are you better off than you were 4 years ago?

absolutely, though as a major statistical outlier - from unemployment benefits to humanities scholarship.

Absolutely, for non-Obama (e.g. I got my masters) and Obama-related (e.g. my administrative job exists because stimulus funds saved it in 2009) reasons.

for the purposes of this poll people need to accept that everything, including relationship issues, is in some way obama-related

oh well. Since I've never jerked off to a photo of Obama then no. That's three sentences. Hence "this is complicated...I will respond w/ 3+ sentences."

absolutely

i had a setback four years ago that knocked the wind out of my sails both temporally and emotionally; between that and the economic collapse, it hasn't been a good time for me. actually the entire run from 2000 to say 2010 was pretty rotten. i don't know if things are better, but i'm more optimistic now that that shitty decade is over.

p.s. i don't think i count for the poll's purposes as i'm not american. thanks tory government, you have been gr8 2 me.

A little better, but only economically.

absolutely! I have no further comments to make at this time.

absolutely yes

I said "yes" just because my company hasn't given me a raise in 4 years. Despite that, we've still saved enough to take extravagant Asian vacations and adopt a child. Plus, now that my company is owned by Americans again I have a chance at getting a raise.

Fuck you, Romney.

Not being American, I won't vote. (In this poll, or the other one.) But: economically about the same, allowing for cost of living increases and such. But I'm four years older, heavier, worse eyesight, still single, and not especially excited about the American election like I was last time.

i got a job so you can go fuck yourself, plastic romney face. voted "absolutely."

Absolutely. I lost my job in 2007 and was able to collect unemployment benefits until March 2008. I also was able to keep my health insurance since the federal government subsidized Cobra. And subsequently needed surgery three months later. Since then I've found a job, bought a house and gotten married. So hell yes.

Yes. I'm en route to a career change and a higher salary.

Overall yes. My only complaint is that the bad job climate has made me cling to my job for much longer than I would have otherwise even though I feel pretty emotionally done with it.

no, and thanks for reminding me

Yeah have a proper grownup career and the Good Neighbor Next Door program means I could buy a house hypothetically for like $20-30k, thanks $$$$Obama$$$$

Also DJP are you adopting a child for realsies?

Yes. 4 years ago was total crap, and in fact, when i look at my entire family, they are all better off than they were 4 years ago.

I remember hearing about the first TARP bailout on the radio and congresspeople saying "Oh we are getting all these calls from voters, and they are all saying don't do this bail-out!" and yet they went and voted for the bailout anyways and it just made me so pissed off. That whole moment was one big notch on the voting-doesn't-matter scoreboard.

technically yes but expenses are way up so it feels like no, but when you look at the books it's yes

anecdata for president

Absolutely yes

As one of those small business owners the right keeps talking about, I can prob attach some hard percentages to that, but on a str8 quality of life side, I was able to go back to a just over 40 hour work week from 70+ in the summer of 2012.

Fuck, that sentence sucked. Meaning I have steadily dropped hours (voluntarily and as a salaried dude) from 70+ in 2008 to 40.5 in 2012.

I still grind 24 hours a day but that's because I rule at life

Yes. I went from college and $9,000 AGI to 1% (i.e. Paul Ryan's "fading Obama poster" allusion didn't resonante).

Despite that, we've still saved enough to take extravagant Asian vacations and adopt a child.

i missed this, congrats DJP!

4 years ago i still had a proper job plus all the savings i was building up in order to go freelance, so lol @ the idea of being economically better off now, but in every other respect i am immeasurably better off

i worked in tech for the financial industry basically from 2000 until the end of 2008, when everything collapsed, including my job, directly because my clients were shady credit card hucksters who got dragged down with the subprime fiascos. I still do tech but for legal services now and have a promising job. so yes, absolutely better off.

As a Britisher I won't vote, but yes, I am individually and we are as a couple most definitely. But, that's almost entirely down to the fact that we've got two new jobs each in the last four years, and thus increased our income by nearly 2/3s in that time. We've also (when all the stuff goes through) made a 5% profit on the flat we bought five years ago, which isn't much, but when other areas of the housing market have seen prices plummet, is pretty damn good. We've been able to afford a brand new (lease) car, are buying a new and substantially bigger house, have taken far more holidays than we could ever afford before, and are generally just much better off. Of course, as your income increases so do your outgoings generally so we're still a long way away from being flippant with money. And we have no savings. But there you go.

Hell no, but not because of anything Obama did. Unless he's been secretly plotting my downfall.

I didn't realise Britishers weren't supposed to vote. Sorry! I put "only economically" because to be fair, I was economically much worse off 5 years ago, because I had been made redundant from a finance related job during the banking crisis.

