Comments for "Are Americans Better Off Today Than They Were Four Years Ago?" The Question That Exposes Incompetent Reporters at http://www.cepr.net , comment 1 to 32 out of 20 comments http://www.cepr.net Sat, 18 May 2013 06:32:14 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18708 The problem with journalists asking stupid questions is the equally stupid attempts to answer them. The best (and easiest) response to the question of whether I'm better off today than four years ago is simply: What's the criteria? If the journalist than says job growth, economic condition of the nation, employment, etc. The followup is simply: Did you prepare for this interview with the data for the arbitrary criteria you chose or did you expect me to arrive here having done your homework for you? After than snarky statement, you then pull out of your back pocket a matrix that shows 15 different economic categories from 2008 compared to today. And you hand it to the journalist and asks him/her to put that on the screen and let Americans judge for themselves. I guarantee that interview will be the most repeated interview of the campaign. - mike green Sat, 08 Sep 2012 05:10:27 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18674 To those Democrats who threaten to punish Obama for not cleaning up GW's mess fast enough: really? Is putting a Republican president into office really a good remedy for what's ailing the country? Consider this: the next president will probably appoint at least 2 new Supreme Court justices. Two plus 5 equals 7: seven conservatives vs. two liberals on the Supreme Court? What a disaster that would be. Plus another war - with Iran? What's a GOP administration without a war!? - rolland amos Thu, 06 Sep 2012 22:42:14 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18620 The question makes sense if the firefighters were spraying the house with gasoline. And when they were paying for the gasoline with your money. - Rodent Tue, 04 Sep 2012 15:36:59 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18618 "If you hear a reporter ask people in President Obama's administration, ideally in a belligerent tone, "are the American people better off than they were four years ago?,"the reporter is trying to tell you that they are not qualified to do their job." I agree. It's also true that anyone who has trouble answering this question shouldn't be in politics. It's the sort of softball question I'd plant with an "interviewer" if I had the chance. It's not a "have you stopped beating your kids" question. It's a "why aren't your kids better behaved" question...the answer is "My kids are the best behaved in town and I can prove it. Anybody who says different hasn't a clue as to what he or she is talking about." - Ohio Rick Tue, 04 Sep 2012 14:11:52 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18616 * [i]"Did any influential group insist that you should throw gasoline on the fire?"[/i] (Republican deficit hawks) * [i]"Did any influential group throw up roadblocks that kept you from using the tried and tested firefighting tools you had (i.e. stimulus)?"[/i] (Republican House/filibustering Republican Senate minority) - Calming Influence Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:17:47 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18613 [quote]The question is a succinct way of asking whether a President deserves a second term.[/quote] Are you kidding? The question is a SLEDGEHAMMER way of asking, Did you do a good job, there's nothing subtle about it. @Conrad Baylor [quote]One problem with your firefighter analogy: "Fireman" Obama didn't just promise to put the fire out. He also promised to rebuild the house. And on that promise, he simply hasn't delivered. [/quote] Aha, there it is again, the 'promise' smear! Obama didn't promise no such thing, that's just what LYING RYAN claims, but he LIES about that. As for promises, of the 506 promises Obama made: 190 or (37,55%) rate as Promise Kept 72 or (14,23%) rate as Compromise 83 or (16,40%) rate as Promise Broken 49 or (9,68%) rate as Stalled 112 or (22,13%) rate as In the Works Of 40 promises GOP made: 11 or (27,50%) rate as Promise Kept 4 or (10,00%) rate as Compromise 11 or (27,50%) rate as Promise Broken 3 or (7,50%) rate as Stalled 11 or (27,50%) rate as In the Works So Obama does extremely better than them, they aren't called Republican'ts for no reason. [quote]Really? The "nuance" argument again? That was a loser for Kerry, remember. [/quote] [quote]I know as a Democrat, I'm not about to vote for Obama again.[/quote] Really? the pretending to be a disappointed Democrat spiel again? That's sooo old, can't you get new material? [quote]He could have addressed the economic disaster, but chose the ACA disaster instead and at the worst possible time.[/quote] A clear case of a false dilemma, since solving the Health Care crises was and IS the basis of turning the economy around. Firstly, you can't have a good economy with loads of sick people. But secondly, taking away the basic fear of losing your job means losing your health care, means much more flexibility in job choosing. [quote]So maybe the reporters should ask the fire chief why he felt the need to operate on the neighbor's kidney [/quote] Blah blah .... The reporters should have asked if the fire would not have been put out much faster if the fire chief didn't have much of his crew sitting at home being sick. The nauseating implication is that RepuKKKes think that Health Care is a some type of luxury we as a country just can't afford. But that paradigm explains very well their reactions to the whole issue: They see it as just another scam by the undeserving poor, aka, African-Americans. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds. - The Steel General Tue, 04 Sep 2012 09:04:45 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18610 Really? The "nuance" argument again? That was a loser for Kerry, remember. You can be as nuanced as you wanna be, but simple messages resonate. And calling people names and dismissing their concerns is a serious character flaw. I know as a Democrat, I'm not about to vote for Obama again. He could have addressed the economic disaster, but chose the ACA disaster instead and at the worst possible time. So maybe the reporters should ask the fire chief why he felt the need to operate on the neighbor's kidney while the fire raged next door. There's nuance for you. - UmaSpankhurst Tue, 04 Sep 2012 07:45:26 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18601 One problem with your firefighter analogy: "Fireman" Obama didn't just promise to put the fire out. He also promised to rebuild the house. And on that promise, he simply hasn't delivered. It's time to fire the fireman and hire a builder. - Conrad Baylor Tue, 04 Sep 2012 05:06:05 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18598 that Obama doesn't know beans about putting out fires either. The question is a succinct way of asking whether a President deserves a second term. Obama gave his first term a grade of "incomplete." That's what you get when you don't show up for class. - myiq2xu Tue, 04 