How Is Your Life Different?

I read a lot of the posts regarding Obama and the current administration. Some of you say things like, "my worst fears have come true", and "Obama has ruined the country". Others say things like, "things are so much better, now" and, "Obama has improved things a lot". So I got thinking about this. Obama has been in office for six months. My life hasn't changed much at all, and any changes that have occurred have had nothing to do with Obama or the administation, either positively or negatively.

So, here is your question. How has Obama being in office changed/altered your life. I am not talking about what will happen in the future. That is irrelevant to this poll. I am not talking about how you feel. That is also irrelevant to this poll. I am talking about concrete, tanglible changes that you can draw a direct path to the administration and/or President Obama.

So. how has the Obama Administration changed/altered the tangible aspects of your life?

None, and I might as well say that goes for feelings also. :shrug:

No changes yet, at least not anything that seems to affect me so far. Only thing that has changed is the rest of the world seems to dislike us less, whether logical or not. Can't call the bailouts and deficit change because Bush did that too.

My life is not different at all really. I didn't expect it to be.

galenrox said:

Well, I graduated from college into the worst economy since the great depression, and I blame a great deal of that on President Obama's decision to use control over financial regulatory policy to exert clout over private business over using it to normalize the credit and investment markets.

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Uh, that started before Obama got elected. It would be correct to say that he hasn't pulled us out of the recession, but there's no proof that this would have self-corrected by now without him.

I can't think of any changes that have taken place in the last 6 months.

My life has changed for the better in that I'm no longer screaming expletives when the President of the United States speaks.

I don't think much has changed yet. I've personally gone through some very big changes that have affected my lifestyle. I do expect the impact of all this printing and spending to be felt down the road though.

Statements such as "my worst fears have come true", "Obama has ruined the country", "Obama has improved things a lot" and "things are going to be better, now", do not refer to the change in your life as a result from Obama's administration, but rather, to the change in the country.

Get back to me in a year, I guess.

The only possible near-future changes to my life I can think of involve a potential new healthcare system that may benefit my family, since my mom's an ER pediatrician who commonly has to deal with uninsured patients. If some kind of limit on malpractice lawsuits is passed, she'll be even happier, since the possibility of frivolous court action forces her to order lots of unnecessary tests.

As far as me, personally, the new emphasis on volunteering might help me build on my college resume if a good opportunity appears near me for this winter or next summer.

My drive this weekend was a lot smoother because of the Recovery and Reinvestment act. They finally fixed a terrible section of I-74.

Other than that, not much has changed.

So far, the porkulus boondoggle facetiously termed the American Recovery and Re-investment Act and the payola bank bailouts given to Wall Street are proving a drag on the economy, and, so far as I can see, helping to push energy prices down. Failing to invest properly in infrastructure--a major need in this country--certainly is counterproductive.

Some of my major consulting clients are in the energy sector, and low energy prices means projects postponed and revenues lost.

Dear Leader's idiocy costs my company money. I'm a greedy sort--politicians taking my money from me never goes down easy.

Nothing has changed, as of yet. I work as a federal contractor, so every 4 years, we expect a certain degree of turmoil, but there is no noticeable difference between now and six months ago, workwise or otherwise.

I haven't decided yet how I feel about Obama. I'm cautiously optimistic. I've agreed with some things he's done, I've disagreed with other things he's done, and I haven't formed opinions yet about some issues. I'm basically withholding judgement, which is exactly how I felt about W. for the first year or two. In all truthfulness, I was a Dole fan, and W was the last person I wanted in office, so I wasn't happy about his victory.

I still wish Dole had won, frankly. I can't imagine that he'd have been worse than W. I really can't.

Two things:

1. My life - specifically, my work life - has definitely changed for the better since the election. I work in the genetics industry doing research and chromosomal analysis on birth defects. While I have no patient contact, we do employ genetic counselors to answer any questions the parent(s) may have whenever some abnormality is discovered in their fetus. Up until 2008, new regulations about what we could no longer do as a laboratory seemed to crop up a few times a year. We'd get these stupid little inter-office memos about how our company would be fined or held liable by such-and-such new code, and more than a few of them were written to our company from the office of Elizabeth Dole regarding the whole Title X funding issue (we dealt with that nonsense for almost a year - what a pain!). And they seemed to be getting more and more numerous as time went on.

In 2008, these began to trickle away. When Obama and the Dems swept the election, they stopped entirely. One of the codes has since been done away with, and to date, no new inter-office memos about some useless new code or regulation that's entirely unnecessary has come our way.

2. We are now working with the University of Miami Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute doing some contract research. The guy interested in doing the research called our company the very day after the election to set it all up. It's very fascinating stuff.