What's annoying is that - LOL Tories - in many ways I am better off. But that is because I am a middle-class, child-free home-owner whose disability does not particularly interfere with my ability to work in IT. But I'm still outraged that life appears to be economically a lot worse for people who are outside this tiny bracket of "people who are better off under the Tories." I kinda want to say "even if I am ~better off~ economically under you, I still think you're a pack of hyenas and want you and your politics gone. And this is not politics of envy, this is politics of outright disgust."

But sorry to bring LOL Britishers politics into a US thread.

Yeah, our situation has nothign to do with the Tories at all; it has a lot to do with our ages and educations and work histories, and a lot to do with the fact that our city and our employer have both been incredibly well-managed for the last decade and have managed to predict and thus offset / work around all the crap that's happened.

If you're better off under the Tories it's because either:
a) you're a rich Tory
or
b) the Tories haven't yet figured out how to take your money and give it to rich Tories

As for myself, I don't have much money, but at least I'm not flat broke ike I was in 2002.

uh...
'flat broke like', I mean.
'flat broke ike' sounds like a mid 20th century Chicago street musician.

Flat Broke Ike wears a turqoise shellsuit and sings songs about how he's the son of god.

It mostly down to being a homeowner because interest rates have been frozen at nothing for the past few years, which has kept mortgage repayments down. My mortgage repayments were nearly £300 a month more expensive 5 years ago.

But given I have no children and don't own a car there isn't really anything for me to spend that extra money on, so it just goes in the bank. This is the main source of my financial comfort.

• no children/dependants
• no mortgage
• no outstanding loans/debts (a bank would have to be massively negligent to lend me money oh wait)
• don't drink don't smoke (whatcha do-di-do-di subtle innuendos follow must be something inside)
• no expensive hobbies
• not particularly bothered with having the latest shiny-shiny tech gadgets

Also, my mortgage is about £400 cheaper than the average price of rents in my neighbourhood. Lack of affordable housing stock is definitely the Tories' fault.

Absolutely here, tho if you'd asked me even 2 weeks ago I may not have said so. I have a higher salary, a better job, an adorable bf, i've paid down a big chunk of debts recently, and tho I am paying way more rent, it kind of evens out with the other financial/lyfe things, so. I mean to me, money ain't the be all and etc.

wait lol I had the same job 4 years ago haha. well ive had one payrise since then, only the one tho*grumble*.

I am, but that's mainly because I've gone from working in an underpaid 9–5 to being a freelancer, so I'm working much longer hours, and things like new laptops and other computer equipment I can claim as expenses.

still have the same amount (€0) in my account the day before payday, but it's all going on the basics these days and money is a constant 'thing'. Rent doubled recently and i'm struggling to adjust tbh.

Still taking thrifty trips, vouchered meals out, amn't starving and can afford broadband, and the job is safe so i can p much carry on in an ok way forever.

i'm not in the US obv but, god yes. i earn literally twice as much as i did then, now, and i am secure in a job rather than on a trainee contract that's about the end.

am i happier? well...

about to end*

"We're hiring you as a trainee Mayan Year 2012 Endtimes Administrator. It's a short term contract only."

i am fucking skint at the moment tho cos i am spening 3k on a diploma. two more months of instalments to go, it's horrible.

spending, jesus, ilx is like my lazy typing zone

this thread makes me wonder if a) ppl talking in thread are more likely to be ppl who feel they're better off but that ilx as whole is not so overwhelmingly positive

Yeah, not that I'm not happy for y'all (it's genuinely heartening to see a confirmation that so many people are doing so well), but my 'hell no' is kinda sticking out like a sore thumb just now...

I'm just sad that "sort of? maybe? I guess?" was not an option.

poll only open to those that can access internet, shame on u iatee

oh, i'm 33 and will probably never be able to afford to buy a house. but i'm making about $20k more than 4 years ago, which may not seem big to most people, but it feels huge to me, working in the non-profit world where you are lucky to get a 3% cost of living increase. even though i'm using a large portion of that to pay off debts and still not saving anything. my credit card debt at least should be gone in the next 6 months and i should be able to start saving that money and direct more towards student loans. life is not so bad.

$250k a year in their household is like £157k or so, that's a couple of people earning £75k each. That's a fuck of a lot of money for most people but if you looked at the lifestyle it provides, in the South of England particular, a lot of people would think "middle class" or "upper middle class".

Most of my friends from college are earning at least this much (we certainly aren't, fwiw) and I would regard them all as "middle class" - not wanting to head off on that discussion, but I don't think class is hugely a function of salary. What else should I call them?

"The wealthy"

£75k puts you in at least the top 5% of the population, but the lifestyle that provides will still be presented to the country as a whole as "middle income" - that's how "aspiration" functions in the UK.

I'd have thought £75k would put you in top 1%.

