Are You Better Off?

On November 4^th, Americans need a president who will not only work to restore our nation’s economic health, but our ability to dream and hope for a better life–for ourselves and for our children.

Third Way, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank, recently released a report that analyzed how middle class families had fared in the past eight years, in comparison to the previous eight years under President Clinton. The report asked a simple question: “Are you better off?” This echoes the famous debate between Ronald Reagan and beleaguered President Jimmy Carter, when Reagan asked this rhetorical question and tapped into the economic stress millions of Americans were facing in 1980. A week later, Reagan won the election.

Third Way’s report in 2008 finds that out of 18 different metrics of success, from job growth to wages to the cost of living, 16 metrics show Americans as families and America as a nation worse off than they were 8 years ago. Will the Republican party reap the consequences of bad economic stewardship? If 2008 is anything like 1980, the answer is yes.

Third Way’s report is staggering in its implications for just how much damage has been done to the average family’s bank account. If income growth into the Bush years had kept up with the overall rate of growth during the Clinton years, the average American family would have pocketed $58,945 more from 2000 to 2008. During the Clinton years, the average American family’s income steadily grew, without any period of decline. The Bush years have never been as good to American families as the Clinton years in terms of income. Americans have experienced only stagnation or loss.

Furthermore, between 1992 and 2008, gas prices have nearly tripled in real dollars. Third Way concludes, “The typical household will have spent $5,069 more for gas over the past eight years than it did from 1993 to 2000-or enough to pay nearly one year’s tuition at a public university“. With articles released just last week in major newspapers about how American families are struggling to keep their kids in college, it is clear that those families really could use that extra five thousand dollars.

Then Third Way turns to look at the national balance sheet. Its findings truly take your breath away, as we stare into the almost inevitable recession. The report shows that if the economy had kept up the same rate of growth during the Bush years as it did the Clinton years, America’s economy would be larger, to the tune of $1.017 trillion. In addition, between 2000 and 2006, the number of uninsured Americans increased by 8.56 million. This means so many Americans live in a constant state of anxiety, not knowing if one bad accident or health problem could sink the family into poverty.

Oftentimes, Christians consider it their duty to look after “the least of these”. It seems though, that the Bush administration did not even bother to be a good steward to the vast majority of Americans–middle class, working class, or poor. The results are in-in no uncertain terms, the Bush administration ransacked the bank accounts of millions of Americans. In doing so, it wreaked havoc on the dreams and hopes of working families as well-it’s harder to send your kids to college than it was eight years ago, it’s more unlikely you don’t have health insurance for your family. On November 4^th, Americans need a president who will not only work to restore our nation’s economic health, but our ability to dream and hope for a better life–for ourselves and for our children.