7 years ago, I was employed making good money and my 401K was tanking bad in fact I lost more than 50% that particular year. The very next year I was unemployed and from that point until about a year and a half ago I was woefully underpaid and way off my 7 year ago income. Things started to pick up about 3 years ago. I sold an older home, bought a new one in a hot market and it is still appreciating though slower than I would have hope. Still, anything positive in this economy is excellent. My 401K is recovering, albeit at a slower pace than say 9 years ago and keeping it from melting is a challenge these days. I do still find profit in stocks here and there, I just have to watch it a little more closely and choose more carefully. My pay is back up to where it was and more 7 years ago, that happened about 2 years ago. Do I praise the current administration for my success? Hell no, nor do I blame them for my downfall. I will say the current powers are making it more difficult to get gainfully employed in my chosen line of business and I have had to grow more to get out of development roles and into more managing ones due to the massive off-shoring of my profession. I am not sure if anyone is to blame there other than corporate greed. I am not happy about my loss of job opportunity, but it is making me grow in ways I had not previously dreamed of and maybe will be better off for it in the long run. India and China both are starting to raise their level of living to the point where it is not overwhelmingly feasible to move my job off-shore. Becoming a person involved in multinational teams is a plus I am finding on most resume hunts. For that I am better off, even if begrudgingly so. Change is inevitable, I do not think any one person in Washington controls my life to the point that I can blame failure on them or admonish them because of my good fortune. I do think they can make it tougher or easier and I am concerned about our loosing our place in this world as the best place to live or the strongest in all ways nation to other emerging countries if we are not cognizant of our pace. Am I better off? Much better, inspite perhaps of the corporate directions and the seemingly inconsequential concern for my status within my country that the government has. It could be worse, much worse. And it could be much better. I still would rather be in this country as opposed to any other. I just hope my kids can say that when they reach my age.