, unexpected humor.

Full article here, it's pretty short.

The question that Romney asks doesn't take too much analysis on a personal level to answer. 

Four years ago I was finishing school working as a manager at a bike shop in Northern Utah. I made enough money to pay my bills and have some left over to party and enjoy myself. The months leading up to the end of 2008 were dismal months for that business. We had had an amazing summer, but the sales had stopped suddenly when the whole economy started to unwind. This left us with too much stock and employees scratching their heads with nothing to do. Their was a constant stream of shop friends stopping by from the coffee shop next door to inform us on the latest bankruptcy or how they weren't going to get paid or had lost their jobs.

Four years later, I still work at a bike shop and have actually been demoted. I no longer worry about the entire shop but manage only the service department. My wage has more than doubled and I am able to keep five full time employees busy pretty much year round. I have health insurance, dental insurance and have purchased a home. Yup, I am definitely better off now.

Of course, that's my personal narrative. Do any of those things have to do with Obama? Maybe, maybe not, but I am definitely better off now. And that was the question asked.

Looking at a generalization of things, think about this. Four years ago, in September the world seemed to becoming to an end. Gas prices had peaked at over $4/gallon forcing food prices through the roof. The economy was quickly coming to a complete standstill as one large corporation after another was forced to admit they had no money and were in big trouble. Just go back and read the headlines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_2008.

Are we better now? Well, gas prices have gone back up but aren't as high as they were in 2008. The sky has not been declared to be falling and the economy, albeit quite slowly, has begun to turn around. Has our state improved in four years? Yup. Could it be better? Yup.

Romney either expected people to hate Obama as much as he does to all answer with a resounding no, expected people to have forgotten about what was happening in 2008, or is just too disconnected to realize that, while he may not have struggled, people were scared shitless in 2008. Four years ago sucked. If we were worst off now, I don't think the elites would be able to show their faces in public.

Maybe he should've purchased the hashtag #couldthingsbebetter.