Study: Americans Poor Now Because They Don’t Have Any Money
inmytree
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http://wonkette.com/449241/study-americ ... -any-money
JUST A 'ROUGH PATCH' THAT WON'T EVER END
Study: Americans Poor Now Because They Don’t Have Any Money
A startling new study proves that America’s Middle Class has been utterly, completely wiped out — these are the people all politicians are always talking to, in theory. What happened? Apparently, wages have been declining for thirty or forty years and pensions have vanished and the one asset 90% of middle class people owned is no longer worth anything. (That asset is “their house,” and many have also lost the actual house, in addition to its supposed value before the crash.)
Rex Nutting writes at Marketwatch:
On average, American homeowners lost 55% of the wealth in their home.
Most middle-class families didn’t have much wealth to begin with — about $100,000. For the 22 million families right in the middle of the income distribution (those making between $39,000 and $62,000 before taxes), about 90% of their assets was in the house. Now half of their wealth is gone and it will never come back as long as they live.
Whoa, why such a Negative Nancy? Didn’t we also have a recovery since then?
Yes we did: “The rich recovered; the rest of us didn’t.”
This seems like something the Democrats would be interested in, right? Well yes, the Democrats are — like the Republicans — interested in the rich.
But how did we, uh, even manage to survive during the first decade of this awful century? Experts say it’s because the Middle Class took out home equity loans to make up for all the raises they weren’t getting. That’s how America kept spending money (and charging more on those high-limit credit cards everybody got the week after they signed a fraudulent mortgage document) from 9/11 onward.
Meanwhile, a grim new report shows that Americans have cut their spending, on average, by $175 per month since the financial collapse. That adds up to $7,300 since the bubble burst, per American, And that adds up to $2.3 trillion American Consumers haven’t spent since they stopped consuming, which happened when they … ran out of money, forever. [Marketwatch/Business Week]
JUST A 'ROUGH PATCH' THAT WON'T EVER END
Study: Americans Poor Now Because They Don’t Have Any Money
A startling new study proves that America’s Middle Class has been utterly, completely wiped out — these are the people all politicians are always talking to, in theory. What happened? Apparently, wages have been declining for thirty or forty years and pensions have vanished and the one asset 90% of middle class people owned is no longer worth anything. (That asset is “their house,” and many have also lost the actual house, in addition to its supposed value before the crash.)
Rex Nutting writes at Marketwatch:
On average, American homeowners lost 55% of the wealth in their home.
Most middle-class families didn’t have much wealth to begin with — about $100,000. For the 22 million families right in the middle of the income distribution (those making between $39,000 and $62,000 before taxes), about 90% of their assets was in the house. Now half of their wealth is gone and it will never come back as long as they live.
Whoa, why such a Negative Nancy? Didn’t we also have a recovery since then?
Yes we did: “The rich recovered; the rest of us didn’t.”
This seems like something the Democrats would be interested in, right? Well yes, the Democrats are — like the Republicans — interested in the rich.
But how did we, uh, even manage to survive during the first decade of this awful century? Experts say it’s because the Middle Class took out home equity loans to make up for all the raises they weren’t getting. That’s how America kept spending money (and charging more on those high-limit credit cards everybody got the week after they signed a fraudulent mortgage document) from 9/11 onward.
Meanwhile, a grim new report shows that Americans have cut their spending, on average, by $175 per month since the financial collapse. That adds up to $7,300 since the bubble burst, per American, And that adds up to $2.3 trillion American Consumers haven’t spent since they stopped consuming, which happened when they … ran out of money, forever. [Marketwatch/Business Week]
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"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
I'm going to finish a few more studies:
Study: Americans Depressed Because They Are Unhappy
Study: Americans Obese Because They Eat Too Much
You think the Question-Mark Suit Guy can help me get a government grant for all this research?
Most middle-class families didn’t have much wealth to begin with — about $100,000. For the 22 million families right in the middle of the income distribution (those making between $39,000 and $62,000 before taxes), about 90% of their assets was in the house. Now half of their wealth is gone and it will never come back as long as they live."
wow, nobody chiming in on this... what a surprise...
actually these figures are a pretty big indictment of the argument that we have recovered. the middle class is shrinking faster than the polar icecaps, and nobody wants to do anythng about it. i guess we will just keep adding to the public aid ranks. when the middle class loses their wealth they become poor, thus increasing the numbers relying on government assistance. people fail to recognize that part of the problem, and that the midle class is vital in preserving this economy..
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
the US individual wealth gap is growing at a clip commensurate w/Russia, Venezuela, and Nigeria. These are not exactly countries i would like our economic metrics tied to.
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"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
what would you like people to say...times are tough. It sucks that wages are not keeping up with inflation, especially with 9.2% reported unemployment...it is rather obvious that top earners were going to still be ok during times of economic down turn because they had massive wealth to begin with...people who didn't will certainly be affected. lets be honest, the more you have the more it is possible to make...but in the same respect the government propping up markets like the housing market create the bubbles that burst inflating value and causing a crash where in homeowners lose on average 55% of their wealth...
what is the solution Gimmie? I wish I knew...personally I think it is the economic policy mutation that we have that is causing the main issues...The federal reserve did in fact take ownership of the great depression, I wonder if they will take any ownership of creating this debt ridden society (both public and private) ...
on the one hand we have a group of politicians saying keep taxes low, and on the other we have a group saying raise them...all the while both are spending like monty brewster...trickle down, stimulation, end load...who knows what will work, but trickling down and stimulation from government coupled with a 10 year war climate has proven to not be a successful combination. Maybe we need to try one without the others...I bet we disagree on which one
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