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Were You Better Off 4 Years Ago?

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Clarissa

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In the meantime, the Trump campaign is plastering social media with “are you better off now than 4 years ago?”

Well, obviously we are all massively better now than in August of 2020. Can anybody in the campaign subtract 4 from 24 and figure out that drawing attention to the summer of COVID, lockdowns and BLM riots is not a brilliant move?

In August of 2020, parents were receiving news that schools weren’t going to reopen. It’s a very bad idea to invite people to think back to that time.

I definitely wasn’t better off 4 years ago because I couldn’t live my life as freely as I do now. I couldn’t see my sister and my parents, I couldn’t travel, I had to go to restaurants illegally, I had to go to battle and be excoriated to teach in person, my kid couldn’t go to preschool without a stupid mask.

Maybe don’t remind me of that because no matter who’s specifically to blame for it all, I was not better off. And I’m still angry about it.

15 responses to “Were You Better Off 4 Years Ago?”

  1. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Er you mean August of 2020.

    I’m sure people think of different things when they answer “Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago.”

    Inflation, obviously is terrible, now.

    But for me, I’m physically healthier now than I was four years ago. Health is wealth. Would you say the same of yourself?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Thank you, I corrected the typo.

      As for health, are you trying to be funny or have I not talked enough about being laid up in bed with one illness after another for 6 weeks? Bragging about your wonderful health to a person who has only barely started to walk is a genius move, truly. Next step: mocking people in wheelchairs.

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      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        No?

        Why did you infer being physically healthier than I was four years ago is “wonderful health” or a brag? I was comparing myself to myself at different points in time?

        In a country like the U.S, where cost of healthcare and health food keeps rising, health is wealth. I spend more on both than I did four years ago.

        Hopefully your foot injury recovery and covid bout recovery will be complete and through soon.

        Have a blessed day.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Oh, I’ve recovered from those. I now have something else, so I’m on antibiotics.

          Let’s see what fresh ailment this week brings.

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  2. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    “are you better off now than 4 years ago?”

    The comparison should be with 2019… Trump didn’t handle any of the challenges of 2020 with any particular skill but his incredibly fragile ego won’t allow that thought to appear….

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Hardcore fans don’t want to recognize it but the campaign is grievously mismanaged. Again.

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      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        I’m a supporter(won’t say fan) and I am unhappy with the ineptitude of the campaign.

        Amanda

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply
        1. cliff arroyo Avatar
          cliff arroyo

          “I am unhappy with the ineptitude of the campaign”

          Wisdom can only start when a person is not afraid to say “I was wrong”. Not “other people misled/lied to me” not “I was given bad information” but “I was wrong”.

          I don’t think that’s in Trump’s repertoire.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
        2. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          You are definitely not a fanatic, so you can see this clearly.

          I’d love to see two serious campaigns that make their case and try to engage the voters’ intellects. Instead, what we see is ineptitude on one side and pathological lying on the other.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
          1. PaulS Avatar
            PaulS

            Engaging the voter’s intellects seems fairly optimistic. Traditionally in SA, candidates were expected to represent their constituency’s interests as an alternative to armed conflict.

            https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Qualified_Franchise

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    2. ed Avatar
      ed

      The crazy thing with these egomaniacs is all they have to do is nothing. Trump could have just taken a back seat and let his cabinet manage the crisis and he probably would have been re-elected; instead he started giving these weird press conferences where he obviously was waay out of his depth.

      They think they are geniuses at everything and the world needs to see their ugly mugs at every corner. They just gotta keep feeding that ego, no matter what. Nasty people.

      Liked by 1 person

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    3. ed Avatar
      ed

      Definitely better off.

      The COVID economy was actually great for a lot of people.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Clarissa Avatar
        Clarissa

        Economically, we are better off now because we have both been promoted. Inflations come and go but the promotions are right there.

        But that’s our very specific situation that’s entirely apolitical.

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        1. ed Avatar
          ed

          Yes, the “great resignation’ was amazing for all workers; it was promotion galore with people getting promoted within years when it used to take a decade; or quitting and being immediately hired at a significant higher wage and level.

          Work from home especially allowed a lot of mothers to get back in the work force.

          We’re still in good shape, but the economic elite did not like it one bit, so you’re seeing strong push back against all these gains.

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  3. methylethyl Avatar
    methylethyl

    Better off financially. But that was nothing to do with politics: we made a plan, we lived on unicorn farts for two years while spouse went back to school for a professional certification, we executed plan successfully. x2.5 our previous household income.

    We were shooting for that target because four years ago, that was what we needed to be able to support our family and afford our own house.

    In the meantime, what politics did is run out, grab the target, and run it further downrange like they were trying to score a touchdown or something.

    So yeah, better off, by every possible metric.

    But also: running as fast as we can up the down escalator.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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