There's a lot of talk in the Presidential campaigns about whether or not people are better off today then they were eight years ago. It depends on who you ask. Here's my answer.
I'm Better Off
I'm better off now than I was eight years ago. That assessment seems
to be a popular measure of success for a particular party or President.
I don't think that success in a person's life is necessarily directly
attributable to decisions made by politicians. I've lived in a country
with a Republican President, in states run largely by Democratic
politicians. And for the last two years Congress has been controlled by
Democrats. My life is affected in part by decisions made by members of
both parties. But the decisions that have the greatest impact on my
life are made by me.
The fact is that I have architected my life in such a way that I
have minimal reliance on the government. I don't want or need the
government to provide me health care, education or any other social
assistance in my day-to-day life. I don't expect the government to save
money so my children can go to college. I included health care costs in
a monthly budget. I save money each month in education funds for both
of my children and have done so since they were only a few months old.
I look to the government to preserve and protect but not to provide.
Looking back on the last eight years I see that things today could
have been a heck of a lot worse. After 9/11/2001 there was a lot of
uncertainty. What would the U.S. do? How would we move forward? Could
we move forward? Well we did move forward. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan
and destroyed the Al Qaeda training camps. They should have been
destroyed years earlier. Then the U.S. invaded Iraq and eliminated
Saddam Hussein. This should have been taken care of during the first
invasion of Iraq.
The Iraq War
War is a terrible thing. But so is a failure to recognize who your
sworn enemies are. During the 1990s the U.S. failed to recognize the
major threat that Al Qaeda and the extreme fringes of Islam posed to
the country. To quote Barack Obama's pastor and spiritual advisor
Jeremiah Wright, "America's chickens have come home to roost." Indeed
but not because anything we had done, but because of what we failed to
do.
In many ways I feel that President Bush and his fellow leaders
failed the country in their conduct of the war in Iraq. It seemed to me
that the war was fought to appease the media and make us seem like a
more compassionate country. Unfortunately the enemy is not
compassionate and they took advantage of that fact to humiliate us and
cause great harm to the decent people of Iraq. Mistakes are made in war
and I also have to give credit to the people who were the architects of
what has been a great turnaround via the strategy known as "the surge."
I
want the war in Iraq to be over. But I want it to be over via victory,
not retreat. The surge has allowed a path out of Iraq that is
compassionate, honorable and makes sense. You win wars by fighting, not
sitting still. And now that our troops have been allowed to fight they
are closer to completing the mission than ever before. So I remember
that when many Democratic leaders thought (and said) the war was lost
that John McCain fought for a change in strategy.
The Housing Crisis
There
are bubbles that occur in just about every decade in the modern era.
The current situation with housing and mortgages is no different. Many
people gambled on the run up in housing prices and many people lost.
President Clinton had a bubble of his own with tech stocks in the late
1990s. The bubble burst in March of 2000. A lot of people lost a lot of
money in that time. There was very little sympathy for the plight of
these investors because the perception is that people who invest in
stocks are all rich.
The reality is that new technology had opened the
world of investing to the little guy and gal. And loads of personal
wealth and retirement was tied up in stocks via mutual funds. There was
plenty of pain to go around. Whose fault was it? I don't think it was
President Clinton's fault. And I don't think that the housing bubble
bursting is President Bush's fault. Individuals made decisions and some of those decisions were poor ones. I don't think that the purpose of the government is to guarantee success or prevent failure. We have now and should continue to have a free market for real estate in this country.
The end result of the housing bubble has had effects that are positive for some people and negative for others. The drop in housing prices has made a home truly affordable again to many people who had been priced out during the bubble years. Count me in to that category. I bought a house this summer that was unaffordable to me and my family at peak bubble prices. For some the effects have been very negative.
Many people bought homes with no money down on adjustable teaser rates and are now paying a higher price for their home due to higher interest rates.Others bought second and third homes as investments. Some took out equity lines in order to "tap into the equity" built up in their homes. Everyone who accepted these deals also took on a great deal of risk. Sometimes risk is rewarded and other times risk leads to negative consequences.
If you think that the government can (or should) protect you from market bubbles then you are in for a big surprise.You are the only one who can do that. Think before you take on a large amount of debt. Don't count and spend money that isn't in your hands. And don't believe it when people tell you that prices will always keep going up.
The Cost of EnergyEnergy prices have increased greatly in the last few years. The price of gas is way up. The price of heating oil and natural gas are way up.This effects every American in a multitude of ways. Our standard of living and ability to compete economically are greatly reduced because everything is effected by the cost of energy. I felt the pinch personally when I was driving 55 miles each way to work for a year. Between gas and tolls I was spending almost $300 per month on commuting costs. We were also living in a rented house whose monthly oil bills were approaching $500 per month.
Even though these added costs spelled trouble for the budget I took action before and after prices skyrocketed to mitigate the issue. Knowing that we would be living in an out of the way area I purchased the most fuel efficient car that would meet my needs for a second car. My Honda Civic gets nearly 40 MPG on the highway. And when the heating oil bill got ridiculous I decided that we absolutely needed to move closer to my work and live in a house with natural gas heat. We've done that and our budget has several hundred dollars a month more to show for it.
I think that the government does need to take action in order to create better energy security for the country. I hope that the next President embraces the utilization of domestic oil and gas production as much as possible. But until that time I'm doing everything I can, including adjusting my lifestyle and reworking my budget, to make sure that the effects of rising energy cost don't torpedo my family's economic future.
I Have HopeBarack Obama is selling "hope" and "change" as the reasons to vote for him for President. But I have hope no matter who is elected to Presidential office. And I know that I can effect change in my life if I work hard enough. That's why I decided to enroll in a part-time MBA program at night. I'm not waiting for the government to hand me a better future. I'm continuing my education and making an investment in myself that I think will pay off for my family.
The Next Eight YearsIn the last eight years my salary has increased about 30%. I got married. My wife and I have two children. We have a great house that really suits us. I'm employed doing something that I am passionate about. This is the life that I have planned and this is the life that I am living. I counted on the government for none of it. And that's why I plan on being better off eight years from now no matter who gets elected President.