CaptainCourtesy said:

I read a lot of the posts regarding Obama and the current administration. Some of you say things like, "my worst fears have come true", and "Obama has ruined the country". Others say things like, "things are so much better, now" and, "Obama has improved things a lot". So I got thinking about this. Obama has been in office for six months. My life hasn't changed much at all, and any changes that have occurred have had nothing to do with Obama or the administation, either positively or negatively.

So, here is your question. How has Obama being in office changed/altered your life. I am not talking about what will happen in the future. That is irrelevant to this poll. I am not talking about how you feel. That is also irrelevant to this poll. I am talking about concrete, tanglible changes that you can draw a direct path to the administration and/or President Obama.

So. how has the Obama Administration changed/altered the tangible aspects of your life?

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The Home Valuation Code of Conduct has directly affected my father's business. He's a resedential appraiser and apparently lenders can no longer choose their own appraisers. This could put him out of business.

My best friend, who previously worked at the Chicago Board of Options Exchange, told me the government bailouts basically put his firm out of business. He said the smaller investment firms and options traders couldn't compete with government-funded ones.

Our debt has increased - this affects everyone.

The government is increasing the money supply via quantitative easing - this affects everyone.

Well, I must be one of the few poor people on here. I also happen to know a bunch of poor people and I can tell you firsthand, life under Obama has eased the lives of many many of the poorest of this nation.

The Elders I work with and those like myself, disabled and on social security, got a boost. Now maybe $300 xtra doesn't mean much to the rest of you (it didn't mean much to me either when I was making 80K/year), but for the people I know, it came at the end of winter when times are really rough and people are teetering on the brink of total economic collapse.

The CHIPS expansion also helped many of my family who are working, have jobs, but can't afford health care.

Expanding unemployment benefits and changing the rules so those going to college can still collect benefits has really helped out a bunch of my strays, nieces, nephews who used to work in the timber/fire fighting and got laid off.

The extra funding put into AFDC and food stamps has helped a couple of my strays to better make ends meet. It was just the boost needed for a couple of them to be able to get out of the system. Also, changing the rules so going to college counts helps tremendously.

The increased emphasis on green energy resulted in a pretty unique coalition of timber industry, workers, environmentalists, local, state and federal govt agencies working on a plan that will replace the timber economy while utilizing the skills of the timber workers and the now idle mills here.

Simply, Obama has changed peoples perceptions of the world and their place in it. It's not just a world for the rich any longer. We have a president for ALL Americans. People are getting those critically important jump starts to help change their lives. He's tackled what seems to be an impossible situation, and I see others doing the same in their own lives.

I work as a chemist, and when I meet my peers from around the world, they always comment about how great the new U.S. president is, and how is so much better than the last. That has been the only impact that I have seen, other than picking-up like $30/week from the April tax cut.

tlmorg02 said:

I work as a chemist, and when I meet my peers from around the world, they always comment about how great the new U.S. president is, and how is so much better than the last. That has been the only impact that I have seen, other than picking-up like $30/week from the April tax cut.

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What has he done so great?

Reverend_Hellh0und said:

What has he done so great?

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From their perspective, he has shown that he appreciates the fact that other nations matter, and that the U.S. wants to be a partner and friend to them, rather than a military giant, that doe sas it wishes without concern for the cares of others. I did not think that Bush was as harsh as they made him out to be, and tell them so, though he did not fund scientific research very well. Obama has placed much money into science and scientists love him for it.

tlmorg02 said:

From their perspective, he has shown that he appreciates the fact that other nations matter, and that the U.S. wants to be a partner and friend to them, rather than a military giant, that doe sas it wishes without concern for the cares of others. I did not think that Bush was as harsh as they made him out to be, and tell them so, though he did not fund scientific research very well. Obama has placed much money into science and scientists love him for it.

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So, "he's been nice to us" is there answer?



Do you have the statistics as to who threw more of my money at what should be private companies science research?

Reverend_Hellh0und said:

What has he done so great?

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For a man who can't dance or walk without slouching, he does do a fairly graceful subservient bow.

Nothing has changed yet. What I'm afraid of is that it will soon.

windovervocalcords said:

My life has changed for the better in that I'm no longer screaming expletives when the President of the United States speaks.

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Such unrestrained vocalizing is usually a sign that you need to get your head checked. In your case you suffer from a well-known medical condition called B.D.S.

Reverend_Hellh0und said:

So, "he's been nice to us" is there answer?



Do you have the statistics as to who threw more of my money at what should be private companies science research?

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A better world leader and diplomat, is their answer.

I do not have the exact figs, but I do know that Obama has put more money into NIH which goes to mostly academic institutions for research, though some private companies do recieve funds as well.

tlmorg02 said:

A better world leader and diplomat, is their answer.

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I think he is "diplomating" us into a nuclear Iran, and a bolder N. Korea.... :lol:

I do not have the exact figs, but I do know that Obama has put more money into NIH which goes to mostly academic institutions for research, though some private companies do recieve funds as well.

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It would be interesting to see the hard numbers.