Americans are getting poorer every year

[planosteve]

The average American family has lost over 1/3 of their wealth in the last 10 years. I've been saying this for years. Why did it take the New York Times so long to figure it out?


Economic inequality in the United States has been receiving a lot of attention. But it’s not merely an issue of the rich getting richer. The typical American household has been getting poorer, too.
For households at the median level of net worth, much of the damage has occurred since the start of the last recession in 2007. Until then, net worth had been rising for the typical household, although at a slower pace than for households in higher wealth brackets. But much of the gain for many typical households came from the rising value of their homes. Exclude that housing wealth and the picture is worse: Median net worth began to decline even earlier.

“The housing bubble basically hid a trend of declining financial wealth at the median that began in 2001,” said Fabian T. Pfeffer, the University of Michigan professor who is lead author of the Russell Sage Foundation study.

The reasons for these declines are complex and controversial, but one point seems clear: When only a few people are winning and more than half the population is losing, surely something is amiss.

The inflation-adjusted net worth for the typical household was $87,992 in 2003. Ten years later, it was only $56,335, or a 36 percent decline, according to a study financed by the Russell Sage Foundation. Those are the figures for a household at the median point in the wealth distribution — the level at which there are an equal number of households whose worth is higher and lower. But during the same period, the net worth of wealthy households increased substantially.

The Russell Sage study also examined net worth at the 95th percentile. (For households at that level, 94 percent of the population had less wealth and 4 percent had more.) It found that for this well-do-do slice of the population, household net worth increased 14 percent over the same 10 years. Other research, by economists like Edward Wolff at New York University, has shown even greater gains in wealth for the richest 1 percent of households.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/busin ... .html?_r=1

[GFB]

The average American family has lost over 1/3 of their wealth in the last 10 years. I've been saying this for years. Why did it take the New York Times so long to figure it out?

Rags like this have been saying nonsense like this ever since Ronald Reagan showed up, they just stopped when Oscummer was elected.

[Bob Of Burleson]

[quote="planosteve"]The average American family has lost over 1/3 of their wealth in the last 10 years. I've been saying this for years. Why did it take the New York Times so long to figure it out?

What a curious way of posting a story. You seem to have put the bottom at the top and the top at the bottom.

[Red Oak]

The Earnings of the American Middle Class have been declining since the early 1970s.

Globalization has reduced earning and taxes gobble up more of what is earned.

The "poor" have it better, and quite a few have moved into the upper middle class, but the middle class has been hammered for over 40 years.

[GFB]

The Earnings of the American Middle Class have been declining since the early 1970s.

Globalization has reduced earning and taxes gobble up more of what is earned.

The "poor" have it better, and quite a few have moved into the upper middle class, but the middle class has been hammered for over 40 years.

I think you meant.."moved into the lower middle class"..and I generally agree with your entire post.

[planosteve]

The average American family has lost over 1/3 of their wealth in the last 10 years. I've been saying this for years. Why did it take the New York Times so long to figure it out?

Rags like this have been saying nonsense like this ever since Ronald Reagan showed up, they just stopped when Oscummer was elected.

There you go again, shooting the messenger. You loose. Better luck next time.

[GFB]

The average American family has lost over 1/3 of their wealth in the last 10 years. I've been saying this for years. Why did it take the New York Times so long to figure it out?

Rags like this have been saying nonsense like this ever since Ronald Reagan showed up, they just stopped when Oscummer was elected.

There you go again, shooting the messenger. You loose. Better luck next time.

It really is time you get "lose" and "loose" straight.

[Red Oak]

The Earnings of the American Middle Class have been declining since the early 1970s.

Globalization has reduced earning and taxes gobble up more of what is earned.

The "poor" have it better, and quite a few have moved into the upper middle class, but the middle class has been hammered for over 40 years.

I think you meant.."moved into the lower middle class"..and I generally agree with your entire post.

I worded that very poorly, a few formerly middle class have done quite well and moved up, more of course have moved down.

[GFB]

This thread highlights my master plan.

Everyone gets poorer except me..then eventually you all just make me king.

[planosteve]

Real earnings have been declining, actually since the early 60's. But, "globalization", whatever that means, had nothing to do with it. It was totally the FED's baby. And all the QE's 1,2, and 3 etc. were just excuses to print more money. But, wealth doesn't come out of a printing press. Every dollar that is created reduces the value of every other dollar that exists. That's called inflation folks. Keynesian economics doesn't work. Never has. Never will.

[GFB]

Real earnings have been declining, actually since the early 60's. But, "globalization", whatever that means, had nothing to do with it. It was totally the FED's baby. And all the QE's 1,2, and 3 etc. were just excuses to print more money. But, wealth doesn't come out of a printing press. Every dollar that is created reduces the value of every other dollar that exists. That's called inflation folks. Keynesian economics doesn't work. Never has. Never will.

Why am I doing better every year..and why does my net worth go higher and higher?

