Are You Better Off Than You Were 2 Years Ago?

Remember this famous concluding speech that Ronald Reagan delivered in his last debate with President Jimmy Carter? Many have claimed that this speech won Reagan the election.

It probably didn’t help that the inflation rate was high, mortgage interest rates were skyrocketing upward and Iranians were parading American hostages in front of cameras every day after their supposed rescuers crashed and burned in the Iranian desert.

So midway through President Obama’s term everyone is wondering who will utter those words in the 2012 election, and when.

So I thought about it some and have come to the surprising conclusion that, yes, I am better off than I was 2 years ago when Barack Obama inherited 2 wars and the worst economic downturn since 1929.

And no, I’m not.

I’m not better off than I was 2 years ago because the Republican economic policies trashed out my 401K. I’m not better of than I was 2 years ago because the 2010 elections brought a TEA Party-tinged Republican super-majority to Austin and they spent 140 days taking away my rights, and continue to vote to take away my salary and make it necessary for me to do more with less support in the classroom.

All of the reasons I am not better off than I was 2 years ago can be laid right at the feet of Teapublicans (Teabaggers and Republicans).

But all of the reasons that I am better off than I was 2 years ago are very much because of what Democrats have done.

Thanks to the Affordable Healthcare Act I can now consider retirement in a couple of years because I will be able to enroll in the affordable healthcare plans available at the exchanges.

Thanks to the bailouts the economy didn’t implode and my 401K somewhat recovered. That I still have a job is very probably because of the Obama Administration and the slim majority Democrats hold in the Senate.

So when you hear those words uttered by whoever winds up with the task of unseating the smartest president we’ve had since Jack Kennedy –and you will most definitely hear those words - do an honest evaluation, remembering not only what losses you suffered, and what gains you enjoyed, but who furnished what.