According to Democrats, their Party has become the party of prosperity. Clinton's farewell speech and the Democratic National Convention was a celebration of that prosperity, and at the conclusion he appropriated the famous question that Reagan had asked 12 years before:

"My fellow Americans, are we better off today than we were eight years ago?"

The answer from the Democratic delegates was a resounding "You bet!" Even Republicans seem to agree that things are better. For many, though, the answer to the question itself isn't self-evident. Are we in fact better off than we were eight years ago? And what does it mean to be better off? Are we better off spiritually? Economically? Militarily?

For Clinton, the question is generally economic. Are we more prosperous? In this new economy, the answer to that question is also fairly complex. Some Americans consider themselves part of the "new economy"; others feel left behind. So there are at least two answers to this popular question: first Clinton's (with most points taken from Monday's speech), and then the answer of those who feel that many Americans aren't any better off.

On One Hand...

Eight years ago, downsizing and unemployment had put 10 million Americans out of work. The deficit was $290 billion. The Federal debt had quadrupled, imposing a crushing burden on the economy and children.

The deficit has disappeared over the last eight years. For the first time in decades, wages are rising at all levels. We have the lowest child poverty rate in 20 years. The average family's income level has gone up more than $5,000. The number of families who own stock has gone up 40 percent. We have the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years. The lowest female unemployment rate in 40 years. We have doubled funding for Head Start and provided after-school and mentoring to more than one million young people. Reading, math, and SAT scores are up. More students than ever are going to college. We ended welfare as we knew it: now the W-2 program requires those who can work to work. There are 7.5 million fewer Americans on welfare, and the welfare rolls have been cut in half.

Our earned income tax credit will help 15 million families work their way into the middle class. Twenty-five million families will get a $500 child tax credit. Empowerment zones will bring new business to hardest pressed communities. Crime is at a 25-year low. Advances in health care have extended the Medicare trust fund for 26 years. People with disabilities can go to work. Diabetes care has been improved dramatically. More than 90 percent of the children are immunized against major childhood diseases.

The country is more diverse, the air is cleaner, and the economy is stronger. We are closer to the America of our dreams.

On the Other Hand...

Are we better than we were eight years ago? It depends who's asking the question. Presumably, most of the Democrats at the convention were doing better.

But if "we" includes the unskilled workers, they're certainly not better off. Workers with less than a high-school degree earn 26.2 percent less per hour than they did in 1979. Workers who only have a high school diploma earn 11.7 percent less than they did in 1979. Workers who have completed some college earn 8.6 percent less than they did in 1979. Productivity has increased 20 percent over the last eight years, but that makes this decrease in real wages less excusable. 70 percent of the labor force- the unskilled workers — shares no part of this new prosperity. If Clinton were an unskilled laborer, if he worked as a cashier or a fast food employee, he would probably start looking more fondly back to thirty years ago, when the average unskilled worker would make $10/hour in today's economy.

For Bill Gates and his crew, of course, things have definitely gotten better. That's because in this new economy, the money floats to the top. America currently has the largest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation. The wealthiest 1 percent of the population owns more than the bottom 95 percent. The unemployment rate may have declined for the masses, but that doesn't mean that they're "better off."

Between 1973 and 1998, real wages have declined. That means that families beneath the median income are either homeless, or on the verge of being homeless. In the last 10 years, there has been an increase of 900,000 households that pay 50 percent of their income for housing. Those people are surviving now, but they're living dangerously. They may have a job and a house now, but with the first dip in wages or increase in rent, they'll be on the street. Clinton of course, will be out of the White House then, reciting the same set of "facts" that has been his mantra for the last year or so, trying to redeem his legacy. Those who aren't better off will be struggling to support themselves. The rest of "us"- the increasing number of workers without health benefits or security - will be wondering what all the celebrating was about.

• According to the last U.S. Census (1998) the decline in poverty is "widespread." Between 1997 the median household income adjusted for inflation increased 3.5 percent, to $38,900. The poverty rate fell from 13.3 percent in 1997 to 12.7 percent in 1998. Median household income has surpassed its previous peak in 1989 by 2.6 percent or $1000, although the poverty rate remians statistically the same as in its 1989 level.

• According to the Economic Policy Institute, the real value of the federal minimum wage has declined by about $2 since 1967.

• Over a thirty year period, according to the Economic Policy Institute, the productivity has increased by 50 percent.

• The median income for people with advanced degrees has increased 12.4 percent from 1979 to 1997.

Census Bureau; Economic Policy Institute; Economic Policy Institute; Council of Economic Advisors