..am I somehow immune to the evil Fed?

[Red Oak]

Bull spittle !

The off shoring of high wage jobs has an enormous impact, as does the invasion of low cost workers into the US.

As an example, my father was a carpenter and we enjoyed a middle class life style, two nice vehicles, 3000sqft brick home, boat etc.

That is not going to be the case today, vista any job site to learn the reason why.

I have done OK in the IT industry, I started off in what would today be called the help desk and support part of the business and advanced into other positions. That career path is not a available today, unless you are a Indian or other low cost foreign worker.

The debasing of our money to "pay for" The Great Society is partly to blame also, but not totally.

[planosteve]

Real earnings have been declining, actually since the early 60's. But, "globalization", whatever that means, had nothing to do with it. It was totally the FED's baby. And all the QE's 1,2, and 3 etc. were just excuses to print more money. But, wealth doesn't come out of a printing press. Every dollar that is created reduces the value of every other dollar that exists. That's called inflation folks. Keynesian economics doesn't work. Never has. Never will.

Why am I doing better every year..and why does my net worth go higher and higher?

..am I somehow immune to the evil Fed?

Probably because the FED has created the largest bubbles in history and your riding the crest. Lookout below! But, if you really want to understand the FED, there is a brand new video out by James Corbett. Very well worth the effort to watch.

Century of Enslavement: The History of the Federal Reserve.
What is the Federal Reserve system? How did it come into existence? Is it part of the federal government? How does it create money? Why is the public kept in the dark about these important matters? In this feature-length documentary film, The Corbett Report explores these important question and pulls back the curtain on America’s central bank. Watch the movie for free online here or buy your DVD copy today.
http://www.corbettreport.com/

[GFB]

Maybe people are getting poorer because more and more think things are supposed to come to them for free.

And maybe this is what's supposed to happen to people like that.

[GFB]

And this what Obama wanted..more poor and more dependents mean more Democrats.

[planosteve]

Bull spittle !

The off shoring of high wage jobs has an enormous impact, as does the invasion of low cost workers into the US.

As an example, my father was a carpenter and we enjoyed a middle class life style, two nice vehicles, 3000sqft brick home, boat etc.

That is not going to be the case today, vista any job site to learn the reason why.

I have done OK in the IT industry, I started off in what would today be called the help desk and support part of the business and advanced into other positions. That career path is not a available today, unless you are a Indian or other low cost foreign worker.

The debasing of our money to "pay for" The Great Society is partly to blame also, but not totally.

I don't believe that "offshoring" effects the overall US economy. Reason is that while it may result in fewer high paying jobs, it is offset by lower prices for consumer goods. In other words it's a wash.
I don't believe the cost of domestic spending programs is nearly as high as the cost of building and maintaining a worldwide military empire. We recently spent 1 trillion on a plane that doesn't even work. The day before 9/11, Rumsfeld admitted that the Pentagon has lost 2.6 trillion dollars and didn't know where it went. The next day something hit the building and killed most of the people working on it. A "happy accident"?

[Just Me]

But, if you really want to understand the FED, there is a brand new video out by James Corbett. Very well worth the effort to watch.

Century of Enslavement: The History of the Federal Reserve.
What is the Federal Reserve system? How did it come into existence? Is it part of the federal government? How does it create money? Why is the public kept in the dark about these important matters? In this feature-length documentary film, The Corbett Report explores these important question and pulls back the curtain on America’s central bank. Watch the movie for free online here or buy your DVD copy today.
http://www.corbettreport.com/

This is a better link, as it has all the stuff on the Federal Reserve on one page:

http://www.corbettreport.com/federalreserve/

[Red Oak]

Of course there is colossal waste in the Defense Budget, however less than 10% of
GDP is spent on it, in stark contrast to the Cold War years.

[GFB]

Real earnings have been declining, actually since the early 60's. But, "globalization", whatever that means, had nothing to do with it. It was totally the FED's baby. And all the QE's 1,2, and 3 etc. were just excuses to print more money. But, wealth doesn't come out of a printing press. Every dollar that is created reduces the value of every other dollar that exists. That's called inflation folks. Keynesian economics doesn't work. Never has. Never will.

Why am I doing better every year..and why does my net worth go higher and higher?

..am I somehow immune to the evil Fed?

Probably because the FED has created the largest bubbles in history and your riding the crest. Lookout below! But, if you really want to understand the FED, there is a brand new video out by James Corbett. Very well worth the effort to watch.

Century of Enslavement: The History of the Federal Reserve.
What is the Federal Reserve system? How did it come into existence? Is it part of the federal government? How does it create money? Why is the public kept in the dark about these important matters? In this feature-length documentary film, The Corbett Report explores these important question and pulls back the curtain on America’s central bank. Watch the movie for free online here or buy your DVD copy today.
http://www.corbettreport.com/

Neato..a friggin' cartoon.