What a difference two years make

Charles Reichley
Published: August 13, 2008

Barack Obama has recently been asking voters whether they are better off than they were “four years ago or eight years ago.” But the real question is whether you are better off than you were two years
ago.

By many measures, things are better than eight years ago. But a lot of people are really hurting after the last year and a half — since the Democrats took over the government.

For example, the stock market is higher.  In January of 2001, the Dow was at 10,646.  Four years later the Dow stood slightly higher, at 10,729. Today, it closed at 11,642.  So we are better off than four
or eight years ago. But on January 2007 the Dow was over 12,400, so things have gone downhill the last year and a half of Democratic rule.

My house is worth more than it was four or eight years ago. My 2001 appraisal was $206,000. Four years later, it had risen to $366,000, and it was $368,300 at the start of this year. However, two years
ago my house was appraised at $476,400. My house value increased while the Republicans were in charge and dropped in the past 19 months that Obama’s party controlled Congress.

Or look at the unemployment numbers. Again, things were better before the Democrats won Congress. This decade started with unemployment at 4.2 percent, dropping to 5.7 percent soon after the 9/11
terrorist attacks.

But by 2005 unemployment had dropped back to 5.2 percent. And in January of 2007, when Nancy Pelosi took the gavel of the House of Representatives, unemployment was down to 4.6 percent. Now,
just 19 months later, unemployment has shot back up to 5.7 percent. Under the Democrats’ guidance, unemployment jumped as much as it did after a terror attack.

Obama wants you to choose which political party to support based on whether you were better off now than before Bush took office. But the real comparison isn’t from 2001 to now; or from 2005 to now;
but from 2007 to now. Because for almost any measure you can think of, Americans were better off in January of 2007, when the Democrats took over Congress, than they were in 2001 or 2005. 

For another example, household income was up an average of 15 percent between 2001 and 2006.  Even the bottom fifth, supposedly “left behind,” had their income increase over 10 percent. Also, the
percent of people who owned homes increased from 67.4 percent in 2000 to 68.9 percent in 2005. 

How about a “quality of life” issue — the crime rate? The crime index dropped more than seven percent from 2001 through 2006. Violent crime dropped more than six percent. Even the car theft rates were
down. 

So the real question is: are you better off than you were in January of 2007, when Nancy Pelosi took over the House and Harry Reid took over the Senate? From what we’ve seen so far, clearly the answer
is no. But here are some more comparisons.

When the Democrats took over Congress, gas prices were $2.21 a gallon. After 19 months of Pelosi and Reid refusing to allow drilling for oil, the price has soared to $3.86 a gallon — a 75 percent
increase. Oil is up even more — more than double, from $50 to $114. And it was as high as $147 per barrel before the Republicans started pushing for more drilling — a common-sense move the
Democratic leadership is blocking from a vote.

Even basic commodities cost more. Corn prices have nearly tripled, driving up the cost not only of bread but also poultry, meat and other food items dependent on corn or on oil.

Housing prices have plummeted. Unemployment is up. The stock market is down. Prices are up. Confidence is down. 

About the only bright spot in the past two years is the resounding success of the McCain-backed surge in Iraq. Of course, that winning strategy was opposed vehemently by the Democrats and Obama.

The past two Democrat years have been so bad that, as Obama points out, the reign of the Democrats has managed to wipe out the previous six years of gains under Republican leadership. 

So when Obama asks if you are better off today, if the answer is no, remember who has been in charge while everything went south. Two years ago America voted for change. And we got it — change for
the worse. Let’s fix that mistake this year.
Charles Reichley has been a Prince William County resident since 1981. He can be reached at critically .