Is that top 5% in London, though? I seem to remember that e.g. in Chelsea the average household income is over 100k (although that's probably the mean, and skewed by some ridiculously high figures).

Definitely not top 1%, even some years ago across the whole UK:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_in_the_United_Kingdom#Percentile_points_for_income_of_individuals_before_tax

my father-in-law started calling us one-percenters after we bought our car and I said "don't be silly, we're ten-percenters"; that got a good laugh

Hey WAU look at that gender pay gap. I'm so glad I'm a man. Oh wait.

If I'm reading this table right, then (assuming this is across the whole UK), it's probably top 4% of UK incomes, so... I'd guess top 10% of London incomes, maybe?

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/3-5table-feb2012.pdf

I'm assuming a big chunk of that pay gap is down to the types of jobs that women in late 20s/30s/40s often take to facilitate families.

wrong thread

And why do you think that's OK?

Even if it's true?

OK, no, this will just make me a screaming ball of fury if I carry on, and I'm not doing it at quarter to 5. Just... no.

Nobody said it was OK.

for the last 2+ years i have actually been working on recovery act grants and am in a much better place job-wise and salary-wise.

hey hey, me too! same story. so my answer is yes, financially. and personally? yes. falling in love helps A LOT.

surprised at the overwhelming number of yes votes. this is the rare poll i'm interested in seeing the numbers.

All contributions from 'bank of mum and/or dad' - e.g. towards mortgage deposits - should be declared in your assessments.

we bailed out that fuckin bank tbph

lol

you carry on lollin, i'll type out my latest entry in the family probs thread ;_;

Deposit for our flat came from my father-in-law.

after 3 years acting up in a role, it is the only one being abolished in a restructure that has been "pending" for 4 years, fu darraghjinx

I mean congrats

I was just doing my accounts and I'm almost exactly the same as I was four years ago. Which is disappointing because I changed my job and took a big hit to my earnings about six years ago in the hope that I'd be able to build them back rapidly, and more, but it hasn't happened. I can't blame the government or anyone, except myself for being fearful and lacking hustle. I'm about a third down on my peak, so thanks America for not having six-year terms. Even though I'm older, happier, etc that's still pretty rubbish I feel.

Don't self-analyse; don't look back.

That's one for 'only non-economically' I guess.

my bad sic ;_;

I was going to answer no to this because my wife's been unemployed for just over a year and money is a bit tight, but 4 years ago my wife was also out of work, and that was because she had TB instead of lack of employment opportunities, and I was earning less, so actually we are quite a bit better off.

Financially and in terms of relationships with friends, etc.: much better off. However my health has worsened dramatically so...it's a tossup.

for the last 2+ years i have actually been working on recovery act grants and am in a much better place job-wise and salary-wise.

hey hey, me too! same story. so my answer is yes, financially. and personally? yes. falling in love helps A LOT.

surprised at the overwhelming number of yes votes. this is the rare poll i'm interested in seeing the numbers.

― ou th (anky), Tuesday, September 4, 2012 5:35 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hey anky, what projects are you working on? i'm working on "communities putting prevention to work" which is public health funding. our city had a visit from biden's office where he toured a bunch of the different successful projects across the city and it was pretty cool.

anyways - personally, it's a toss up for me because things could be better but i am not unhappy and feel like i've grown a lot as a person (not to be overly sincere).

i am in basically the same exact place as i was 4 years ago, only i don't really feel as energetic all the time. but not worse off, and content.

i will note that my politically-induced stress/rage/paranoia has been reduced substantially now that we don't have bush years wtf shit happening all the time. i do still wonder whether anyone in the white house will ever talk frankly about how much of the federal budget is being used on private security contractors around the world and why, but that's another story.

me, i'm fine 4 years later.

I'm better off. I have an MA now, and no more student debt. Healthier and less stressed-out all the time. Things are okay.

I'm way better off economically, but only as a couple - I still earn less at my US job after 4 years than what the minimum wage now is in NZ. But Ytth is earning twice as much, working for a young company that maybe wouldn't have survived the recession under a republican president.

nothing has been done about climate change, so we are all worse off, esp you crazy ppl who have just had kids.

YES, I'm living my lifelong dream!

Morbs (miserably) otm

guilty lol

Absolutely doing better now than four years ago. Better job, no longer living with my father-in-law, published a novel. Of course, my diabetes hasn't gone away, and we're no longer living with the FIL because he died, but still, things are looking up.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

still curious about the results of this

that's because they're not out yet

The ilxor demographic is likely to skew more toward "better off" than the USA at large, so it will be hard to read much into it.

Plus as individuals we're all four years further up the ladder - not true of the economy as a whole.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/the-47-percent-may-struggle-but-the-top-20-percent-are-feeling-flush/