Are you better off from 4 yrs ago?

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-05-2004
Are you better off from 4 yrs ago?
40
Mon, 09-27-2004 - 8:43pm
Here's the orginial link: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/9/prweb159961.php

Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?



On October 28, 1980, in the second presidential debate, Ronald Reagan asked a question that resonated throughout the campaign that year: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?” During this election season, many members of “Republicans for Kerry” are asking themselves the same question.

Hilliard, OH (PRWEB) September 17, 2004 -- Veronica Reynolds, age 80, a registered Republican and a retired local high school secretary, will vote for John Kerry this year. When asked for her reasons, she quotes a question that Reagan asked 24 years ago. "Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

“Four years ago, I took a wonderful trip to New Zealand,” Reynolds tells RepublicansForKerry04.org, “and now I can no longer afford to travel out of this country. In fact, I have six children, four of whom live in states other than Ohio. It concerns me when I pay for the air fare to visit them.” Like many retired people, Reynolds has suffered a tremendous loss in her retirement savings over the past three years.

Also like many older citizens, Reynolds takes prescription drugs for a medical condition in her case, a chronic pre-cancerous condition for which she takes two tablets three times a day. She opted not to participate in what she called “Bush’s worthless prescription help for Medicare,” however. “I had to laugh, sadly, when the pharmaceutical companies raised their prices,” she says, adding that she was appalled at media reports that Bush’s new plan will reduce her Social Security benefits by 17%, and increase her Medicare premiums in 2005.

At a personal level, Reynolds knows that she is worse off than she was four years ago, but she is even more fearful for the nation if Bush is given four more years in office. “He will continue to destroy our country,” she says, noting that “if we disagree with his policies, we are accused of being un-American or not supporting our troops. Separation of church and state is on its way out. Foolish amendments to the Constitution are on their way in.”

In a neighboring state, 46-year-old Republican Debra Vanderpool, her husband, and their sixteen-year-old daughter, live in Towanda, in northeastern Pennsylvania. Like Reynolds, the Vanderpools are struggling day by day. “We wonder sometimes where we are going to get the money for groceries next week, ” Vanderpool says. “Four years ago, we had less money a month then we had now,” she recalls, “and we were making ends meet. We were getting groceries and paying bills and getting to go out to dinner or a movies once a while. So I ask myself am I better off than I was 4 years ago. Well the answer is no.”

Vanderpool is also concerned that the US entered into the war in Iraq under false pretenses, and believes that has destroyed our relationship with our allies. Our brave soldiers are dying everyday “For what?” she asks. “Many people were for the war because we believed in the existence of the WMD. Bush has lied to the people of this country. There are many reservists and Guard families out there that are about to lose everything because their spouses are out fighting in Iraq…. They and their families are clearly much worse off than they were four years ago.”

[Contact media@republicansforkerry04.org

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 3:56pm
Ofcourse my family is not better than what we were 4 years back. Both I and my husband lost jobs, he continued working as a car salesman and then as a retail store manager but made far less money than what we made as engineer. Recently we both got jobs as contractors in engineering position with no benefits and no off days without pay cuts. We have individual insurance that is a joke. Only 4 visits per year per family member. I have twin boys 4.5 yos. I have already finished 4 visits this year for one son. Will have to pay out of pocket for the anual checkup this november for him. The insurance has $2000 deductible per year so any lab work is out of pocket including yearly pap smear. We are still recovering from credit card debt because of no significant income for more than 2 years. Just managed to save the house for us. So we donot have any extra money to invest in Bush's flexplan for health care.. I know so many of my friends are in the same boat and are not better off but worse off than 4 years back.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2004
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 4:16pm
Nope, the cost of our health insurance went up, as well as college tuition, gas, and electricity, but our wages haven't kept up.

 

The last time anyone listened to a Bush, they were lost for 40 years!   Looks like we're doomed to "wander" ano

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-23-2004
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 4:40pm


That's because oil companies use whatever excuse they can find to raise prices-and there's nothing wrong with that. The bottom line is that we live in a free market economy, and as long as people are willing to pay higher prices they will keep going up. It all comes down to the consumer-when enough people get fed up enough to cut back on consumption, demand declines and magically so do oil prices, regardless of what's happening in Iraq or anywhere else.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-21-2003
Wed, 09-29-2004 - 10:07am
Crude oil price is determined by Crude Futures. Oil co's. raise there prices based upon the future market. When they keep saying that Oil is above $50 a brl. where do you think that price comes from...The Future Markets.

If you read my other post you will see that I stated that in the price of crude, that there is a 5-9 dollar premium (that was when crude was at $45 a brl.) for terror. So even if the world consumed less, crude would still be over inflated (right now)because of the risk of terror attacks in the oil producing countries.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Wed, 09-29-2004 - 1:13pm
Also so OPEC countries can line their pockets with additional money.....
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-28-2003
Wed, 09-29-2004 - 3:33pm
Worse off. DH was laid off twice, I was almost laid off and am facing a possible layoff again at the end of the year. My current job is for less than my last and the health benefits with this smaller company are not as good as my last job and are more expensive. (FYI - I have a Master's in Taxation, so it's not like I'm not educated or unemployable.) We have decreased the contributions in our daughters college savings plan and are eyeing more cutbacks to prepare for another possible layoff. My daughter's daycare costs have increased, our electricity bill has increased due to higher rates, and my commute is longer to my current job, so I've been affected by increasing gas costs. I feel less safe now as I live in an area that I believe is still in "Code Orange", which I think is a joke, but I often wonder how safe it is for my husband to ride the Metro. Mostly I feel less safe as I don't feel that the current administration knows what they're doing and the rumors that we'll invade Iran next are hopefully wrong. My neighbors across the street are from Iran and one will be going back soon for a couple weeks for a wedding. They moved to this country after enduring nightly bombing 18 years ago. Other friends from abroad have told me how highly regarded we no longer are, and I'm saddened because I still have great pride in my country. I also feel like basic civil liberties are under attack - Freedom of Speech, Right to Vote, etc. - things that I hold dear, as seen by unaddressed questions about voting machines, or whether or not Florida can pull off a fair election (now Ohio with Blackwell telling Board of Elections to reject registrations not on 80# paper, although he has since backed down some counties in Ohio continue this practice - disgraceful!).

For all these reason I'm voting for John Kerry.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Thu, 09-30-2004 - 10:23am
Same here.... $25 dollars may last me a couple of weeks. I only average 6,500 miles a year on my car.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2004
Thu, 09-30-2004 - 11:44am
I think everyone should ask themselves this questions when they walk into the voting booth on Nov. 2nd.

 

The last time anyone listened to a Bush, they were lost for 40 years!   Looks like we're doomed to "wander" ano

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Thu, 09-30-2004 - 2:58pm
I keep seeing this TV commercial for Shell about this man who invented a replenishable fuel source from the unusable parts of wheat.....where is it, and when is it going to be available for use by the public?

We have enough wheatfields to produce a plentiful supply of stock to replenish the fuel, and I am sure that the government would be willing to subsedize farmers to grow additional crops of wheat for fuel purposes.

Avatar for momeebear
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Thu, 09-30-2004 - 4:30pm
That does sound familar, wouldn't that be great? I saw Daryl Hannah (blonde actress) on a talk show a while back saying that she drives a car that runs on vegetable oil!!! Or was it peanut oil? Hmm, not sure now, but sounded pretty strange......wonder how fast it goes??? :-) And where did SHE get it? Guess you have to be famous......