Sep 2012 04:17:01 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18595 Perhaps the Obama camp would've been better off with the surprise answer, "No, we're NOT better off than we were four years ago." Would've given them a chance to bash the Repubs a bit. - Pierre Bastien Tue, 04 Sep 2012 03:28:44 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18584 the fire chief could mention that the house is no longer on fire. - SqueakyRat Mon, 03 Sep 2012 23:09:27 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18580 1.BOLI records show 4 million jobs lost is false 2.Under Bush both wars were off budget and Obama can't be blamed for both of them stretching out to ~ a decade 3.Blame for bubble can't be blamed on CRA 4.Kaiser Foundation has a quiz about ACA if you are so smart take it and find out what is really does 5.Republicans met on Inauguration Day to plot how to not cooperate with President Obama - tom Mon, 03 Sep 2012 14:57:41 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18579 The question, "are you better off today", needs to be measured against the way things would normally be, or were promised to be, by now. Liberals claim that Pres. Obama has created 4 million jobs since he took office, ignoring the fact that his administration was in office when most of those jobs were lost, and that if we had been able to old unemployment steady at "normal" levels, we would have created an additional 12 million jobs by now (to absorb the people entering the workforce). Also ignored, by both Republicans and Democrats, is the fact that GWB had lots of help in crashing the economy. Remember that the last two years of the GWB administration was controlled by Democrats in the House and Senate. And remember that Democrats also voted to send troops to both Afghanistan and Iraq, so everyone should share the blame there. The housing bubble traces it's roots back many years, to Democrat administrations that worked toward home ownership for everyone, which led to Liar Loans, which GWB tried unsuccessfully to curtail but could not convince the Democratic legislature to take appropriate action. Ask yourself instead, did Pres. Obama keep his promises? Yes, he gave us a monstrous health care bill (have you read it?), but there is little evidence that he really made any effort to keep his promises, especially the promise not to run for reelection if he didn't trim the deficit. Did he reach across the aisle to the opposition party as he promised? The President has a good example in Bill Clinton on what to do, specifically go to the center, but he instead dug in his heals. Not one Republican amendment was included in the thousands of pages of the health care act. Republicans will not compromise unless Obama will, and he won't. They will work with a reasonable person, as happened with Clinton. Four more years of extremism on both sides will be the inevitable result if Pres. Obama is reelected, unless and until Democrats in Congress get fed up with his intransigence and override his wishes. - Carl Mon, 03 Sep 2012 13:00:46 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18575 If they asked me whether the American People are better off now then they were four years ago, I would say, "They are better off than if the Republicans had been in office for the last four years." - Ethan Mon, 03 Sep 2012 11:01:15 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18569 Stating "the house was fire-damaged four years ago" implies that the house Obama inherited from Bush the Lesser was no longer engulfed in flames which is not true. If you consider that actually putting the fire out was Obama's job one and now the rebuilding is slowly getting going in spite of obstruction at every step, GD-right we're better of now than four years ago. - AndrewS Mon, 03 Sep 2012 07:03:35 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18568 It is funny when some of these reporters think they have come up with an "ah ha" "gotcha" type question. It's the classic when did you stop beating your wife type of question. I really don't understand what people like George Stephanopoulos get paid to do. They could easily just pick a person off the street, hand him/her a $50, and get more thoughtful questions. - Jay Mon, 03 Sep 2012 06:10:23 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18567 Four years ago, the economy was in free-fall, losing 750,000 jobs a month. The Dow dipped to 6600 by February of 2009. There was widespread fear of a massive depression. Since the stimulus kicked in, the job losses stopped and we've added 4 million private sector jobs while the Dow has just about doubled. You can argue that the recovery has been too sluggish and debate the reasons - I'd counter-argue that what we went through in 2008 was more than a simple downward cycle, it created a massive fundamental change in our society. People don't trust the banks, use their homes as ATM's or max out credit cards as much any more. But the argument to make against Obama is whether the recovery should be further along, not if we're better off than 4 years ago. That argument is stupid, unless you've completely forgotten what 2008 was like. - Summers Mon, 03 Sep 2012 05:14:57 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18566 I can only speak on what Ive seen and my personal opinion and experience. As to the reference to the unemployed.....I see help wanted signs in just about every other business. Four years ago, I saw none. The local help wanted site is loaded with jobs, as is the De.pt of Unemployment. SO, this is indeed better now than it was 4 years ago. I have to wonder how many of these unemployed are not willing to take a job that they view as " beneath them". Ive always taught my kids that if it is an honest living, it is better than no living. Underemployed is better than unemployed. Having a paycheck is better than not. Our economy is slowly recovering.....if something is just slapped together for the sake expediency, it will not weather a storm....if it is well thought out and given a solid foundation, while it may take longer to do it the right way, it will be something that can withstand a great deal more than the expedient solution. - Michele Mon, 03 Sep 2012 05:14:19 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18565 What is ironic to my mind is that the demographic that supports Obama the least is the well off senior white population, particularly white males, yet this group has gained financially during the last four years largely due to the recovery of the stock market. - AlanInAZ Mon, 03 Sep 2012 05:11:38 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters#comment-18564 el ronbo, are you kidding. I don't consider 1% growth growth. Recession ended? Why does obama keep blaming Bush for everything negative. Bin Laden dead, only because of water boarding. Stock market up,not with real value.Less prejudice? you get to shove your values down peoples throats. No one is keeping children from seeing a doctor. Improved medicare? That's an oxi-mo-ron. You want to fix the health care system, get government out of it. - bob Mon, 03 Sep 2012 05:09:43 +0100