Are you better off?

Every now and then, when I'm perusing Facebook these days, somebody inevitably posts – usually a Republican – President Ronald Reagan's now-famous question to voters: "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

The question has become nearly iconic during every election season. It doesn't matter who's running for office, or which party they represent. It's a many-faceted question that almost always demands a response. It's a dig, it's accusatory, it's penetrating, it's superficial, it can be rhetorical and it can be literal at the same time. It's not avoidable.

I've thought about this a little bit. My own question is why are some people asking this now?

But let's take a look.

Four years ago was August 2020. The now-34-time convicted felon and adjudicated rapist Donald Trump was the president and he was running for a second term. And he was drowning in Covid-19, which, by that point, had claimed the lives of at least 350,000 Americans in a pandemic he totally mishandled. He asked if we could maybe inject bleach. And some people did. Thank you, Dr. Trump.

I think there's been a collective amnesia that has conveniently (for Trump, at least) blocked out the temporary morgues that sprang up, complete with refrigeration trucks, outside of hospitals as people died on their ventilators. Well, if they could get a ventilator in the first place. It was real carnage, not the kind you make up for an inauguration speech.

To his credit, Trump did bring us Operation Warp Speed, which gave us a Covid vaccination when we needed it most, and in record time. But then, paradoxically, he downplayed the vaccination, creating anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers. People died, predominantly cultist Trump Republicans. Trump even came down with Covid himself and required life-saving efforts from a medical team at Walter Reed Hospital.

So there's that. Covid. It set the stage for what would follow. The unemployment rate rose to 15 percent. The supply chain was in its initial stages of breakdown. Inflation was low, 1.9 percent or something like that early on, but the worldwide pandemic would jack that up to nearly 10 percent by the time Joe Biden took office.

The economy was strong under Trump (which he inherited from President Obama), but then Covid came on big time in March of that year and suddenly, both the job and stock markets cratered. Guess who stood by and played golf? Thank you, Prof. Trump.

All of this chaos was handed over to Biden, who had exactly one day – his Inauguration – to enjoy as his honeymoon period. But working with a severely divided Congress, Biden has created more jobs – about 15 million – than any one-term president. The inflation rate has dropped to 2.9 percent as wages rise.  The unemployment rate has fallen to about 4 percent. A couple weeks ago some high-profile hostages were released from Russia, and this week, the administration announced it has renegotiated lowering prescription drug prices with Big Pharma. I'll be able to afford my Eliquis in a year. Border crossings are so low that Texas Governor Greg Abbott doesn't have any illegals to ship off to Northern sanctuary cities anymore. 

Crime is down. Well, except for Trump crime. Why is this guy still the Republican candidate?

My 401k has never been better. Has yours?

So the next time somebody asks if I'm better off than I was four years ago, the answer is a resounding Hell yeah! Vote blue.