As a Michigander I don't know if I should Laugh or cry when I hear that Question limited to just the last 8 yrs.
The Big 3 started leaving dead bodies on 8 & Woodward during the first Oil Crisis, refused to change energy source, Got their asses Kicked by the japanese, then started shipping what jobs remained Over Seas- We've Been Gutted & filleted
LAST 8 YEARS??? Over 30 yrs!!!
Sure they Blew some Smoke up Our asses in the Begining of Clintons Terms- but ultimately STOLE the store out from under US!
Michigan and all those states which depend on US being the 'Motor City' have not only rusted, they have decayed and broken into Dust! I live outside Flint (Roger & Me)which has about a 12% unemployment Rate- and I have no doubt it has made the list for worst employment for a VERY Long Time.
So they have left US with employment opportunities far below Surplus of the Labor commodity. Give US a false since of Security (economic & international) thru the '90's (back to driving Gas Guzzling Lead Sleds, conspicuous consumption). Just to literally Hang US Throughout the first decade of the 21st century ( and certainly far into the future)
It is not the Ideological Motivation Nor ethics of this country to measure by Presidential Terms. WE Measure How we are Doing by the Last Generation..Because an Americna Value is to ASSURE the next generation ALWAYS has it better the Us (PROGRESS).
As for those Who Failed to grasp that VERY American Concept of Responsiblity has done a grave disservice to not only US, but to those Who came and paved the way Before Us. Of Course some of them haven't figurd this particular American Vlaue Up Yet, Case in Point....

VERY Disturbing: Out doing voter Registration and a woman about 85 Says she's voting for McCain- ultimately a Race issue,You can read it in their faces. Then she Say's 'I've Lived through One Depression I can live through another'.Well Considering it's a 'At least I woke Up this morning' Existence and her Bucket list had better be near completion- Nobody gives a shit what she thinks she might live to see, she may not even make it to tomorrow! Second- what about her Kids, probably just started on Medicare, Social Security. Her grandchildren who are watching as their Retirement funds slip down the Drain and thoughts of retiring are a Pipe Dream. How about Her Great grand Children- Just bought a Home they figured the could afford, have small children, competeing against their parents cohorts for Jobs.Their Great Great Grandchildren who have been handed a 'Past Due ' notice as soon as they exit the Womb?...What about THEM!!!!Wish I'd had caught her name -just to let her family know who helped fuck them over.
so Now someone Tell me Who is a Real American, a 'Patriot'? Who is truley Moral Person? Who is 'Right'eous?

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turn government into one great national union. If the middle class is to survive we have no choice.

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Anyone who gauges the answer to that question by NASDAQ and CPI numbers, is still out of touch with the disaster that the economics of daily life has become, for tens of millions of Americans.

The questions we should be asking are, how many more homeless? How many more working homeless? How many more without health insurance? How many more with health insurance but still unable to afford the rising premiums and copays, without putting other basic necessities in jeporday?

How many, who have managed their meager salaries judiciously and struggled to afford a modest home, are now in danger of losing that home? For how many of those people are their modest homes their only asset, the only security they have in this world?
How many have lost their jobs because of merged mega-corporate entities that have closed down operations in the U.S. and shipped those jobs to other countries where they can pay slave labor wages with no worker safety or environmental oversights .... and gotten government subsidies (read "corporate welfare") and huge tax breaks, for doing so?

Barak Obama is addressing these issues. Get out and vote people, in numbers so huge that not all the election site harassment and electronic tampering the Republicans can pull out of their evil bag of tricks, will be able to deny the outcome.

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are doing just fine.

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I'm better. In 2000, my family income (for a family of 4) was 19K. Now I'm a homeowner (with a NON-predatory loan) and my family income is in the six figures.

But I don't think Bush or the government had a damn thing to do with it. I kinda think it was our hard work.

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Can you imagine McCain and Palin's answers to this in a debate? If McCain/Palin said people are better off now than eight years ago, their credibility would fall even further than it already has.

Is there a lower point to fall in credibility than zero?

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CEPR recently released a report comparing the state of the economy in 2000 and 2008. We use 25 indicators of economic well-being and economic performance and find that 23 of the 25 indicators are worse in 2008 than they were in 2000.

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