Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Yes.

Fall 2000: economy going into the crapper, staying in school just so I could hang onto my $12/hr student job.

Fall 2004: going on 3 years of non-stop employment, now working as a consultant where there's so much demand, I'm often overworked, taking on multiple simultanous projects.  Almost all of my current clients are in the manufacturing sector, or are service sector businesses that work closely with the manufacturing sector.

(Granted, the manufacturing economy in NE Wisconsin is about as recession-proof as you can get.)

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

My family isn't better off than it was 4 years ago; at that time, my father was still working as a teacher. Now he's paralyzed and his income was cut in half since he relies on disability pay, and had to take an early retirement thus he's not getting a full pension anymore.

I'm sorry to hear about your father, Nym.  My dad was partially paralyzed in a car accident in 1993.  I know how tough it can be to go through that.  He lost his ability to play music, which was the thing he loved the most.