The morning talker: We are getting poorer
Seems the "Great Recession" has taken a very real toll on all of us (or at least 99 percent of us) Americans -- a nearly 40 percent hit to family wealth. Here's how people are reacting over the social media transom.
The average American family lost 38.8 percent of its wealth from 2007 to 2010 | bloom.bg/LOhsi4
One of the most alarming (non-zombie) headlines recently: Recession erased 40% of family wealth latimes.com/business/la-fi…- A Federal Reserve survey found median family net worth fell from $126,000 in 2007 to just $77,000 in 2010 The collapse of the housing bubble, which sent home prices plummeting, was the biggest reason for the decline in wealth The Great Recession shrank Americans’ wealth so much that in 2010 median family net worth was no more than it was in 1992 after adjusting for inflation, the Federal Reserve reported Monday. Median net worth declined from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010, a Fed survey of family finances found. The median marks the point where half had more and half had less. The recession officially began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009.
- Any good financial plan should be built upon a solid foundation. This is what happens when people have no foundation. The real estate and the stock market can have place in a financial plan it should never be the whole plan. latimes.com/business/la-fi-...
- When some people lose, other people prevail. All that money goes somewhere... chicagotribune.com/news/nat...
- Families with incomes in the middle 60 percent of the population lost a larger share of their wealth over the three-year period than the wealthiest and poorest families. One basic reason for this disproportion is that the wealth of the middle class is mostly in housing, and the median amount of home equity dropped to $75,000 in 2010 from $110,000 in 2007. And while other forms of wealth have recovered much of the value lost in the crisis, housing prices have hardly budged. Those middle-income families also lost a larger share of their income. The earnings of the median family in the bottom 20 percent of the income distribution actually increased from 2007 to 2010, in part because of the expansion of government aid programs during the recession. Wealthier families, which derive more income from investments, were also cushioned against the recession. The data does provide the latest indication, however, that the recession reduced income inequality in the United States, at least temporarily. The average income of the wealthiest families fell much more sharply than the median, indicating that some of those at the very top of the ladder slipped down at least a few rungs.
