Are you better off?

The question Republicans keep raising is whether Americans are better off today that four years ago.  It is interesting that the only ones truly better off over the past four years are the top 10 percent of Americans.  Those Americans who have taxable incomes in excess of $250,000 have experienced massive gains in income and wealth while the vast majority of citizens have either remained stagnant or fallen behind in terms of purchasing power or accumulation of wealth.  This is part of the problem with today’s economy.  Those who have the greatest need for government are the very voters most likely to continue to vote in ways that are contrary to their interests.  These are the very voters who voted against recalling Wisconsin Governor Scott.  These are the voters who support eliminating inheritance taxes although they will never have a taxable estate.  These voters are opposed to raising the tax rates on income over $250,000 but will never have a tax return with an AGI over $250,000 themselves.  These voters are most in need of jobs, but send representatives to Congress that vote against bills to fund infrastructure construction and maintenance which would serve to create the jobs they personally need.  As a result of thirty years of lies and misleading economic policy statements, republicans have succeeded in getting a large number of voters to send representatives to federal and state legislatures that are totally contrary to the voters’ own interests.  Hopefully, with the 2012 elections, things will change and voters will look at their own realities and vote to best serve their needs. The one thing we know for certain, we are not better off when we have an economy that loses 750,000 jobs a month.  We also know that we are better off when the DOW in in the 13,000 range rather than the 6,000 range as with the last Republican administration.  One would think that even Republicans would prefer today's Wall Street to the Wall Street of 2008 - 2009, but it is obvious that Republicans have amnesia when it comes to the economy brought on by the last Republican administration.