I AM worse off than I was four years ago. I have

[AnotherMcIntosh]

108. >I don't understand, and any insight that you can provide would be appreciated.

First, let me mention that I'm retired. My age and my lifetime of experiences has given me a certain perspective on the economy.

Given the fact that out political leaders have adopted a policy of shipping and maintaining manufacturing jobs in foreign countries, I do not understand how it can be said and believed that "the economy is getting better and people are going back to work. ... with obama we are on the road to recovery."

Here's the let's-transfer-jobs-to-foreign-countries "free-trade" agreements that have been supported by the political leaders of both parties:

1994 - NAFTA

2001 - Jordan – United States Free Trade Agreement
2004 - Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement
2004 - Chile - United States Free Trade Agreement
2004 - Singapore – United States Free Trade Agreement
2005 - Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA; incl. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic)
2006 - Bahrain – United States Free Trade Agreement
2006 - Morocco - United States Free Trade Agreement
2006 - Oman – United States Free Trade Agreement
2007 - Peru – United States Trade Promotion Agreement

2011 - Panama - United States Trade Promotion Agreement
2011 - Colombia - United States Trade Promotion Agreement
2011 - Republic of Korea (South Korea) - United States Free Trade Agreement

Both presidential candidates support the adoption of another job-transferring "free-trade" agreement, one that is being called the NAFTA of the Pacific by some:

Trans-Pacific negotiations have been taking place throughout the Obama presidency. The deal is strongly supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the top lobbying group for American corporations. Obama's Republican opponent in the 2012 presidential elections, Mitt Romney, has urged the U.S. to finalize the deal as soon as possible.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/obama-trade-document-leak_n_1592593.html

Seriously, if it is the policy of both parties to ship jobs to foreign countries, and even if Obama is a better person than Rmoney, how will there ever be a recovery?