The Federal Reserve said the median net worth of families plunged by 39 percent in just three years, from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010. That puts Americans roughly on par with where they were in 1992.
I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.
"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian." - Henry Ford
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges; When the Republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous. - Publius Cornelius Tacitus
otisptoadwater wrote:
The Federal Reserve said the median net worth of families plunged by 39 percent in just three years, from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010. That puts Americans roughly on par with where they were in 1992.
By contrast, the wealthiest families’ median net worth rose slightly.
2008 was a disaster for the middle class and for seniors
U.S. household wealth fell by a record $5.1 trillion from October to December, almost twice the decrease in the previous quarter, as home values and stock prices plunged, Federal Reserve figures showed.
Net worth for households and non-profit groups decreased to $51.5 trillion, the lowest level in four years, from $56.6 trillion in the third quarter, according to the Fed’s quarterly Flow of Funds report yesterday. Wealth dropped $11.2 trillion in 2008 from the year before, the biggest annual decline since the government began keeping quarterly records in 1952.
The loss of peoples equity in homes and in retirement accounts is difficult to make up, especially for those who were close to or at retirement age. If you lose 40% of your investments, then you need to make 66% on your current investments to just break even. It's hard.....instead people adjust their lifestyle to fit their new circumstances. Same with the loss in equity in the home.
It's nice, however, to know that the wealthy are doing fine, I'm sure they will all be creating jobs for the rest of the people who aren't doing fine real soon, maybe as soon as we transfer some more wealth to them.
Yep, hard to hold onto those savings when there is no work. And for awhile when wealth was declining, prices were going down too, but prices are going up now while asset prices like homes are still flat.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
It's nice, however, to know that the wealthy are doing fine, I'm sure they will all be creating jobs for the rest of the people who aren't doing fine real soon, maybe as soon as we transfer some more wealth to them.
We would already be out of this recession if our government had done the right thing to begin with in 2008. Instead- we embarked upon a socialist strategy of bailing out the economy- banks and financial institutions. We abandoned the holy grail of free market economics- the law called Moral Hazard.
We used government to control the economy- instead of allowing the market to make the necessary adjustments.
Big Mistake- the result is a housing and real estate market that can not find a bottom. Banks who will not lend. A job market stagnent for years now- and and economy skirting along break even and recession.
It would all be over and done with if the government had just done nothing- these markets would have found a bottom- and started up again in a real way. Many other countries are clear of this recession because they let the market sort it out.
Jobs get created when the market demands them- not by any other way, and you would think we have at least learned that lesson by now!
It's nice, however, to know that the wealthy are doing fine, I'm sure they will all be creating jobs for the rest of the people who aren't doing fine real soon, maybe as soon as we transfer some more wealth to them.
We would already be out of this recession if our government had done the right thing to begin with in 2008. Instead- we embarked upon a socialist strategy of bailing out the economy- banks and financial institutions. We abandoned the holy grail of free market economics- the law called Moral Hazard.
We used government to control the economy- instead of allowing the market to make the necessary adjustments.
Big Mistake- the result is a housing and real estate market that can not find a bottom. Banks who will not lend. A job market stagnent for years now- and and economy skirting along break even and recession.
It would all be over and done with if the government had just done nothing- these markets would have found a bottom- and started up again in a real way. Many other countries are clear of this recession because they let the market sort it out.
Source?....
As usual, this is more of your free-market hokum & assumptions. But since it started in 2007, and it was Bush that signed the TARP program, AND the auto-bailout, and who presided over the worst recession since the Great Depression with his failed policies, you still want to vote for someone who freely admits that what they want to do is just go back to the same failed policies? :bash
It's nice, however, to know that the wealthy are doing fine, I'm sure they will all be creating jobs for the rest of the people who aren't doing fine real soon, maybe as soon as we transfer some more wealth to them.
We would already be out of this recession if our government had done the right thing to begin with in 2008. Instead- we embarked upon a socialist strategy of bailing out the economy- banks and financial institutions. We abandoned the holy grail of free market economics- the law called Moral Hazard.
We used government to control the economy- instead of allowing the market to make the necessary adjustments.
Big Mistake- the result is a housing and real estate market that can not find a bottom. Banks who will not lend. A job market stagnent for years now- and and economy skirting along break even and recession.
It would all be over and done with if the government had just done nothing- these markets would have found a bottom- and started up again in a real way. Many other countries are clear of this recession because they let the market sort it out.
Source?....
As usual, this is more of your free-market hokum & assumptions. But since it started in 2007, and it was Bush that signed the TARP program, AND the auto-bailout, and who presided over the worst recession since the Great Depression with his failed policies, you still want to vote for someone who freely admits that what they want to do is just go back to the same failed policies? :bash
That's just your hyperbole- you are the one repeating the talking points- no one is suggesting that we go back to the same failed policies except you.
We don't need a source to prove that the free market works- except for people like you who refuse to accept reality. The free market has always worked - except for those examples where the government has stepped in to intervene.
The best example of this is during the 30's where government intervention prolonged the event into a decade long depression. That's where we are headed now- unless we get the government out of the business of managing the economy.
All I see is a repeat of the same "failed policies". It didn't work back then and it won't work now.
Jobs come back when the economy improves- and that will happen when the government (including the FED) stops the intervention. The housing market will improve when the jobs come back.
There are some days when I despair over the current fiasco, that sometimes it has to be this bad or get worse before people wake up and realize the current policies are not working and that change has to be made.
IN NOVEMBER 2014, WE HAVE A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO CLEAN OUT THE ENTIRE HOUSE AND ONE-THIRD OF THE SENATE! DONT BLOW IT!
“When white man find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water. Women did all the work, Medicine man free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night having sex. Only whit man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that.” Indian Chief Two Eagles
If I make something, letting the CEO keep a few more million doesn't mean I use it create more product for a population that doesn't have the money to spend. "Supply-side" and "Trickle-down" STILL doesn't work. Trickle-down hasn't, doesn't and won't....
If people have money to spend, and they want to buy more of what I make than I am currently producing, THEN I hire more people to make more. You don't hire more in the hopes that "they will come." But such is the nature of "free-market" idiocy.
letting the CEO keep a few more million doesn't mean I use it create more product for a population that doesn't have the money to spend. "Supply-side" and "Trickle-down" STILL doesn't work.
LJ is going to "let me keep" the money I earned - how thoughtful of you!
Do you even see what you Libs are saying - lets get one thing clear- those people EARNED the money- it dosn't belong to the government, it belongs to the people who earn it!
And let me tell ya- "trickle up" dosn't work. Trickle down is when people keep the money they earned- trickle up is when the government steals the money people earn- and give it to people who didn't earn it.
And this system is called Socialism- or Communism. It has failed everywhere in the world where it has been tried, and now the arrogant left thinks they need to try it again here.
Stop thinking that the money other people earn belongs to the government- it dosn't. Stop thinking that people who keep what they earn is "trickle down".
It dosn't matter if they create jobs or not- it's their damn money to do with what they want!
Most of the time- they do use it to create jobs- by buying services and products, by saving, by investing and spending it. All of those activities wind up creating jobs and promoting more economic activity- somthing we need more of these days.
